Spot Continental NJ Archives - Arango Specialty Coffee

78 | El Naranjo White Honey

Producer Evelio Bados	Description Floral, grapes, molasses, chocolate
Process White honey, sun-dried	Varietals Colombia, Castillo
Region Nariño	Elevation 1,900 meters
Position Spot	Warehouse Continental, New Jersey

El Naranjo began over 35 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 is proud that his children are continuing his legacy to produce coffee at El Naranjo. It is important to him that his children and El Naranjo are successful for generations to come.

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155 | Vista Hermosa – Pink Bourbon

Spot Continental NJ

Producer Everardo Ortiz	Description Floral, lemongrass, citrus, nougat, cocoa powder
Process Washed	Varietals Pink Bourbon
Region Nariño	Elevation 1,950 meters
Position Spot	Warehouse Continental, New Jersey

Everardo’s farm, Vista Hermosa, is truly what the name implies. Translating from Spanish as “beautiful view”, the farm overlooks the Jamundy Canyon which runs through the Andes in the south of Colombia.

Everardo inherited the farm from his father. He raised his three children with his wife and was able to provide education to them with the proceeds from the farm. After Everardo’s wife passed away in 2017, he remained committed to the farm as two of his children want to continue working with coffee.

Focused on expansion, Everardo planted 5,000 new trees, bringing his currently total to 12,000 trees. His next goal is to build a wet mill on the property. For now, he relies on a nephew that lives close by to process his coffee. Having the infrastructure at Vista Hermosa would allow him to work more efficiently as he increases his productivity.

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202 | ARANGO DECAF E.A.

Spot Continental NJ

Producer La Miranda Community	Description Sweet, sugar cane, caramel, chocolate
Process Washed	Varietals Castillo, Colombia
Region Antioquia	Elevation 1,800 to 1,900 meters
Position Spot	Warehouse Continental, New Jersey

La Miranda is a small community located in Ituango, Antioquia, Colombia. The region is rich in fertile soils and beautiful landscapes that produce excellent coffee. However, the beauty and the remoteness of the region comes with its own challenges. For the last 40 years, this region has struggled with violence. Massacres, displacements, and extortions have made coffee farming very difficult. We have a lot of respect for people that persist and still grow coffee in these conditions. It’s also amazing to us that farmers can produce the quality of coffees that we are getting under these difficult conditions.
The lots that we selected for the decaffeination process are solid 86+ coffees. We cupped the coffees again after the E.A. decaffeination process and we were very please with the results.
We understand that when people ask for decaf coffee they do it because the flavor not the caffeine. We shouldn’t neglect decaf coffee anymore and we should treat it with respect for people that produce it as well as people that drink it. That is our goal with our decaf program.

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16 | El Plan

Spot Continental NJ

Producer Patricia Benitez	Description Sweet, caramel, maple syrup, bakers chocolate
Process Washed, sun-dried	Varietals Castillo, F4
Region Nariño	Elevation 1,750 meters
Position Spot	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.

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07 | El Naranjo

Spot Continental NJ

Producer Evelio Bados	Description Floral, sweet, molasses, grapes
Process Washed	Varietals Castillo, Colombia
Region Nariño	Elevation 1,900 meters
Position Spot	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.

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41 | La Mina

Spot Continental NJ

Producer Henry Martinez	Description Floral, lemongrass, molasses, brown sugar
Process Washed, sun-dried	Varietals Colombia, Castillo
Region Nariño	Elevation 1,960 meters
Position Spot	Warehouse Continental, New Jersey

Ask Henry Martinez to describe the coffee industry and he will tell you, “Coffee is a blessing for all of us” and that he owes everything he has to hard work and coffee. He can recall good years and bad years, but is quick to note that lately the bad years are overwhelming the good ones. Coffee prices have been very low even though the cost of production keeps climbing.

After getting married to his wife Ricardina, Henry bought La Mina from his father. Through hard work and carefully managed expenses, he was able to pay off the farm in two years. While he originally planted caturra varietals, he found out after only 5 years how susceptible that variety is to leaf rust.

Now La Mina is planted with castillo varietals and focused on the production of specialty coffee as Henry sees this as an important opportunity to reduce the volatility in coffee prices. He knows that if we can develop strong relationships with customers over time, he can concentrate on his craft without worrying if he is going to break even at the end of the harvest.

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105 | El Chocho

Spot Continental NJ

Producer Andres Gomez	Description Sweet, caramel, stone fruit, black cherry
Process Washed	Varietals Castillo, Colombia
Region Nariño	Elevation 1,950 meters
Position Spot	Warehouse Continental, New Jersey

Andres inherited both the land at El Chocho and his knowledge of coffee from his father. Through the years, he has gradually made some updates at the farm, predominantly to the wet mill. As he improves his facilities, he is simultaneously working to increase his production by planting more trees. Originally, El Chocho consisted of 4,000 Castillo and Colombia trees and now he has around 6,000 trees, with plans to plant more.
Andres’ coffee has become one of our favorites year after year. We believe the unique way he processes his coffee makes it stand out on the cupping table. Even though his coffee is washed, we find complex notes that normally occur with other processing methods, like honey or even natural process.

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05 | Los Pinos

Spot Continental NJ

Producer Colombia Portilla	Description Milk chocolate, honey, caramel, stone fruit
Process Washed, sun-dried	Varietals Castillo, Colombia
Region Nariño	Elevation 1,800 meters
Position Spot	Warehouse Continental, New Jersey

Colombia inherited Los Pinos from her parents and raised her 3 children there as well. As a divorced mother, she relied on coffee production to provide for her family entirely. Her children helped on the farm while they were growing up, but now that they are all married with their own families, her brothers Hernan and Guillermo assist her during the harvesting season.

Colombia is still dedicated to her farm and wants to improve her drying installations. She intends to continue coffee production for years to come and is excited about the possibility to work hand in hand with roasters overseas.

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