El Naranjo

This coffee represents one of the most cherished projects for the Café Pista team. Indeed, we have supported the Azahar Coffee initiative in the El Naranjo community since our beginnings as roasters in 2018. Due to its strong social and cultural impact, the project behind this coffee is a no-brainer for us, and we wanted to revisit it year after year. 

This coffee comes from the municipality of Yacuanquer, in the department of Nariño in southern Colombia. The Nariño region, bordered on one side by the Pacific Ocean and on the other by the Andes, is renowned for its exceptional coffees, cultivated for several generations on very mineral-rich volcanic soil. It is there that Azahar Coffee, a coffee export company particularly committed to supporting producers, decided to launch its program. Collectors Project, in 2018. This program, which means “Gatherers Project” in Spanish, aims to enhance and consolidate the know-how of coffee pickers. This profession, too often overlooked, is a key element in the coffee production chain. Indeed, the skills and dedication of the pickers are crucial to the success of each harvest. The precision and knowledge required to only pick the ripe cherries from the coffee trees are decisive in ensuring a superior quality production, thus guaranteeing a higher purchase price and better income for the producers. Unfortunately, a constant financial and social devaluation of this profession pushes away younger generations, preventing the transmission of know-how. Through an intense training and apprenticeship program, combined with a remuneration reaching double the local standards, the company Azahar Coffee, through the Collectors Project "understand how to turn the tables and revalue this profession. Moreover, this project is a tremendous source of pride and unity for the entire El Naranjo community, and we can only be proud and humble to have been able to participate in it for several years now."  

Producers who participated in the program Collectors Project in 2024 are: Jovanny Delacruz, Ancizar Lasso, Lauro Chaves, Diego, Lazo, Pablo Daza, Jose Salazar, Jorge Tejada, Diego Lazo, Fulgencio Lasso, Olmedo Lasso

Grown at an altitude of about 1900 meters, this coffee is made up of the Caturra and Castillo varieties. It is picked at full ripeness and sorted by flotation first, then by hand, to remove cherries that are overripe or underripe. It is then mechanically depulped and passed under a stream of water to remove the remaining mucilage, before being fermented dry for 18 to 30 hours. Finally, it is spread out on raised beds for 18 days for slow and even drying. Round and sweet, it can be enjoyed both as an espresso and as a filter coffee, offering a delicate espresso or a complex filter.