New Release | Colombia Nixon Adarme, Special Reserve

A Colombian coffee has finally joined the OZO lineup! Look for complex fruit notes like papaya, orange, and mango, in addition to honey and an essence of strawberry yogurt. This coffee is exotic and lively and will only be around for a couple weeks! 

This single producer microlot comes to us from Nixon Adarme’s two hectare farm, Finca El Naranjo, out of the Aponte region in Narino, Colombia. Located at a whopping 2,050 meters above sea level, his farm is home to rich volcanic soils and a consistent Andean climate, meaning he has a distinct harvest season compared to the other southern states which can pick year round. 

Nixon Adarme is the son of one of the first coffee producers in the indigenous reservation of Aponte, near Buesaco. Most producers in Aponte are part of the Inga community, an indigenous group that was once a part of the northern Incan Empire before the arrival of the Spanish colonizers. The town of Aponte has suffered significantly, being located almost entirely on top of a seismic fault that has slowly been sinking into the earth. Many inhabitants of the town whose homes have been destroyed have received government subsidies to move elsewhere; others continue to live and farm in the newer part of the town that has been rebuilt.

For this specific lot, the coffee cherries were picked at peak ripeness then placed in sealed barrels for two days. This is close to the carbonic maceration process that we’re seeing more and more coffees experience in production. The cherry is then de-pulped and fermented for an additional 24 hours before being taken straight to raised beds in a covered dryer that Adarme built himself. It has a screened roof that gently filters light with excellent ventilation to allow slow and even drying. The drying process takes about 20 days to complete. This coffee can be classified as an experimental honey process because of that initial sealed fermentation stage, other coffees do not necessarily go through that process. Adding this step brings out complexity and sweetness. 

OZO acquired this coffee through a new relationship. We decided to partner with this exporter/importer, Shared Source, because of their business ethics. They believe in helping small-share farmers who are ecologically focused and are driven by evolving sustainability practices. Shared Source immediately pays farmers for their parchment through a wire transfer. Parchment is coffee that has been processed and dried, but not yet milled before export. During the primary harvest in Narino, Shared Source paid Nixon 3,025,000 pesos (~$170,000 USD) per carga (the unit of measurement in which farmers sell their parchment coffee - one carga is equal to 125 kg). We are so excited to be working with Shared Source and to offer this delicious coffee!