Roger and I at the National School of Coffee Quality

We got to see the "how to" of the best process with special coffee.

Roger and I at the National School of Coffee Quality

We got to see the "how to" of the best process with special coffee.

Roger and I at the National School of Coffee Quality

We got to see the "how to" of the best process with special coffee.

Roger and I at the National School of Coffee Quality

We got to see the "how to" of the best process with special coffee.

Roger and I at the National School of Coffee Quality

We got to see the "how to" of the best process with special coffee.

miércoles, 15 de noviembre de 2017

Pitacoffee Introduction

viernes, 27 de octubre de 2017

Dark Honey Coffee Process

During the Honey Process, coffee is dried with some or all of the mucilage remaining on the parchment encasing the seed. Coffee cherries are picked, sorted, depulped, and then moved to drying patios or beds for various periods of time.
Because there is a little bit of fermentation happening in the short amount of time it takes for the mucilage to dry, coffees processed in this way feature a little more acidity than Pulped Naturals (Pressure-Washed) coffees, but significantly less acidity than Washed or Natural/Dried-in-the-Fruit coffees.

miércoles, 3 de mayo de 2017

WHY YOU SHOULD BUY OUR COFFEE

Huila’s Coffee, the Most Recognized High-Quality Origins

This Protected Denomination of Origin not only has unique cup attributes, but comes from a region characterized by its leadership in production of coffees of the highest quality (Specialty Coffee).

Huila is a department located to the south of the Andean region. Right now it's the leading department both in coffee production and quality even if coffee arrived to this region only at the beginning of last century. Since then, coffee-growing traditions have been kept.
Huila is the epicenter of the best specialty coffees. This is proved by the consecutive titles that the “opitas (native to Huila)” coffee growers have won in the Cup of Excellence competition and by high premiums that foreign buyers pay for high-quality coffees produced here. In the last edition of Cup of Excellence, Huila was ratified as origin of high-quality coffees.

Coffee growing in this department is also characterized by production of coffee with awareness of sustainable farming, taking into account conservation of soils, respect for natural forests and rational use of the environmental offer.
Huila producers are aware that quality and consistency are crucial to improve their revenues, with programs and additional social services that help them improve their quality of life, seeing the farm as a business unit that must be profitable and competitive. A total of 155.000 hectares are planted with coffee in 35 municipalities. Semi-shade grown coffee is relatively important in this region.

This department is the origin of rivers among mountains, showing a variety of landscapes with many natural elements such as volcanoes, low and undulating lands, rains, winds and temperatures that vary according to altitudes. It is known that in this department there are different thermal floors, such as warm, moorland, cold and mostly temperate ones.
But beyond privileged geographic conditions, commitment and devotion of Huila farmers to quality, caring for each of the processing stages, have contributed to highlight intrinsic qualities of coffee.

Huila's Specialty Coffee Features
Huila’s coffee offers a balanced overall impression with sweet notes, medium/high acidity and body in the cup, intense fragrance/aroma with candied and fruit feelings, what has forged its national and international reputation along time.

Some important characteristics of this region and the coffee it produces are the following; 
The Denomination of Origin Café del Huila covers the soft washed arabica coffee, which is processed sensorially to have a balanced overall impression, with sweet notes, acidity and medium / high body, intense fragrance / aroma with fruity and caramelised sensations. This cup profile is derived from climatic and geographic factors typical of this region, such as fewer hours of solar brightness (3.5 hours / day) due to cloudiness, constant temperatures during the day favoring the accumulation of chemical compounds in the fruit and ranges of height between 1000 and 2200 meters above sea level. Resulting in a coffee bean with uniform cup characteristics, despite the chemical variations that occur in the process of roasting.

lunes, 1 de mayo de 2017

WHERE DO OUR COFFEE COMES FROM


The 100% washed Arabica coffee produced in Colombia needs specific climatic conditions for its production. Arabica coffee is a product originated in the mountains of Eastern Africa, and its cultivation demands particular soil requirements, temperature conditions, atmospheric precipitation and certain altitude over sea level.
The ideal conditions for the cultivation of this species in Colombia are found between the 1.200 (4,000 ft) and 1.800 meters (6,000 ft) above the sea level, with temperatures between 17 and 23 degrees centigrade (62-75 Fahrenheit) and with precipitations close to 2.000 millimeters (78 inch) per year, well distributed along the year. Although these conditions are very frequent, it is also possible to produce an outstanding coffee at altitudes of up to 2,300 meters (7,500 ft) or marginally lower than 1,200 m., and with different levels or frequency of precipitations.
The specific geographic location of each Colombian coffee growing region determines its particular conditions of availability of water, temperature, solar radiation, and wind regime for coffee cultivation. For example, the central coffee growing regions in the country present dry and rainy periods along different months, which allow harvesting fresh coffee regularly during the whole year. In most of the coffee growing regions in the country there is a period of flowering that goes from January to March, and another one that goes from July to September. The main harvest in these zones takes place between September and December, and there is a secondary harvest, denominated "mitaca", during the second quarter of the year. The main harvest and the mitaca could be alternated in other regions, in accordance with their latitude (see map).

Aside from the special conditions of altitude, latitude and climate, Colombian coffee growing has an essential attribute: the quality of its soil. The soil at coffee growing regions is characteristic for being in its majority derivative of volcanic ashes, which endows them with a high content of organic material and good physical characteristics for coffee production.
With those available natural elements, the people of coffee in Colombia carry out their hard work with different nuances, according with the conditions of the different regional environments. This variety of ecosystems does not only constitute a biodiversity paradise, but also determines the decisions of producers on the level of technification of their cultivation and the coffee varieties to be used.  Thus, in Colombia coffee plantations are developed under different systems of cultivation that include traditional plantations with lower productivity, on the one side, and those more advanced and technical, with sun exposure, partially-shaded or those considered shade grown, on the other side. In any of these systems of cultivation, Colombian coffee growers only cultivate coffee of the Arabica species, using varieties that adapt to their specific conditions of production, including the ones that are known as Típica, Borbón, Caturra, Castillo o Tabi.
In general, it could be said that Colombia's coffee growing regions are characterized by the differences between their rain patterns and their harvest cycles, and the altitude and temperature at which their coffee is produced on the other hand, in the southern zones of the country, close to the Equator, coffee is produced at a higher altitude and at temperatures that, not being extreme, are less elevated. These coffees produced in specific regions such as Nariño or Cauca, Huila or South of Tolima have different harvesting cycles. They have a higher acidity and other certain special attributes, on occasions very specific in terms of aroma, or sweetness, very demanded by sophisticated markets. Those regions are being developed as regional Denominations of Origin (see DO/IGP) and are developing specific programs of guarantee of origin.
 On the other hand, the coffees produced in the North of the country, at latitudes above 9° North, face conditions on occasions similar to the latitudes of the main Central American coffee producers.  They are produced at lower latitudes and in consequence, at higher temperatures. Also, certain regions such as the Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta, the Perijá Mountains or the Colombian departments of Casanare, Santander and North of Santander, due to their climatic conditions and environment they tend to be more exposed to solar radiation and in consequence the cultivations are frequently protected by different levels of shade. Those coffees, highly requested by particular markets, have a lower acidity but a fuller body. 
In the center of the country is where most of the Colombian Coffee harvest  is produced. In these zones, known as the coffee belt (or zona cafetera), certain coffee growing areas of the departments of Caldas, Quindío and Risaralda, with others located in the North of the department Valle, conform the Cultural Coffee Landscape. One can find modern coffee cultivations that coexist with the smallest and more traditional producers. These zones, as the ones in Antioquia, Cundinamarca, Boyacá and the North of Tolima have several harvest cycles per year, and produce coffee basically year round with certain harvest peaks. On occasions, a same coffee tree gets up to 8 visits in one year in order to harvest its mature beans.
Sophisticated consumers from the whole world are increasingly aware of the importance of  origin  to select their coffee, and are continuously demanding 100% Colombian coffee Brands. However, some of them also want to know and to see the specific regions within Colombia where their coffee is produced in order to be able to fully appreciate the quality attributes of their coffee as well as the specific programs of Sustainability That Matters developed in those regions. In some cases consumers and clients are also demanding more sophisticated programs of guarantee of origin, which are also carried out by the Colombian Coffee Growers Federation and its Departmental Committees of coffee growers in these regions.
Most Colombian coffee growing areas are located at certain altitudes in the Colombian departments of Antioquia, Boyacá, Caldas, Cauca, Cesar, Caquetá, Casanare, Cundinamarca, Guajira, Huila, Magdalena, Meta, Nariño, Norte de Santander, Quindío, Risaralda, Santander, Tolima and Valle. Growers in these provinces have created their departmental and municipal coffee committees of producers, which also belong to their Federation. These committees of coffee producers are in charge of looking after the interests of coffee growers of each zone. If you wish to visit the programs and priorities of each Committee please visit the respective Committee in the Colombian Coffee Growers Federation site.


viernes, 28 de abril de 2017

FINALLY, FRESH COFFEE STRAIGHT FROM THE FARMS IN COLOMBIA



GET YOUR COFFEE FRESH STRAIGHT FROM THE FARM HERE IN COLOMBIA


MOST COFFEE SHOPS GET THEIR COFFEE FROM BIG IMPORTERS. 

This companies work in terms of containers (20 or 40 tons) that are transported in ships across the oceans.  The process of collecting big quantities of coffee and transporting it takes time.  The amount of time varies from company to company and from season to season but we know for a fact that it would not be less than six months from when the coffee is picked and processed to the time it gets to the customer.


The coffee is picked up, then it goes through a process of fermentation, washing, drying, packaging and then it is transported from the farms to the small buyers in town, they collect as much as they can and then sale it to the big exporting corporations which in turn take it to the States or to Europe, usually by ship and then it goes to their warehouses.  This process takes at least six months, then they take their coffee to the roaster who packages it and distributes it through the stores or coffee shops, this process takes another three months and by the time you consume it, most of the time it’s being over a year since they first picked it.


WHAT ARE WE OFFERING YOU?

We are offering you Specialty Coffee that was picked up last week and you can have in your house or coffee shop in a matter of days (15 to 21 days), so that you can roast as much as you want to consume and keep the rest of the green beans fresh and ready for roasting, that way you will always drink the freshest coffee you’re ever gonna find and keep the rest fresh.  Besides that, the coffee has been hand selected by us which guarantees you’re going to get the best they can produce around here.


For an outsider view of the subject click here:

jueves, 13 de abril de 2017

Vision Pitacoffee


This is a short video where we talk about our vision of the Specialty Coffee business.

Our projection is to be the best distributors of Specialty Coffee from single source to the coffee shops in the United States and elsewhere.  Straight from the farms in Colombia, by respecting our values and clean practices in every step of the process, from planting, growing, harvesting, to the supplying of the growing demand of specialty coffee around the world.

We know with all certainty that coffee shops in the United States and in Europe are not getting their coffee supply from the farmers but from huge companies that spend a lot of time collecting and delivering their coffee to the consumer.  Therefore, the consumer in the States or in Europe are not getting fresh coffee as it’s advertised by the big corporations.  In order to get your Specialty Coffee fresh you must get it from the farmers and delivered via airmail to you and that is what we are offering you.  Fresh picked coffee from the farm within a matter of days.  

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