Aley Calderon is a producer from San Adolfo in Acevedo, Huila. After pivoting to specialty coffee in 2021, he began to develop new profiles through honey processing, various fermentation experiments and natural processing, often applying these techniques with the Pink Bourbon variety. This castillo and colombia blend is washed with a double fermentation, once in cherry and another after pulping. 

The Region

Acevedo is a Colombian municipality located in the southeastern part of the Huila department, in the foothills of the Eastern Mountain Range and the Serranía de la Ceja. It is one of Huila’s most important municipalities due to its strong economic development driven by agricultural and commercial activities. Coffee, in particular, has gained significant recognition thanks to the high quality consistently achieved by its smallholder producers.

The Huila region is well known for its coffee quality, but also for being the first historical department in Colombia to begin coffee production. Farmers in Huila are very quality-conscious. Their crops receive a lot of care and attention and they tend to be the most pioneering when it comes to embracing new processing and farming methods. The most relevant municipalities for coffee in Huila are: Pitalito, Garzón, Gigante, San Agustín, La Plata, Paicol, Acevedo, among others.

Huila coffee represents 18% of Colombian production. It is always in high demand and is often preferred as a
single origin offering for its balance of acidity and sweetness. The Huilan landscape is dominated by volcanos and mountains, providing a rich terroir of high altitude and fertile soils and offering a wide range of ecosystems where coffee can be grown. There are producing farms ranging from 1,500 masl up to 2,300 masl, conferring great attributes to the cup profile such as bright acidity and characteristic sweet notes.