Monday morning we visited FNC (Federacion Nacional de Cafetero de Colombia). First there was a presentation about FNC and their work to improve coffee production and conditions in Colombia.
During our short stay in Bogota we have come along a lot of exotic fruits. Therefore our guide Camillo from FNC bought all kinds of fruits for us to taste.
Here Andreas, Sebastian and Denise taste different fruits with names as Maracuyá, papaya, mango mini-bananas, lychee, zapote, pithaya, lulo…
The NBC press at work.
From left Tone, Pernilla, Emil and Jens in the back.
Rodrigo Alarcon, main lab coordinator at FNC (and a damn good cupper) explains about the codification of all the many samples FNC receives on a daily basis.
Mikel and Emil at the cupping of different coffees from six regions of Colombia – Cauca, Tolima, Nariño, Huila, Sierra Nevada, Santander.
A lot of red berries, caramel with good body and juicy acidity. A nice table indeed!After the visit at FNC we went to the airport to fly to Popayan, Cauca.
After arriving at the hotel the FNC regional committee of Cauca invited us for dinner.
The menu was set with cerdo ahumado (smoked pig), tamal de pipián (a mix of mashed potatoes and peanuts), empanadas de papa (fried potatoes) carentanta (corn snacks).
The drink on the left was Champú (a thick mix of pineapple, corn, seasoned with cloves and other unidentified ingredients. The taste was fantastico!
At the dinner the coffee growers were very interested in hearing our opinion about the Colombian coffee – and more specifically the coffee from Popayan.
Here Emil (red t-shirt) discusses why he did not choose any coffee from Cauca for his espresso blend that he will use for the Swedish barista championship to take place 11.-13. March.
Camillo, our guide is concentrating to remember all, so that he can translate into English.
At the ceremony at the Jose Maria Obando school he translated 8 speeches from principals, pupils, representatives and what have we.
He is doing a great job!
Outside the Cauca laboratory after the cupping.
In front row in purple apron is Pedro, head of cupping/roasting in the laboratory along with his two colleagues in black aprons.
Sebastian photographing Andreas, who climbed a tree to get a better overview of one of the biggest farms in Popayan.
This was our first encounter with coffee trees so the mood was high.
Jose Maria Obando Foundación has a coffee farm in the school area.
There they have a agronomist who has developed an variety of Caturra and an Timor hybrid, and then you have the Colombia variety, which was developed into Castillo.
We got the chance to pick the red cherries along with the pickers.
Pernilla from Swedish team with the harvest of the day. The amount of cherries wouldn’t pay her dinner – not even in Colombia!