The return of Rodrigo Perafan's Las Piedras is always eagerly awaited but there is a particularly special connection this year after visiting his farm in April. Spending time to understand the challenges of growing coffee on the step slopes of Huila has only furthered our admiration for the family and community behind this beautiful coffee.

The Story

Near the town of La Argentina in Southern Colombia’s Huila department, producer Rodrigo Perafan grows Colombia, Castillo & Bourbon amongst a sprinkling of Geisha and native shade trees. The step terrain & changing climate makes it more practical harvest and process these varieties together. This micro-blend brings a unique combination of sweetness, texture and fruity characteristics.

His processing style is also a unique variation on the standard washed process with cherries first allowed an anaerobic fermentation prior to being pulped and washed. Due to the challenging humidity in Huila, coffee is slowly dried on raised beds for up to a month before delivery to the producer-owned co-op Crecert for export preparation.

Up until now, Don Rodrigo has sought to mitigate some of the economic uncertainty and time consuming nature of specialty coffee production by selling more than half his crop as a lower priced commercial grade. Having tested his processing and partnership with Crecert he now feels comfortable scaling up this production to almost 80% specialty. In an effort to promote the long term viability of specialty coffee production Crecert and their import partners Langdon's are promoting a unique degree of financial transparency. Illustrating the costs of production at various stages of the supply chain this highlights the value and security responsible partners can provide farmers as an alternative to the volatile open commodity market.