COLOMBIA NARINO | AUGUST 2021

Our August Bean of the Month is Colombia Nariño, and with an incredible cupping score of 87, you'll want to get in quick!

Colombia Nariño is a delightful bean with flavours of nougat, dark chocolate and cola accompanied by aromas of brown sugar and spice. The very bright red apple acidity and full, sweet body are perfectly rounded out by a clean, crisp, honey and melon aftertaste.

 

Just like in previous months, Colombian Nariño is available as a normal espresso roast and also as a filter roast, which is great for use in pourover brewing devices.

The region of Nariño in the South West of Colombia has gained substantial notoriety over the past decade and is considered to be one of the corners of the 'new coffee axis'. Coffees from this region are some of the most sought after in Colombia thanks to their incredible brightness and complexity.

However, this hasn't always been the case. Decades of systemic violence and insecurity undermined the caficultor culture of the region, with a resurgence in coffee only happening relatively recently. Merlo coffee are very proud to support the department of land restitution, a Colombian government agency, who have partnered with our supplier on a social project they are running in Tablón de Gómez, in the far north of Nariño.

 
This project has been created to help families transition their farms from producing coca and poppy into specialty coffee, in turn incentivising the return of smallholders who had been forced to abandon their lands through threats of violence. As of today there are 264 families participating in this project and producing coffee.

The department offers many avenues of assistance, promoting gender equality, environmental sustainability, social cohesion amongst others, while financially supporting producers in the cultivation processing and drying of the coffee. By paying premiums well above the market rate, we are able to support the continuation and expansion of this fantastic project.