HOOP COFFEE

From Los Patios in La Plata, Huila, a processing and research centre opened in 2022 to solve the uneven processing and poor infrastructure local producers faced, known for co-fermentation and its own Tropical Coffee, Solsticio and Mellow Yellow processes. Sold in 100 g bags.

Peach

María Belén Díaz, daughter of a second-generation producer, has run her own farm for 25 years and trained as a cupper at Pitalito in 2008, which started her work with exotic varieties. Papayo is a rare cultivar prized for its syrupy texture and tropical-fruit sweetness; this lot spent 36 hours sealed in cherry and 36 hours fermenting aerobically after pulping.

Tropical fruit, syrupy

The coffee HOOP has used since it opened as a roastery, and one of its most popular: a natural Ethiopian with berry-like fruit and a sweet, baked-goods finish.

Berries, baked-goods sweetness

From Wete Ambela Coffee, founded in 2018 by Mekuria Mergia, a 24-year coffee veteran who got an export licence after the 2017 ECX deregulation, with exporter Elias and his wife Enatenesh, a former Moplaco quality manager. They fund local primary schools and school supplies, believing children's education matters most to farmers. Jasmine and bergamot florals with tea-like acidity.

Jasmine, bergamot, tea-like acidity

María Elena Zapata and her neighbouring families grow some of the best coffee Primavera handles in Nuevo Oriente. Water is scarce in Jalapa, so cherries reach Primavera the same day they are picked; the lots are strikingly uniform, a sign of careful whole-family harvesting.

HOOP's house blend of Guatemala, Colombia and Brazil, roasted a little darker than its single origins for a slightly bitter, full cup with a chocolate and cacao finish; a natural match for sweets.

Chocolate, cacao

A washed Kenyan from the Maganjo factory in Nyeri, sourced through TYPICA from the exporter Rockbern.