Los Vecinos

Neighbours, everybody needs good neighbours. Los Vecinos is curated by Diego and Derlin, selecting wonderful local producers to contribute to a community lot. The neighbourhood of El Pital is littered with experienced producers who often are forced to sell uncontracted coffee to the local market for a fraction of its value. We have a need for clean and sweet Colombian coffee all year round so we requested that Diego jump on his pushbike, cruise the hood, knock on some doors and see if anyone has any extra coffee. Smallholder cooperatives we work with in Africa sell ripe cherry to be processed; in Colombia, Diego purchases dry parchment ready for export. Producers in Colombia often control the entire process, with their own wet mills and drying infrastructure, and by completing this themselves producers receive a larger slice of the pie. The coffee Diego collects is taken to the dry mill before export and blended together to create the community lot, Los Vecinos. Blend isn't a bad word, technically coffee from more than a single tree is essentially a blend. The benefits of blending are numerous: it increases volume, adds complexity, and minimises wasted coffee. This year's vintage has a sweet caramel fudge and milk chocolate with a bright lemon zest acidity. We welcome the idiosyncrasy and quirkiness this coffee offers, you can find the perfect blend.