Coming soon! Archives - Arango Specialty Coffee

23 | Los Gilgueros

Producer Isolina Quintero	Description TBA
Process Washed, sun-dried	Varietals Castillo, Colombia
Region Nariño	Elevation 1,800 meters
Position ETA September, 2024	Warehouse Continental, New Jersey

Isolina and her husband Ruben have a large family. Their 10 children grew up learning about coffee production and the farm has always provided for the family. As they grow older, they have given each of their children a small piece of land to continue in the family business. They are hopeful that coffee will continue to provide for their family for generations to come.

REQUEST A SAMPLE

57 | Santa Ana

Coming soon!

Producer Brayan Meneses	Description TBA
Process Washed, sun-dried	Varietals Colombia, Castillo
Region Nariño	Elevation 1,960 meters
Position ETA September, 2024	Warehouse Continental, New Jersey

At 33 years of age, Brayan is part of the new generation of coffee growers. He is one of the youngest farmers we work with, but that does not mean he is lacking in knowledge. He learned everything he knows about coffee from his grandfather and has fond memories of going to help in the coffee fields after school.

In addition to his hands-on coffee education, Brayan also completed school as a computer technician and wants to pursue a degree in agronomy. With this higher grade of education, he is able to look at the industry from a different perspective. He saw the need to shift from more traditional coffee harvesting to specialty coffee production about 4 years ago and is using his knowledge to improve quality on every level. Since then, he has participated in several competitions in the region over the last couple of years and has placed in the top 10 every time.

REQUEST A SAMPLE

183 | El Mirador

Coming soon!

Producer Edy Martinez	Description Chocolate, cola, grapes, molasses,
Process Honey – Sun dried	Varietals Castillo F4
Region Nariño	Elevation 1,850 meters
Position ETA September, 2024	Warehouse Continental, New Jersey

Edy and her husband, Erney, have worked together with coffee for over 20 years. Despite growing up on a coffee farm, Edy points out that she learned to grow and produce coffee with her husband. She explains that, as a female, the focus was on learning household chores rather than about coffee and farming.

As they raised their three children at El Mirador, Edy and Erney were sure to teach them about all aspects of the farm. They considered it equally important to the education the children received in school. Edy is proud that El Mirador provided the income need to raise a family and hopes that her children want to continue growing and producing coffee in the future.

REQUEST A SAMPLE

02 | El Porvenir

Coming soon!

Producer Lucido Diaz	Description Sweet, butter, nougat, floral
Process Washed	Varietals Pink bourbon
Region Nariño	Elevation 1,750 meters
Position ETA September, 2024	Warehouse Continental, New Jersey

Lucido grew up in Putumayo, a state in the south of Colombia. He has always worked as a farmer and started growing coffee once he settled in La Union, Nariño, Colombia. He considers this a lifetime commitment and prides himself in his work.
We have been working with Lucido for 6 years now. When we started buying coffee from him in 2018, he had Castillo and Colombia varietals. In 2019, Lucido decided to completely replant his farm with 3,000 trees of the varietal Pink Bourbon. This risky undertaking left him without any coffee production for three years while the new trees grew. In 2022, we had the first harvest of his new varietal and it was worth the wait. Not only did the coffee taste great, but Lucido said that pink bourbon is holding better than the previous varietals regarding climate change and new disease that are affecting the coffee trees.

REQUEST A SAMPLE

145 | Progreso

Coming soon!

Producer Andres Muñoz	Description TBA
Process Washed	Varietals Pink Bourbon
Region Nariño	Elevation 2,100 meters
Position ETA September, 2024	Warehouse Continental, New Jersey

At 2,100 meters above sea level, Progreso is in the clouds. This elevation has allowed Andres to grow healthy Pink Bourbon and Caturra varietals as the cooler climate helps protect the plants from common diseases. His success with the Pink Bourbon varietal led him to phase out his Caturra trees completely. Progreso fully transitioned to Pink Bourbon trees about 4 years ago.

Andres has worked with coffee for as long as he can remember. For 15 years, he traveled to the state of Huila to work as a cherry picker during the harvest season, eventually saving up enough money to start his own farm. He got right to work planting trees at Progreso, which also became home to him, his wife, Diana, and their two kids.

After a bad experience with the low prices of commercial coffee, Andres decided he only wanted to work with specialty coffee. He stopped focusing on quantity and shifted towards better varietals with a focus on learning and implementing techniques to produce high quality coffee. While he works just as hard to produce less coffee, he is proud of the quality and that he can sell it for a price that reflects the effort he puts into each harvest.

REQUEST A SAMPLE

56 | El Mandarino

Coming soon!

Producer Arturo Martinez	Description TBA
Process Washed	Varietals Pink Bourbon
Region Nariño	Elevation 1,960 meters
Position ETA September, 2024	Warehouse Continental, New Jersey

Arturo has worked in the coffee industry for over 25 years. He travels through the different regions in Colombia picking coffee while simultaneously learning from many different farmers. A couple of years ago, while working in the Huila region, he noticed how popular the pink bourbon varietal was becoming. He decided it was time to grow his own trees.

With seeds from a coffee plantation in Acevedo, Huila he travelled back to Nariño. Having no land of his own, he asked his father for a small lot to use and has his coffee trees planted at El Mandarino. He now proudly puts his knowledge and experience to work cultivating his own coffee.

REQUEST A SAMPLE

123 | El Carpintero

Coming soon!

Producer Laureano Gomez	Description TBA
Process Washed	Varietals Variedad Colombia
Region Nariño	Elevation 1,950 meters
Position ETA September, 2024	Warehouse Continental, New Jersey

Despite growing up in the San Lorenzo region, Laureano went to work in the Quindio department of Colombia when he was younger. This area is part of the Eje Cafetero (Coffee Axis or Coffee Triangle) as it is where the majority of Colombian coffee is produced. Needless to say, he learned a lot about coffee during those years.

In 1985, Laureano returned to San Lorenzo and was able to buy the land that is now El Carpintero. Thirty-eight years later, he still calls the farm home along with his wife, Maria. They raised their two daughters there and are now empty-nesters as both daughters are grown.

Currently planted with 7,000 trees of Variedad Colombia, coffee was not always the main crop at El Carpintero. Laureano recalls a time when coffee was not grown in the region at all as the climate was too cold. He said weather has changed a lot during the years, getting warmer and warmer, making the area hospitable to coffee trees.

REQUEST A SAMPLE

16 | El Plan

Coming soon!

Producer Patricia Benitez	Description TBA
Process Washed, sun-dried	Varietals Castillo, F4
Region Nariño	Elevation 1,750 meters
Position ETA September, 2024	Warehouse Continental Terminals, New Jersey

Coffee has always been a way of life for Patricia. Growing up on her father’s farm, she helped with the day to day activities with her siblings. After he passed away, Patricia inherited a portion of her farm where she started El Plan fifteen years ago.
As of 2023 Patricia and her husband Alex have 9,000 trees of coffee planted at El Plan of the varietal Castillo F4.

Coming full circle, she and her husband Alex now provide for her family with coffee production. However, Patricia, like many other Colombian coffee farmers, faces new challenges that are shrinking profits; climate change and the ever increasing costs of production are the main contributors to the declining margins. As we enter our fourth year working with Patricia, and been able to pay above market price for her coffee, we witnessed the importance that coffee has played in the oportunitites for the family. Patricia and Alex have been able to pay for the education of their son in a private university with the proceeds of coffee. Something that was unthinkable of a generation ago. We are humble and proud of working with farmer’s like Patricia an hope to impact many other farmers life giving them the opportunity of having a sustainable business model.

REQUEST A SAMPLE

07 | El Naranjo

Coming soon!

Producer Evelio Bados	Description TBA
Process Washed	Varietals Castillo, Colombia
Region Nariño	Elevation 1,900 meters
Position ETA September, 2024	Warehouse Continental, New Jersey

El Naranjo began over 38 years ago as just a vision. Evelio invested in an untouched lot and worked very hard to clear the land and eventually plant coffee. He was working double duty during this time as he was also employed at other farms in order to provide for his family. After watching his dream come to fruition, Evelio hopes that his children will continue his legacy and produce coffee at El Naranjo in the future. For this reason, he continues to look for opportunities that will allow for sustainability and improved quality of life. It is important to him that his children and El Naranjo are successful for generations to come.

REQUEST A SAMPLE

14 | Bellavista

Coming soon!

Producer Albeiro Solarte	Description Maple syrup, bakers chocolate, cherry
Process Washed, sun-dried	Varietals Colombia, Castillo
Region Nariño	Elevation 1,850 meters
Position ETA September, 2024	Warehouse Continental Terminals, New Jersey

Albeiro and his nine siblings grew up at Finca Bellavista. He and four of his brothers still live at the farm today, caring for both the coffee and their aging parents. They have fond childhood memories and learned everything they know about coffee from their now 98 year old father.

While Albeiro takes pride in growing excellent coffee, providing his parent’s with a comfortable lifestyle in their golden years is the ultimate reward for his hard work.

REQUEST A SAMPLE