Our Offerings - Arango Specialty Coffee

202 | ARANGO DECAF E.A.

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.

REQUEST A SAMPLE

179 | La Fortuna – Chiroso

Spot Continental NJ

Producer Maximiliano Vargas	Description Floral, green tea, maple syrup
Process Washed	Varietals Chiroso
Region Antioquia	Elevation 2,100meters
Position Spot	Warehouse Continental, New Jersey

Maximiliano has been working with coffee since 2,000. He is grateful coffee gave him the opportunity to provide for his four now grown children and for his wife when she was alive. Maximiliano’s wife Maria Estela died in 2020. Maximiliano has 3,500 chriroso trees at La Fortuna. In 2021 Maximiliano participated in a coffee competitions with his coffee and placed in the top 10.
Maximiliano explains that he is very meticulous with his coffee processing, he picked one day, depulped 24 hours later, let the coffee sit in the fermentation tank for 72 hours, before washing it.
Maximiliano is planning on making some improvements at his farm starting with his drying facilities and also his wet beneficio. He believes these improvements will allow him to improve even more the quality of his coffee.

REQUEST A SAMPLE

68 | El Silencio – Chiroso

Spot Continental NJ

Producer Jose Flores	Description Vibrant, citrus, caramel, peach, floral
Process Washed	Varietals Chiroso
Region Antioquia	Elevation 2,050 meters
Position Spot	Warehouse Continental, New Jersey

A farmer all his life, José only shifted to coffee production when he purchased El Silencio nine years ago. The small farm is home to him and his wife, Martha Lucia, and is planted with 5,000 coffee trees. Of those trees, only 2,500 are old enough to produce coffee now.

The decision to operate on a smaller scale was deliberate. All of the coffee planted at El Silencio is the delicate chiroso varietal. While it is more susceptible to disease, José believes the risk pays off with the quality of the cup. By keeping his farm small, José can monitor all stages of the harvest and processing carefully to assure the health of his plants and the caliber of his coffee.

REQUEST A SAMPLE

15 | El Mango – Chiroso

Spot Continental NJ

Producer Gilberto Giraldo	Description Floral, honey, tea, stone fruit
Process Washed	Varietals Chiroso
Region Antioquia	Elevation 1,800 meters
Position Spot	Warehouse Continental, New Jersey

Like other farms in the area, Gilberto and El Mango have experienced a couple of challenging years. Dramatic climate changes in the last few years have diminished the production yield considerably. On top of that, the resurgence of activity among armed illegal groups in the region led to multiple displacements from the farm, including once during the harvest last year.

While these obstacles proved difficult to overcome, Gilberto took them in stride and is still planning for the upcoming years. He has new varietals like Chirosos and Pink Bourbon, that are mature now and is excited to experiment with different processing methods. His unwavering commitment to El Mango is evident and we are equally committed to riding out the ups and downs with him.

REQUEST A SAMPLE

201 | El Cachonal – Chiroso

Spot Continental NJ

Producer Sebastian Urrego	Description Floral, honey, green tea
Process Washed	Varietals Chiroso
Region Antioquia	Elevation 2,100meters
Position Spot	Warehouse Continental, New Jersey

Sebastian comes from a family of coffee growers. His father taught him the skills needed to take over the farm once he retired.

Sebastian believes that a combination between traditional methods of growing coffee combined with innovative processing provides a great approach to make coffee growing profitable. He currently has 6,000 trees of the Chiroso varietal at El Chaconal. With his own wet mill and drying beds, Sebastian pays close attention to processing. Currently he lets the coffee ferment in the cherry for 12 hours before depulping it and continuing fermentation for another 24 hours. The drying process takes a minimum of 6 to 12 days depending on the weather conditions.
Always looking for room to improve, Sebastian has the goal of improving his wet mill and his drying facilities. He knows how important these is are for maintaining the quality and consistency of his coffees.

REQUEST A SAMPLE

162 | La Soledad – Chiroso

Coming soon!

Producer Elpidio Arboleda	Description Floral, green tea, stone fruit, honey
Process Washed	Varietals Chiroso
Region Antioquia	Elevation 2,100meters
Position ETA September, 2024	Warehouse Continental, New Jersey

Born into a coffee family, Elpidio grew up learning the subtleties of producing coffee from his father. Fifty years later, he is still working with coffee. He manages La Soledad with the help of his daughter, Erika, and son in law, Frainer Rueda.
La Soledad, is planted with 20,000 trees of the Chiroso varietal. Planning for long-term production, Elpidio methodically planted sections of trees at different times. This allows him to have more trees planted as they are not all in production at the same time. He can also prune older trees down to regenerate without a significant yield loss.
Elpidio is meticulous about his processing, using a 24 hour cherry fermentation prior to depulping the coffee. He then gives it another 48 hours of fermentation before the drying stage, which usually takes between 3 days and a week, depending on weather conditions.He has participated in coffee competitions for the past 5 years, topping the Antioquia coffee competition in 2019.

REQUEST A SAMPLE

184 | Vista Hermosa

Coming soon!

Producer Everardo Ortiz	Description TBA
Process Washed	Varietals Castillo/Colombia
Region Nariño	Elevation 1,950 meters
Position ETA September, 2024	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.

REQUEST A SAMPLE

17 | La Esmeralda

Coming soon!

Producer Arquímedes España	Description TBA
Process Washed, sun-dried	Varietals Colombia, castillo
Region Nariño	Elevation 1,800 meters
Position ETA September,2024	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.

REQUEST A SAMPLE

23 | Los Gilgueros

Coming soon!

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