Farm: Finca Barcelona
Varietal: Castillo
Processing: Fully washed & silo dried
Altitude: 1,680 to1,750 metres above sea level
Owner: Flor de Apía SAS
Town / City: Apia, Vereda Miravalles
Region: Risaralda
In 2010 a Belgian naval officer, Pierre Dumont, visited his good friend Mario Alexander Grajales in his hometown of Apía, in Colombia’s coffee zone of Riseralda.
He was fascinated by the beauty of the high mountain landscape and the hospitality of the local people. He decided he wanted to set down roots here. Mario had also been interested in investing in a farm, and together the two of them found a local farm for sale - the Finca Barcelona, so-named by its former Barça-loving owner. Together they decided to attempt a daring project, which over time has been rewarded. Their company, Flor de Apía, has now given Apía international fame for its good coffee
Little by little, and with the strength of their vision (and maybe a bit of naivety!), they transformed a small, 5 hectare coffee farm into a 21st century coffee company, based on 3 principles: Quality, Ecology & Social Commitment.
They set about improving all the farm’s processes from field to cup, planting only coffee varieties that give excellent cup. They applied organic farming methods aimed at maximum productivity with minimal environmental impact. They included all possible systems of sustainable water treatments, both with regards to drinking water and waste water, to guarantee zero negative impact in nature. And above all, they prioritised quality.
The success was such that they were soon able to reach out to neighbouring farms in their expansion project, and now, the Barcelona farm leads an Association of 28 small coffee growers, advising them in agricultural methods and processing their coffee to the highest standards. In August 2015, Flor de Apía created a barista school on the farm to train high level baristas and thus give a successful professional outlet to the children of coffee growers. With these activities, the whole town of Apía progresses together.
Barcelona farm, today, is the example of the perfect symbiosis between a company and its environment and its community.
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Flor de Apía S.A.S owns a wet mill locally, where they have installed top of the line, Pinalese equipment that works to conserve the quality of the coffee, every step of the way. The company’s mill has their top of the line facilities at Finca Barcelona, just across the road from El Nivel. During the harvest seasons, every day coffee is collected there and moved in the afternoon to the mill.
When the coffee reaches the mill, it is sorted by the Pinalese machines twice: first to remove stones and debris and then to remove any non-optimal cherries. The coffee is then pulped and fermented for around 16 hours. Flor de Apía keep strict records of every lot they process, and they have reported that this particular lot was dried in a vertical silo with an agitation system and whose heat source is the husk that results from threshing the coffee. Coffee is dried at around 40 degrees, very slowly (56 hours for this lot).
About Flor de Apía
Flor de Apía was established in 2010 by Mario Alexander and his then business partner (who has since retired). Mario – originally from Apía, Risaralda - was originally a welder by training. He spent time in France and Spain when he was younger, working in construction and as a gardener. After around one and a half years working in these trades in Europe, he received an offer from a gentleman for whom we was working to return to Colombia and source coffees and roast them for export to Spain. Mario jumped at the chance.
The original business partner then retired shortly after. Mario was still committed, however, and he approached the best friend of his ex-partner, Pierre Dumont, a sea captain at the time. Pierre was looking for a change, and he agreed with Mario that there was more opportunity for importing green coffee. A plan was born!
Mario purchased two neighbouring farms, Finca Barcelona and El Nivel, and established a wet and dry mill at Barcelona. Today, in addition to processing, roasting and exporting their own coffees, Flor de Apía buys cherry and wet coffee from 28 farmers in the municipality. The mill has 8 large capacity fermentation tanks, so they are able to keep individual lots separate, particularly where quality looks to be high. Their farmer-partners also grow a wide selection of varieties, from Maragogype and Castillo all the way to Geisha, Bourbon and Caturra. Flor de Apía makes every effort to encourage farmers to separate their lots by variety and promote rescuing the older varieties (such as Typica and Bourbon) to improve the quality of the region’s coffee.
Warehouses
