Fernando Alfaro Visits Carvetii
This week we have an exciting visitor at our Roastery. Fernando Alfaro, the owner of Finca El Carmen will be visiting the U.K. next week and will be spending the day with us as part of his itinerary.
We’ve used coffee from this particular farm for a couple of years and in 2016 coffee from this particular farm made up 50% of our espresso blend. Aside from the opportunity of showing off our wonderful region, this visit represents a growing relationship with ourselves and our key coffee broker, Mercanta. In the same way that we value a close working relationship with our coffee buying customers, we’ve worked hard to foster strong relationships on the coffee buying side.
We now buy the bulk of our coffee through Mercanta and work closely with them to identify green coffee beans which meet our needs, often securing them before they land in the UK. Planning our buying months in advance allows us to be better prepared once the coffee has landed and allows us more time to perfect the roast before we begin selling it.
Fernando processes1 the coffee for two other farms so during the visit we’ll be able to get an appreciation of his work as both a farmer and how he manages quality during processing. We’ve also bought another coffee from Fernando for release later in the year.
- Processing: the method used to remove the coffee bean from the fruit or cherry. This requires careful management and the method used has a big influence on the resulting coffee.
