COLOMBIA:  LA PALMA Y EL TUCAN

• The coffees from La Palma Y El Tucan farm and their surrounding farmers are grown in the Department of Cundinamarca, located on the eastern range of the Colombia Andes. The region has unique microclimates and environments with temperatures averaging 21°C, a relative humidity of 75% and a minimum of 1,600 sunny hours per year. These conditions make Cundinamarca a land of great biodiversity and ecosystems, with ideal conditions for producing high-grown specialty coffee.
• This coffee hails from La Palma's Estate & Varietals Program. With the E&V program, LPET celebrates tradition by challenging it: They have planted their farm with the most exotic coffee varietals available. With the utmost care and attention to detail, They cultivate and process these coffees to be only the most extraordinary and rare. The program is designed to challenge and redefine the status quo of Colombian coffee.
• Due to the economic, institutional and climate problems that affect the coffee growing industry in Colombia, many local families have been forced to replace coffee plantations with other crops, thus indirectly forcing their newer generations out, towards the bigger cities, in search of better opportunities.  La Palma Y El Tucan also conceptualized their Neighbors & Crops Program, aimed to help local growers produce top quality coffees. La Palma Y El Tucan (LPET) has identified more than 200 coffee-growing families located within a 10km radius of their farm, from whom they buy and process exceptional coffee, cherries, while controlling every step of the process. The program is designed to offer their neighbors various different benefits (monetary and non-monetary) that incentivize them to grow better coffee and commit to the highest quality standards possible, which are the cornerstones of LPET's goal: revitalize the coffee culture in the region.
• LPET's one-of-a-kind micro lots are the result of thorough experimentation with different processing methods and strict quality control standards: 
  • CHERRY PICKING: LPET follows very strict selection parameters by using only a highly-trained cherry picking team. Only the best cherries are allowed into the wet mill, resulting in coffees that are defect-free (0-0 defects).
  • PROCESSING METHODS: State-of-the-art, eco-friendly coffee processing technology with fermentation tanks specially designed to handle small volumes, ideal for microlot processing. 
    • FERMENTATION: Lactic, Acetic and Mixed
    • DRYING: Sun-dried on raised beds