Colombia | Jaime Burbano

Region: Muralla, San Augustin, Colombia
Variety: Red Caturra
Process: Washed
Altitude: 1750 Masl
We Taste: Pomegranate, Wineberry,  Black Tea

Jaime Burbano is a multi-generational farmer in San Augustin and was instrumental in the early days of the Monkaaba group and assisted founders in the Ortega-Gomez family in setting up the community cupping lab at their farm.

Monkaaba is an initiative aimed at assisting smallholder producers in finding better market access and better prices for their coffees, and helps invest in them to ensure their future success.  The leaders of the Monkaaba group are educating producers on how the supply chain works so that they can better navigate it, while helping them to improve growing, harvesting, and processing techniques. They also host open weekly cuppings to improve producers' ability to evaluate and understand their coffees while they receive feedback from other members. These open dialogues about pricing, quality, and the market are helping to create a more robust community of smallholder farmers in San Augustin, and is rooted in the importance of collaboration. 

Though Jaime has been producing high quality coffee for many years, it wasn't until working with Monkaaba that Jaime was able to sell his coffee under his own name, rather than having it blended into larger regional lots. Because of this work, Jaime now has stronger and more direct relationships with roasters, providing him with not only higher prices but with buyers intent on durable, long-term relationships.  We are excited at the prospect of being one of those roasters, and this is our second year in a row purchasing Jaime’s coffee. His caturra is really delicious with a winey acidity that reminds us of pomegranate, grapes, and dark berries, with a black tea-like aromatics.

Price Breakdown:

Our Total Cost: $8.72/lb
Packaging, labor, and weight loss: $3.82/lb
Green Price: $4.90/lb
FOB Price: $3.57/lb
Farm Gate Price: 2,500,000 Colombian Pesos per carga

Importer: Semilla

*We roast on Tuesdays and ship the following day; order cutoff is 7:00 am Tuesday morning