[ESPRESSO] Colombia Manos Juntas

Manos Juntas is a micromill in Sotara area of Colombia's Cauca region, operated and managed by our exporting partners at Banexport. The entire concept of this micromill is based on simplifying tasks and responsibilities, for both producers and Banexport. Banexport believes that when it comes to a breakdown in factors that contribute to quality, 50% is determined by crop production (fertilization, pruning, and proper harvest of cherries) and 50% is determined by post-harvest processing (fermentation, pulping, drying, and storage).

Based on this understanding, Banexport decided to establish Manos Juntas Micromill, in which they purchase cherries from producers and manage the processing, drying, and storage themselves. This model allows producers to focus on healthy production of specialty coffee, while the meticulous work of sorting, processing, drying, and storing is managed by Banexport's team.
 

Producers deliver and sell coffee in cherry form to Banexport, by total weight. The riper the cherry, the heavier it is. This encourages better harvest practice that directly correlates to higher quality. They get paid upfront for their coffee, typically producers have to wait 35 to 40 days for coffee to dry before selling it. Banexport guarantees to pay producers a fixed price well above the market value for these cherries. Producers involved are from surrounding farms, which means they need only to travel a short distance to deliver coffee, as opposed to driving many kilometers into town. Coffee infrastructure, like drying beds, fermentation tanks, and depulpers, can be very expensive to purchase and maintain. With this model, farmers can forgo all of this hassle and focus on maintaining healthy trees.