Our Coffee Farms

Kona
Greenwell Farms, Big Island

 

In 1850, Henry Nicholas Greenwell left England to pursue a new life in Kealakekua, Hawaii, which today is known as the Heart of Kona. Mr. Greenwell was later joined by his wife, Elizabeth Caroline, and the couple would spend the next 40 years farming, ranching and producing Kona Coffee. Eventually, the Greenwell’s one-of-a-kind coffee would catch the attention of coffee lovers around the world, and, in 1873 the President of the Kaiser’s Exposition awarded them with a “Recognition Diploma” for their Kona Coffee at the World’s Fair in Vienna, Austria.

Henry Greenwell’s legacy continued decades later, when his grandson, Norman Greenwell, and his great grandson, Thomas Greenwell, developed coffee in the early 1980s on some of the same land. This new generation of the Greenwell family has marshaled in the modern era of specialty coffee in Kona and has played an important part in Hawaii’s coffee industry. Today, the company maintains coffee orchards on 85 acres, is developing new farms, and it controls and manages another 60 acres of coffee for other land owners. As one of the largest and oldest coffee producers in Kona, Greenwell Farms is proud to celebrate its history and spread the spirit of aloha with every cup.

Colombia
Del Campo (Las Hermosas)

 

The Colombia Canon de Las Hermosas forms part of the Las Hermosas National Park that covers large areas in the departments of Tolima and Valle de Cauca. The canyon runs from nearby the town of Chaparral towards Valle de Cauca. The small-holder farmers contributing to this lot have coffee trees planted along the steep sides of the canyon, which provides an ideal micro-climate for the cultivation of specialty coffee.

Tolima has historically been difficult to traverse. In recent years, the area was heavily infiltrated by the Colombian leftist army, the FARC. FARC presence contributed to the region’s isolation and gave the area a reputation as being unsafe and violent. Only since approximately 2012, as the Colombian government maintains peace talks with the rebels, has it been safe enough to travel to the region.

Coffee is the leading agricultural activity in the region, followed by the production of beans and the raising of cattle. These small scale farming activities provide the largest percentage of employment by a large margin. The importance of coffee to the local economy and livelihoods cannot be overstated.

Every family manages their own cultivation, usually farming with very minimal chemical inputs. They also do their own harvesting-usually with the help of neighbours and extended family. After the red and ripe cherries are picked, they are usually floated in plastic tanks to remove any underweight cherries. They are then pulped by passing them through a manual pulper at the family farm(usually located close to the main house). The waste from this process will be used later as a natural fertilizer for the coffee trees. Coffee is then fermented anywhere from 12 to 18 hours, depending on the weather, and then washed using cold, clean water.

Once this process is complete, many of the farmers sundry their parchment on patios or on the roofs of their houses (elbas). Farmers in this part of Huila have designed a mechanism by which they can slide the roof with pulleys to cover the coffee in case of rain. Some farmers dry their coffee on parabolic beds under the sun. These parabolic beds, known locally as marquesinas, which are constructed a bit like ‘hoop house’ greenhouses, with airflow ensured through openings in both ends –both protect the parchment from rain and mist as it is dried and prevent condensation from dripping back on the drying beans. One of the main challenges in this remote area is the proliferation of ‘coyotes’ due to the difficulty of travel for many producers. Coyotes in this region are basically independent buyers (no coops, exporters, traders, etc), normally with small or very small operations who try to cut themselves a space in the market by intercepting coffee growers as they are on their way to sell the coffee through regular channels. Our exporting partner for this lot has helped to promote commercialization of specialty coffee throughout the region, resulting in some stunning coffees from this area of optimal natural conditions for coffee farming. However, coyotes can disrupt these efforts significantly.

For this reason, we’ve partnered with a trusted “acopiador” (collector) in the region who collects the coffee from some of the most remote villages, and brings it down to their warehouse in Chaparral (about 2 hours drive). Upon arrival, the parchment coffee is analysed both with regards to physical and cup quality. Premiums are then paid (and returned to the producer by the acopiador) if the quality meets specialty standards.

The purchasing center and program was only started in 2015, so it has been key to have a very good team in place. Responsible for running the program is Pilar, who makes sure that farmers have access to information about pricing well in advance. Farmers often call in to ask about the price being offered, which is almost certainly higher than the price being offered by coyotes.

In addition to incentivisation for quality, Pilar has a team of two technicians who execute a variety of quality improvement and agricultural extension programs. One of the most significant is SMS (sistema de manejo sostenible), which focuses on technical assistance, productive projects and consultancy with the farmers to help them produce better coffee and to improve efficiency at the farm level. The technicians conduct regular meetings in the villages, help farmers achieve certifications, and advocate with various local organisations and NGOs, all in effort to enable producers to achieve higher prices by gaining access to speciality markets.

Jhoan, one of the technicians working with Pilar, comes from a coffee family himself and even went to a rural agricultural technical college. He has worked in coffee, directly, for well over a decade.

Jhoan started his career working with the cooperative of Manizales (FNC) where he worked for 6 years. He then transferred to a town called La Virginia in Risaralda, where he worked in a purchasing centre. During his time there, an opportunity to move to Chaparral and open the new Condor purchasing centre arose. He moved there in 2015 and has since learned a lot about coffee quality from the cupping standpoint. He now works directly with the expert team of cuppers at the centre, and in addition to advising producers on technical and agricultural matters, he helps to make sure that ‘liquidation’ payments (sort of ‘top-up’ payments) are made when the producers’ coffee is sold at a higher margin.

Ethiopia Guji Kercha
Guracho Washing Station

Guji coffee has been receiving a lot of attention from the specialty coffee world in the past several years, and for good reason.  Many privately owned washing stations have sprung up recently, in an area that has traditionally processed coffee using a natural (dry) method.  The quality of these washed coffees can be outstanding, which isn’t surprising considering the area’s close proximity to Yirgacheffe.  “Close” is relative in terms of travel in Ethiopia where 100 km can mean a 10 hour drive, silver lining being the incredible variety of terrain and culture relatively short distances.

Guji is an administrative zone of the Oromia region of Ethiopia, which gained political definition in 2002.  Prior to that year, the Guji territory (named for the Guji tribe of the Oromo people) was a part of the Borena zone.  Guji Zone shares a border with the Southern Nations, Nationalities & People’s Region (SNNPR,) which includes Gedeo Zone (where Yirgacheffe is located) and Sidama Zone.

The staff of Sibu Coffee Exporter PLC have been working extensively with Guji farmers in various capacities for over 20 years.  In fact the founders of Sibu Coffee were instrumental in establishing some of the first washing stations in the area (technically Borena Zone at the time) under the umbrella of the expansive Oromia Coffee Farmers Cooperative Union.  To improve market access for their farmers, Sibu Coffee Exporter began operations in 2014, shipping primarily Guji coffees to importers and roasters around the world. Sibu Coffee operates multiple washing stations in Guji Zone, one of which is located in the kebele (village) of Guracho in the western Kercha district.

In addition to their commercial activities in and around Guracho kebele, Sibu Coffee is actively invested in community development projects.  The Guracho Primary School is located just a kilometre from Sibu’s washing station and many of Sibu’s farmers have children in attendance.  While visiting in early 2018 we saw the early stages of a renovation of the school’s main buildings, funded entirely by Sibu Coffee.  Two visits later in November 2019 the school was transformed with new roofing, fresh plaster with paint and new chairs and tables.  In early 2019 Sibu Coffee also financed two shipping containers of school supplies including notebooks, pencils and basic textbooks.  What’s more, Sibu contributed funds to repair and expand a latrine for the school including a separate fresh water supply for the community.

Despite being located near to Yirgacheffe (as the crow flies,) we’ve seen a huge diversity of coffee profiles from Guracho, ranging from the sweet lemon candy and floral tea you might expect from the area, to heavy green melon, peach and rose flavors.  The natural process Guracho coffees are also spectacular, with both “Grade 3” and “Grade 1”  preparations appearing on our offer list.  Grade 3 Naturals are generally a good option for bargain hunters looking for classic citrus and blueberry fruit character balanced by weighty butterscotch and sweet pastry.  Grade 1 Naturals typically require additional labor-intensive drying and cherry sorting practices, resulting in more distinct, marmalade fruit flavors with white wine acidity and perfumed aromatics.

Brazil
Santo Antonio Estates

 

Atlas first met Henrique Dias Cambraia, the president of Santo Antônio Estates (SanCoffee) at an SCAA expo years ago. At the time, the idea of specialty quality Brazil was quite new to us. We soon realized that this collective of medium-large scale farms–by utilizing sophisticated farming and processing techniques, as well as investing in full-time QC staff, a well-equipped cupping lab, and their own state of the art dry-mill–was more than capable of producing high-quality, traceable Brazilian coffee.

SanCoffee regularly participates in international competitions and are routinely ACE Certified® National Jury Selections, and finalists in the Illycaffè Awards for Quality Espresso Coffee. The sophistication of processing allows Atlas to source a number of different profiles from the group.