Rigoberto is one of the very ambitious Colombian producers from Huila that is completely dedicated to their profession as a coffee producer. 

Dedicated and ambitious.

His search for excellence has become an obsession. We are super happy to be able to buy his coffees and come along on his journey. We are on the same journey "Working Towards Better Coffee"

This fruit bomb has been produced with skill and intention. With dedication and a ridiculous amount of hard work, Rigo and his wife Maryuri have managed to sublime his delicious pacamara variety with a unique processing method to produce something totally delicious in the cup. 

One of Rigo's strong points is that his passion for producing coffee is in harmony with the work done in the field, caring for the plants and the land, and the processing.

This lot is one of his pacamara varieties. A variety that Rigo has become an expert in growing. What's interesting is that many of his neighbours have also planted pacamara. Making this coffee growing area in Saladoblanco a sort of 'pacamara valley". Quite unique for a country dominated by castillo and caturra cultivars. 

Now to the processing. 

Rigo mentioned several times that part of his approach to producing coffee is cleanliness and hygiene. His pulping equipment and fermentation tanks are as clean as a Michelin starred restaurant. Something extremely rare in the coffee producing world.

The coffee fruit is harvested only at peak ripeness. From here, it is taken not far to his on-site processing station. The whole fruit is then oxidised (exposure to air) in tiled tanks for 48 hours. From here, they are then moved to fermentation tanks (closed lids with a one way valve) to ferment for 48 hours. In order to develop deep fruity aromas and layered aromatic complexity in the cup, Rigo submerges the fermentation tanks in cold water, regularly monitoring the temperature and adjusting accordingly. Once he hits his brix ° and PH targets, the coffee is removed from the tanks and passed through the de-pulping machine. Removing all of the skin and a majority of the mucilage. After de-pulping, the coffee is gentle washed in water to remove most of the remaining mucilage. 

Then the drying process begins ! The freshly cleaned parchment coffee is transported a few meters to his drying facility. The coffee is carefully laid out in a measured layer and regularly turned to promote slow and even drying. The drying facility has a roof and is walled off similar to a hot-house, allowing Rigo to manage the temperature and humidity levels by opening and closing the panels. This often ignored step of slow and careful drying, is a critical failure point in a lot of coffee processing. Either making or breaking the massive amount of proceeding work and often 8-9 months of time waiting for the fruit to mature. 

Once the coffee has reached 10.5% humidity as measured by a moisture meter, it is gathered for transport to the dry mill.

Before the coffee reaches the mill, it is roasted and tasted on-site to asses the quality and the aromatic profile. This allows Rigo and the team to be consistent and to also improve on a continual basis. Completing the feedback circle required to implement and asses innovative new approaches to producing coffee. This ability, in terms of resources and skills to roast and taste the coffee is amazingly, very rare for coffee producers to have. But it is essential. 

This approach to processing is risky and requires a deep understanding of fermentation with careful monitoring of PH levels, temperature and time. As those three variables are closely intertwined, each one affecting the other.  

This choice of processing also has a beautiful complementarity to the pacamara cultivar that Rigo grows. The buttery texture and rich flavor density of the pacamara is highlighted with the fruity notes generated by the processing.

The end result has a clean and bright taste stucture, with transparent fruity flavours.

This is a certified killer on espresso or filter preparation

Producer: Rigoberto Cuellar

Farm: Buena Vista

Farm size: 3 HA

Province: Salado Blanco, Huila

Species: Arabica

Varieties: Pacamara

Process: Parchment dried

Drying: Raised beds in a greenhouse

Altitude: 1,800 m

Harvest type: Manual

Moisture content of green coffee at the time of purchase: 10.6 %

Farm gate price: € 11.04 / kg

Rigoberto Cuellar comes from a coffee-producing family in the municipality of Salado Blanco in Huila.

He grew up in the midst of crops, accompanying his father in planting and other tasks that coffee demanded, thanks to his father he became so involved in the subject of coffee that it would become his way of life.

At the age of 27, Rigo (as he is called in his town) suffered a great loss that forced him to take over the reins of the farm. His father, a hard-working man recognized by the community, had been cruelly murdered at the door of the house. After the death of his father, for the next 6 months Rigo went into a deep depression, he didn't eat, he didn't want to talk to anyone, the issue of revenge didn't come out of his head, he thought about finding the person who did this to his father...without realising that the most precious thing for his father (the farm) was in complete abandonment.

One day in the midst of tears, still with many doubts and suffering, Rigo reacted and realised that it was a mistake to continue like this and neglect in this way the farm that his father had built with so much love and sacrifice. He gained strength and began to build the farm again, painted the house, began to plant new coffee, day by day he asked God for strength to continue with everything his father taught him.

Finca Buona Vista is a 5ha farm owned and operated by Rigoberto and his wife wife Maryuri. Arriving at the farm, we were greeted with not only smiles but a beautifully curated garden, kids running around and plenty of life. 

Rigo and Maryuri manage the farm and all the processing themselves and on-site.

They are growers and producers. 

Perhaps now is a good time to also draw a distinction between coffee grower and coffee producer. A coffee grower will work hard to produce fruit and then for a multitude of different reasons will decide to sell the fruit to someone else to be processed (prepared into green coffee seeds ready for roasting). Rigoberto is a coffee producer, someone that not only produces the fruit but also manages the post harvest processing. The sorting, fermentation and drying of the coffee.

The farm has hand made signs indicating the various sites required to produce coffee. Everything is clean, organised and well presented. They clearly have a lot of pride in their work. 

Rigo has big plans for the future. In addition to his continual improvement approach to processing, he is growing seedlings of several different cultivars. moka, gesha, SL-28, laurina, ombligon and pink bourbon. They will be going into the field shortly for seed production and then subsequent testing.

We met Rigiberto through Cata Export, Pierre and Cat, who are doing phenomenal work in Colombia working with producers to connect them to the specialty market. 

Check out their site here. 

Cata has been working hard to help establish an association called CASA. The association is a small regrouping of seven producers located around Rigo's farm. Through the association, Cata is providing resources, equipment, feedback and above all, access to market by which to sell at a good price all the hard work of these producers. The access to market part of the equation is one of the key elements. Putting in the work required to produce specialty coffee is a big investment, both in financial recourses and time / energy. Doing so without qualified buyers ready to pay the price for that level of quality and work is too much of a risk. Similar to spending the whole year finely crafting a table, you have to be confident someone will buy it........

Rigo has been implementing organic farming practices. It develops a production of coffee and associated crops free of agrochemicals, implementing agroecological practices that contribute to the conservation and preservation of the environment. The fertilisation carried out on this farm is based on an organic production management plan, which relies to a greater extent on elements of biological waste, the composting of organic matter and the application of mineral mixtures as a complement to fertilisation. The same coffee pulp is one of the main sources for soil fertilisation, which is carried out 4 times a year, while maintenance work, pest control, microorganisms and diseases are carried out throughout the year.

Espresso
Ratio 1:2.6
18g of ground coffee
46g in the cup (2 x 23g)
23-30 seconds according to your taste

Filter coffee
Ratio 1:17
15g of ground coffee
255g of water (between 92-99°C depending on the brewing machine)

The brewing device is not very important; we use Orea porcelain for its fast flow rate and design.

The most important thing is to grind fresh the coffee and use water with low total hardness and low alkalinity content.