We sourced this coffee with the help from our friends at Equation Coffee in Colombia. Equation is a team of green coffee curators and sourcing experts representing many producers in both Colombia and Panama. Equation focuses on sustainable coffee in every aspect, offering full traceability from every producer they work with.
This particular coffee is a regional blend from Planadas, Tolima grown by 162 different producers with farms located between 1,400 - 1,900 MASL. The 162 producers belong to an organization called ASOPEP.
ASOPEP was born in response to the need to organize a way of interacting among the 162 members of an association with several objectives: to market their own coffee production, to form their own form of government and to design their own farm conservation model to guarantee resources to future generations.
The main objective of Asopep is to commercialize their products while focusing on ecological practices in each farm of the members to conserve the land for future generations. As part of the support to the member's families, Asopep has created a Coffee Cupping school where children are trained to appreciate coffee at every stage and enhance their sensory skills, in this sense the association is working toward the generational replacement need to preserve the farms and keep their lands productive. Asopep works for the visibility of women in coffee. Through their program, AVA, they educate the women of the community in entrepreneurship, to help their families create additional lines of income from the farm.