Colombia Onidas Lopez

Colombia is an exciting country for us here at Temple Coffee. It is one of those countries that we don’t get to travel to often enough, so in order for us to get the amazing Colombian coffees that we offer we have to trust our importer’s instincts and taste hundreds of samples from Colombia every year. The trust that we put on our importers to find killer coffees is something that we take very seriously and we treat those relationships similarly to how we treat our relationships with the men and women who produce the coffee: with the utmost respect. We continue to work with the same people every year because of this trust and respect, and this coffee is the outcome of all of our collective hard work. Onidas Lopez is a member of ASORCAFE, a collection of around 450 small-lot producers that band together to sell their coffee under one unified name. This gives each individual producer more power when negotiating to fetch a higher price for their coffees. ASORCAFE operates in the municipality of Inza, in the department of Cauca. They started in 2004 with 10 original members who fought back against the inherent corruption in Colombia at the time and created a system designed to diminish the control of the FARC guerillas in the region and allow the FNC (Colombian National Coffee Board) and other specialty coffee groups to get a foothold in the region. This allowed the average price per pound to rise and gave each of the smaller producers leverage to increase their prices which in-turn increased their quality of life. ASORCAFE has evolved over the years to an incredibly consistent quality minded organization. The organization helps their members with knowledge and structure in order to raise their quality level. This lot from Onidas Lopez is one that shows the mark of ASORCAFE’s influence. His coffees are immediately different in taste from other Colombian coffees. His have clarity and depth where many others fall flat, and the richness in body and sweetness are unmatched. This is the first year that we have tasted Onidas Lopez’s coffee and we knew immediately that we had found a man that we would love to work with for many years to come. Enjoy!