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La Carmelita, Caturra, Washed
La Carmelita, Caturra, Washed
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This coffee represents to me the real power of specialty coffee, where with a little help from those with greater market access a producer is able to realise greater value from their work, and is able to double down and grow their families opportunities.
This is a traditional washed caturra from Bolivia. That means its a delicious, balanced, well rounded coffee, that drips with quality and sweetness.
Producer: Carmela Urduvi
Variety: Caturra
Location: Copacabana, Bolivia
Process: Washed
+ Broader Context
This beautiful coffee is a European exclusive to Drop coffee, and we're really grateful to Joanna for sharing a little of it with us this year as we build our sourcing strategy.
Typical of many traditional coffee producers within Bolivia, Carmela Urduvi began with only a very small parcel of land, low yields and expectations of reaching only the commodity market. After a season where Roja (leaf rust) impacted production, she joined the sustainability project Sol de la Mañana, which is run by our exporters Agricafe. With their help, Carmelita has successfully been able to increase production, quality, her farm size and earnings, and access and develop a long-term relationship creating future stability and certainty. In 2019 Sol de la Mañana won the SCA Award for Most Sustainable Business Model.
Steve and Joanna visited Carmela for the first time in 2015, and have been buying coffee from her ever since.
"Carmelita is easily one of the strongest people we've ever met in this business.
When we first met she had just prepared her land for a second hectare and was ready to start planting her new Caturra and Catuaí seedlings from her nursery. This time she wanted to do everything right from the beginning and, with the help of the agronomists in Sol de la Mañana, she did.
We've since watched her farm grow to three hectares, with a lush and abundant production, and today we proudly boast European exclusivity on all of the coffees produced there"
Carmela cleans each cherry after picking before putting it into her bags and delivering it for processing at the Rodriguez mill. She believes that joining the project has helped her to better understand what she needs to do to consistently produce better coffee and keep her crops healthy and strong. By producing a better quality coffee she is also able to earn more money and have a better future for herself and her children, who are now working with her on the farm to drive it forwards together.
+ Roast & Brewing Information
This is a medium roast coffee, and will make a fantastic all day drinking mug of filter, as well as an espresso thats delicious as is, or as the base for a milk drink. As filter the heavier, chocolatey side of the coffee comes to the fore, as espresso the acidity is higher, but in balance if using a traditional recipe
Espresso 19:38g 28-30s
Filter 24:400g 3:30s
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