Spot Continental NJ Archives - Arango Specialty Coffee

184 | Vista Hermosa

Producer Everardo Ortiz	Description Sweet, balanced, caramel, stone fruit
Process Washed	Varietals Castillo
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 Castillo 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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17 | La Esmeralda

Spot Continental NJ

Producer Arquímedes España	Description Honey, cherry, milk chocolate, caramel
Process Washed, sun-dried	Varietals Colombia, castillo
Region Nariño	Elevation 1,800 meters
Position Spot	Warehouse Continental, New Jersey

At just two and a half hectares, La Esmeralda is a small farm. Nevertheless, it is home to Arquímedes, his wife, Tatiana, and their young daughter. They are proud of the effort invested to transform this property into both their business and home.

Arquímedes is aware that every detail matters when producing coffee and is continuously planning upgrades for La Esmeralda, starting with the addition of more drying beds. His goals are to increase efficiency and further improve quality. He participated in the Cup of Excellence competition in the past and hopes to return again.

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23 | Los Gilgueros

Spot Continental NJ

Producer Isolina Quintero	Description Sweet, lingering, caramel, butter, stone fruit
Process Washed, sun-dried	Varietals Castillo
Region Nariño	Elevation 1,800 meters
Position Spot	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.

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57 | Santa Ana

Spot Continental NJ

Producer Brayan Meneses	Description Sweet, maple syrup, grape, floral
Process Washed, sun-dried	Varietals Colombia, Castillo
Region Nariño	Elevation 1,960 meters
Position Spot	Warehouse Continental, New Jersey

At 32 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.

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156 | Santa Rosa

Spot Continental NJ

Producer Jose Villada	Description Vibrant, sweet, bakers chocolate, grape fruit
Process Washed	Varietals Castillo, Colombia
Region Nariño	Elevation 1850 meters
Position Spot	Warehouse Continental Terminals

Jose and his wife, Claudia, are both proud and grateful for their beautiful farm, Santa Rosa. Located in the Santa Marta region and offering breathtaking views of the surrounding mountains, the farm sits 1,800 meters above sea level.

After inheriting the land from his father, Jose and Claudia started from scratch, building a small house and planting 7,000 trees of the Colombia and Castillo varietals. Over the years, as their family grew, so did Santa Rosa. They built a bigger house and, eventually, a small wet mill.

With great attention to detail from management to processing, the Villada family is a great example of what can be accomplished with limited resources. They were able to provide for their children as they grew up while simultaneously working to improve the farm. This is our first year working with them and we are super excited with the quality and consistency of their coffee.

121 | Santa Marta Community Lot

Spot Continental NJ

Producer Various	Description Caramel, chocolate, honey, stone fruit, cherry
Process Washed	Varietals Castillo, F4
Region Nariño	Elevation 1,900 to 2,100 meters
Position Spot	Warehouse Continental, New Jersey

Santa Marta is a small coffee farming community located in the Nariño department in the south of Colombia. The average output of every farm per year is about 10 bags of green coffee. Our Community lot is comprised of lots from 10 small farms located between 1,900 and 2,100 meters above sea level.

After cupping these coffees for the first time last year, we saw an opportunity to work with the community. The coffees showed great complexity and sweetness as well as consistency from farm to farm. We believe that the proximity of these small farms plays a big role in their consistency and uniformity.

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64 | La Cartagena

Spot Continental NJ

Producer Jorge Cartagena	Description Dark chocolate, maple syrup, spices, berries
Process Washed, sun-dried	Varietals Caturra, Colombia
Region Antioquia	Elevation 1,950 meters
Position ETA May, 2024	Warehouse Continental, New Jersey

Like many of the farmers we work with, Jorge learned the art of producing coffee from his father. However, after inheriting his father’s small coffee farm, he chose to sell it. With the money from that sale he was able to purchase La Cartagena, a farm that has allowed him to pursue the production of specialty coffee. He now has 4,500 coffee trees planted – a combination of Caturra and Colombia varietals. As he continually works to enhance the quality of his coffee, Jorge already has plans to improve both his water supply and his wet beneficio. Proud of his profession, Jorge is also teaching his children how to grow coffee. He hopes the family tradition will continue for many generations to come.

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135 | El Maco

Spot Continental NJ

Producer Zoila Rojas	Description Sweet, stone fruit, maple syrup, milk chocolate
Process Washed	Varietals Colombia/Castillo
Region Nariño	Elevation 2,000 meters
Position Spot	Warehouse Continental, New Jersey

Born and raised in the Santa Marta region of Nariño, Colombia, Zoila still lives in the same community at the age of 67. Alongside her husband, she began growing coffee at El Maco forty-two years ago and the two of them raised their two children there. After he passed away in 2019, Zoila moved to the city of Bogotá with her daughter. After a few months, she decided to go back to the farm and continue growing coffee. Today, El Maco is planted with approximately 7,000 trees of the Colombia Varietal.

We started to work with Zoila in 2022. After cupping her coffee we loved the profile and saw immediate potential to develop a long term relationship. Zoila is very excited about working with the same partners year over year and show the improvements that she can make.

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183 | El Mirador

Spot Continental NJ

Producer Edy Martinez	Description Chocolate, cola, grapes, molasses,
Process Honey – Sun dried	Varietals Castillo F4
Region Nariño	Elevation 1,850 meters
Position Spot	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.

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75 | La Arboleda

Spot Continental NJ

Producer Alberto Montoya	Description Sweet, honey, lemongrass, green tea
Process Washed, sun-dried	Varietals Chiroso
Region Antioquia	Elevation 2,050 meters
Position Spot	Warehouse Continental, New Jersey

Alberto grew up in the Urrao region and has many memories of working on coffee plantations. He eventually saved up enough money to purchase La Arboleda and began growing his own coffee. This proved to be a good investment as it is still home to Alberto and his wife of thirty-two years, Maria.
Aside from coffee, Alberto is also the president of the Junta de Accion Comunal in the region.

As a leader, he is always trying to improve the livelihood of the community through development and projects such as roads and bridges. He wants all the families in his community to have access to opportunities and believes direct trade (near and far) can help everyone succeed.

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