Tadeo and his son Benjamin have an incredibly biodiverse farm, with a plethora of fruit trees (avocado, peach and banana to name a few) interspersed amongst the coffee shrubs, and shade trees. The soils are high in organic matter and ground cover is kept constant. Fertilization is minimal and applied according to soil analyses - Tadeo uses both conventional fertilizers, as well as an organic mix of coffee pulp composted with chicken mature and lime. This lot is a washed pacamara comes from a 15-cuerda planting.
Tadeo and Benjamin manage farm operations together, with Benjamin wanting to implement new practices both in the field, like new pruning techniques to increase production, and in processing, like paying pickers more to select only ripe cherries for example and cleaner more controlled fermentation and drying regimes. These new practices certainly help to improve cup quality, but they don’t come without a cost. Asking pickers to select only ripe cherries is expensive - and even though many of the same workers return each season, they require repeated training and close monitoring. Benjamin especially has increasingly taken on some of the work himself to maintain quality, because supervising and retraining works can be so time-consuming. He emphasizes the difficulties the temporary workers face beyond wages, noting that many are living with significant economic pressures that make concentrated, careful work very difficult.
For this pacamara lot, the ripe cherries rest for approximately 12 hours at the farm, before being de-pulped on the farm the following day in order to keep the elevation high throughout these early stages of processing. The de-pulped coffee drains before being transported to the home wet mill, where it continues fermenting in a tank. Fermentation lasts about 24 hours, including the initial period in cherry, and the time after de-pulping. Tadeo then washes the coffee several times, floating and removing the lower-density seeds, and the coffee is left submerged in water before receiving a final wash the following day. It is then transferred to the family’s shaded drying canopies.
This lot was sourced for us in partnership with Shared Source, a company we have worked with since LVC's inception due to their socially impactful purchasing and relationships with farmers. This lot is a primary example of the types of individuals Shared Source & Little Victories chooses to work alongside with: a father son duo producing excellent coffees while sustainably farming and improving their quality year over year. We're super grateful to have been able to purchase Tadeo's coffee for the first time and excited to serve you this excellent pacamara.
