The Collaberry Blend

The Honduran Producer(s):
CAFEUNO is essentially a cooperative of smaller cooperatives. It has a centralized facility with mechanical and shaded drying facilities and a cupping lab. CAFEUNO started in 2015 and began with a few rough years but has since seen exciting growth towards helping the under-represented producers of the El Paraiso region.

 A non-profit organization and a group of small cooperatives formed the innovative model of CAFEUNO. It started with 20 cooperatives and over 1000 producer members but when a small amount of investment was required from each member, only 300 producers decided to continue and drove forward the initial vision knowing that the way coffee was currently being sold was never going to be sustainable. It is now made up of 11 cooperatives and a total of 158 producer members after adding 38 more in late 2023.

CAFEUNO’s manager, Williams, is a 4th generation coffee farmer and has a farm that was part of one of the original member organizations of CAFEUNO. He became the manager in 2016 and has been very proactive working with producers to invest in producing specialty coffee with the hope of finding differentiated prices and connecting directly to buyers. They are very intent on finding a better way to produce and market coffee for their producers.

The Colombian producer: Sebastian Ramirez 

A fourth-generation coffee farmer started a more traditional style producer. Eventually he ventured into fermentation and made connections. Nowadays, he is a master in Carbonic Maceration, Coffee Profiles, and Varietals. We are thrilled to represent him, and we can confidently state that his coffees are anything but ordinary. Sebastian is a coffee producer in charge of designing and innovation in new coffee profiles. He sources cherries mostly in Quindio but some of his special varieties like Geisha and Pink Bourbon is grown in Huila, where he works directly with other growers that provide the cherries for him.

Sebastian's farm operates as a processing facility rather than a traditional coffee farm. In the 1980s, it was a large coffee estate in Quindío, but today, only half of its original production remains active. He oversees the purchase of cherries grown on the farm and sources select specialty varieties from Huila—currently, his Geisha and some Pink Bourbon come from there. Sebastian is responsible for processing and developing flavor profiles, ensuring the highest quality in every batch. Additionally, he has recently acquired a new farm, where he plans to focus on cultivating more exclusive varietals such as wush wush, Sl 28, etc. that are not easily grown in his region.

This is a honey thermal-shock process, fermented in cherry, and then depulped hot water is added and then fermented again with blackberry and fruit glucose. Anaerobic fermentation in 200-liter containers for 120 hours at a constant temperature of 18°C. After depulping, a thermal shock is applied with water at 40°C, followed by 72 hours of anaerobic fermentation with CO2 injection and blackberries. Then the coffee is dried in open patios at a controlled temperatures of 40 degrees Celsius, with a 2-phase drying in shade lasting around 5 days.