Every month, our resident Q Grader and third-generation Wogan, James, searches the world to find a coffee that is ‘weird and wonderful’, and truly excites. A micro-lot, a great back-story, an impressive cooperative, or a particularly unusual taste; once it's gone, it's gone. 

We keep the prices of these extraordinary coffees down, so that you have the chance to try something that you might not be able to get your hands on otherwise. 

The farm

La Cabaña is part of the Perez family business, Alma Del Huila. They are located in El Agrado, in the Huila department, in the south west of Colombia. Headed by Mr Gilberto Perez, it is his son, Danilo that took up the mantle to produce more experimental lots.

As son to farm and dry mill owning parents, he was born to coffee, and has been involved from a very young age. He owns or oversees a number of farms (the family owns 5) and works closely with the team on the ground to ensure correct picking and sorting is undertaken. As an ambitious young producer Danilo has focussed on post harvest processing. This in particular is around fermentation and involves naturals, honeys and anaerobic fermentations.

The mountainous characteristics of Huila together with the climate are influenced by the Magdalena River and the two mountain ranges of the Andes, within which are several snow-capped volcanoes that provide the soil with mineral richness.

The valleys of the river attract quality tropical air masses that come from the Caribbean. Average temperatures here then are around 22ºC with an average rainfall of 1200mm, perfect for good development of the beans.

Apart from producing outstanding natural coffees, they also work hard to create camaraderie among their neighbours and surrounding community of smallholder coffee growers. The 6 hectares of the farm that are not used in coffee are preserved as forest, in part to preserve the quality of the water source that it contains, that provides for the local village. The family business encourages staggered planting of food crops to provide continuous supplies of fresh vegetables, as well as the rearing of small numbers of livestock.

The wildlife benefit greatly from the forested areas and education amongst the workers on coexisting and habitat preservation techniques. Opossums and armadillos are both found here.