In March of 2025, Matt McDaniel (Cooperative's Founder) and Eli Masem (Roaster and Director of Quality), had the privilege of traveling to Colombia with the intention of diving deep into the sourcing, quality, and logistical systems of our long time importing partners, Caravela Coffee. We've sourced many of our Latin American offerings from Caravela since the very beginning of Cooperative Coffee Roasters and we thought it was time to see it all first hand from the country where they began and where they have their greatest reach. We were able to see all aspects of their supply chain from farm to final preparation for export, with the help of their amazing staff and several of the phenomenal families growing the coffees we spend so much of our time and energy roasting for you.
On our first full day in Colombia, we met with our guide and now friend, Juan Estaban Garcia Calabres, so that we could fly to the city of Armenia for an afternoon of learning and cupping at Caravela's dry mill. This is where the final quality of their coffees are assessed, lots are separated or blended, and preparation for export is coordinated. Juan Esteban's job title, "relationship building leader" is an understatement. The more accurate description of his job is to bridge the gap in facilitating long term relationships between the people growing the coffee (farmers), the people processing and preparing the coffee (quality and logistics), and the people roasting the coffee (us).
In Armenia, we witnessed the extensive QC systems Caravela put in place to track long term quality of farms and their farmers, the huge investment in dry mill equipment (density, size, and laser eye sorting for defects), and the excellent training team members receive in their respective duties, along with the awe inspiring inter-organizational digital platform they use to communicate between different groups when problems arise so those problems can be solved quickly.
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At the end of the day we flew back to Bogota, so that we could prepare for the next day's flight to Pitalito, our home for the next few days, in the department of Huila. Flying from city to city in Colombia is often a necessity due to the rural and mountainous nature of much of the country, which can make travel by car in the coffee growing areas extremely time consuming. Pictured below, our propeller plane that took us to Pitalito which has no functioning air traffic control tower (We chose not to think too hard about that).
Arriving in Pitalito, we immediately made our way to the highlands of Vereda Santa Ines, just outside the city to visit Finca San Lucas, owned by Elsa Benavides. Elsa has been in coffee for over 40 years and runs the 10 Hectare farm (~25acres) with her son, Carlos. Carlos is also a quality analyst for Caravela coffee, so he is able to very effectively create a feedback loop as to the quality needed to keep improving their harvests from year to year. The entire family is involved in every step of growing, picking, and wet milling the coffee before it is taken to the cupping lab at Caravela's warehouse in Pitalito, where Carlos spends much of his time. We were also treated to an amazing lunch of fried fish from the pond on their property.
Next up: San Roque, Palestina, PECA: Caravela's quality soldiers, some really cute farm dogs, and more.
To be continued in Colombia with Caravela Coffee : Part 2.........