Past

Macana Regional

Red Ecolsierra
Arabica

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  • 9 sales on Algrano
  • 3 Avg. orders per roaster
  • 4 Roaster relationships
Origin
Colombia
Producer
Red Ecolsierra
Variety
Castillo, Colombia
Process type
Fully washed
Harvest period
December, 2020 - December, 2020
Algrano's cupping score (SCA)
85.0 points
Updated February, 2021
ID
CO-138-202012
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The coffee story

Macana stands for Red Ecolsierra's micro-regions and is composed of coffees collected from one or a couple of the seven collection points managed by the cooperative. This lot in specific comes from the Bonda and Minca corregiments. This was the first place where coffee was grown in Sierra Nevada, back then by foreign settlers. Minca especially is a coffee destination. "Many farm holders have opened their plantations to guests so that they can have an experience of the coffee culture in the Caribbean region," says Alberto Verdencia of Red Ecolsierra. 

Red Ecolsierra is based in the department of Magdalena, North Colombia, and represents 352 families in the area. The coop's headquarters are located in the city of Santa Marta, at the foothills of the Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta, one of the highest coastal mountain chains in the world, which rises to peaks as high as 5.700 m above sea level.

The proximity to the coast creates the perfect space for hundreds of wild species to thrive in Sierra Nevada's coffee belt, which ranges from 900 m to 1.900 m above sea level. The forests which cover the higher slopes of the mountains are a natural for incredibly rich biodiversity. As Georgi Djalev wrote for Roast Magazine in the September-October 2019 edition: "The climate in this region is also special. The dry season is long, while the rainy season is short and intense. This allows only one harvest per year and requires the coffee to grow in the shade of other plants, which in turn prevents the soil from erosion and protects the watersheds, securing water for the cities below. It is also a habitat for endangered species. This closes a virtuous cycle that benefits both the coffee grower community and the environment. The exceptional environment produces characteristically flavoured, high-quality coffee that requires sustainable production practices to grow, which in turn benefits the unique nature of the place."

Red Ecolsierra manages 22 base groups and 7 collection points throughout the Sierra Nevada mountain chain, as pictured below. According to one of the farmers Jose Reatiga: "This coffee is harvested in friendship, dialogue between our neighbours and our regions. We look together to improve our production, so we get to know our neighbours much better and improve our relations in the region. For me, it is very nice to share with the neighbour and to know how he does his coffee processing, so we exchange ideas to improve the quality of coffee together and consequently our quality of life in the community".


Location of the Red Ecolsierra's collection points


How the Red Ecolsierra reinvests Fairtrade premiums

The Fairtrade certification provides an extra bonus for every pound of organic coffee traded. The Ecolsierra Network's General Assembly of Associates is the one that distributes these resources in areas that respond to the needs of the farmers and their workers. Our lines of investment in social premium are directed to:

Infrastructure, machinery and equipment: Projects to improve the infrastructure of the wet mills, organic coffee drying processes, housing on farms, acquisition and assembly of silos and canopies, construction of basic sanitation, installation of ecological kitchens. They can also be used to improve workers' dormitories, drinking water tanks, irrigation systems and soil analysis.

Diversification of production and income: Natural honey packaging plant, equipment for quality improvement and coffee roasting, beekeeping, cocoa harvesting and community ecotourism, through the Macana Turismo initiative.

Eco-innovation and pollution mitigation for the local habitat: Rural electrification through solar energy systems and hydroelectric plants; projects to reduce the environmental impact of organic coffee processing and producer housing; reforestation and planting of timber trees for future ecological projects.

Credit funds: Financing of community projects and advances that facilitate the preparation of the harvest for the families.

Social and economic development: Purchase and maintenance of the administrative headquarters; an educational fund that facilitates access to education for members and their children; creation of Ecolsierra Export S.A.S. as the association's export company; implementation of sustainable farms, appropriation and diversification of the rural environment, agro-eco-tourism and beekeeping, training, marketing and public relations.


The process

The cherries are hand-picked by the producers and their families and wet-milled at the farm. After depulping, the coffee is fermented in water tanks, washed and later sun-dried.