A Return to Coffee Country (part 1)
Ed and Jess land in Colombia and get ready to visit their first farm.
We’re back from coffee country: Colombia. We saw and did so much, it’s hard to capture it all, but I’ll use this space to document as much as I can.
We arrived at night and called for our Uber. One interesting thing about Medellín is that even the airport cab stand has little bars. First thing I noticed? The Aguardiente is different now. If you haven’t tried it, it’s a local liquor—part rum, part sambuca. It’s got that star anise flavor. Last time, I saw red and blue bottles. This time? A green one. And later, a yellow?! They all kinda taste the same, but I became obsessed with figuring them out. I don’t drink much these days, but I’m always interested in new stuff.
It sounds silly, but the Uber ride from the airport is always a treat. It’s nighttime, so after emerging on the other end of a (seemingly endless) tunnel, there’s a large dark valley and all the little barrios are lit up with white lights. It’s very exciting and nostalgic for Ed and Jess.
We check into a hostel and head right over to our favorite neighborhood, and no, Ed doesn’t want to say the name of the neighborhood because he likes how local and quiet it is. Once there, we hit up one of our favorite little parks. There are bars and restaurants around the park. Another thing that’s very interesting and different about Colombia is how much people love the parks. They’re central meeting places for the community. Ed is particularly enamored with this fact. When you visit the parks at night, there’s music playing from all directions, usually nothing intrusive. There are couples and groups of friends everywhere. Everyone is happy and smiling, and it stands as a reminder that happiness is contagious. We plop down at one of our old haunts and enjoy a beer, a burger, that green-top Aguardiente (they all taste the same), and we proceed to add to the collective happiness of the community. We are back, and it feels great.
Not everything was perfect. Our apartment could use soundproof windows. At his grumpiest, Ed said it was like sleeping on the street. Jess might agree… just not out loud.
For now, we’re headed for our first farm. It’s in a town called Ebéjico [eh-beh-hee-kho], about an hour outside of Medellín. The road winds along cliffsides, with clouds floating below due to the shifting climate and altitude. As you look into the valley, you’re staring at the clouds. It feels like driving into the sky.
Upon arrival, we’re in a sleepy little town. Most of the little pueblos have a bit of a “wild west” vibe. There are at most two main roads lined with little shops filled with people who are hard at work or waiting for customers. In this particular town, there is what I might call a “weigh station.” This is where we’d meet the folks of Café de Los Cedros. It’s run by a young, ambitious gent by the name of Juan David. It’s also where Cherry Bomb will be coming from. They explain to us the purpose of the weigh station and how coffee is graded via their in-house Q-grader. Q-graders are the extremely talented folks who have the unique capacity to rate coffee. As we stroll through the town, it’s apparent these folks are valued members of the community.
After a snack, we hop in a truck and head toward the farm. It’s a long, slow ride up the mountain. Lots of clouds, small properties along the way. Believe it or not, there are coffee plants everywhere in Colombia. I’m not sure if it’s from human intervention, naturally, or an act of defiance. They’re even in the city of Medellín. We arrive at the farm, and after a short introduction, we’re off climbing the hillside. The coffee plants are bigger than I remember. Some species are around 5 to 6 feet tall and about 4 to 5 feet wide. Some of the exotics (like our Pink Bourbon) are about 8 feet tall. All the different shades of green are almost overstimulating. As we climb the path up, I pick the ripe coffee cherries and collect their seeds (coffee beans). I had this goofy compulsion to remove the fruit (which tastes great, by the way) and strip off the mucilage—muselago.
This served as the introduction to our journey. We met some extremely passionate people and our newest harvest. The folks at Café de Los Cedros are cultivating amazing coffee, but not only that, they are adding processes that are still fairly uncommon in Colombia. Finally, they are using innovative methods that reduce water usage without sacrificing quality. It may not be apparent, but these farmers are taking a huge risk and making big investments to create coffees and processes that fall into the specialty category of Colombian coffee.
Coffee farms are a magical place. I believe, similar to forests, there’s a “green therapy” thing going on, and Colombia has no shortage of green spaces.
So much has changed since our last visit. Some friends got married, had kids, some adopted multiple wiener dogs (yes, multiple), and somehow, our friends are now full-on doctors. It was worth every second to reconnect. But time to sign off… part two coming soon!