Colombia | Tres Dragones

High-quality specialty coffee – freshly roasted at NANO KAFFEE Roastery in Berlin Kreuzberg. A product of the highest quality. Cultivated, sourced and roasted with respect for people, plants and planet.
NANO KAFFEE – conscious coffee from Berlin.

• 100 % Arabica
• filter coffee
• hybrid natural process
• whole beans
• flavours: dried blueberries, dark chocolate, rum barrel

This filter roast also works beautifully as a fruity espresso.

Stats

ORIGIN Colombia
REGION Valle del Cauca, Caicedonia
ALTITUDE 1500 – 1800 masl
FARM/GROWER Café Granja La Esperanza
FOB 13,19 eur / kg
VARIETY Caturra and Colombia

Quick-Info

From harvest at the perfect moment, this outstanding (often award-winning) coffee undergoes an extremely precise process. This includes flotation to select the densest beans, drying at 38° C for ±10 days, aerobic and anaerobic processing (24 h, 72 h), climate-controlled storage and, of course, careful roasting.
This selection of unique beans from a brilliant co ee is surely the crème de la crema. Quality, technology, craftsmanship and passion combined create re ned aromas of dried blueberries, dark chocolate and venerable rum barrels.

• world-class coffee
• commitement for outstanding quality
• cultivation and development of rare and new varieties
• innovative fermentation methods (in this case aerobic and anaerobic)
• responsibility and care for farm workers
* Farm producing award winning coffee beans

FARMERS – From Colombia to the world

Background
Tres Dragones comes from Potosí, the family’s first farm, established in 1945. Back then the typically large family of 14 children did much of the farm work themselves. At some point in the late 1990’s two brothers took over the business and started the push towards what Granja has become till now.

Café Granja La Esperanza started their specialty journey when they suceeded in a bold experiment: The farm cultivated the Geisha variety on Colombian soil. But experimentation is not all: Discipline. Innovation. Dedication. Effort. Experience. Passion. Commitement. Craft. Consistency. Excellence. Quality. Tradition. Future. Innovation. Technology. Mikrobiology. Detail. The list goes on…

Café Granja is world-known
Café Granja La Esperanza’s coffees have won many different prestigious awards such as Triple Crown Award at SCAA, SCAA Best Coffee of the Year, World Barista Championship, Good Food Award, Roasters Choice awards, among others … Their profiles are recognized and highly appreciated throughout the whole world, selling their one of a kind beans to buyers in over 45 countries on 5 continents. For five years now Café Granja La Esperanza has also become the first Colombian farm to hold online auctions (with unbelievable prices such as over 1800€/kg just this October).

Luis and Rigoberto Herrera and each member of their passionate team surely are shaping what is specialty coffee today, not only for Colombia.

NATURE – Why is Colombia so special for coffee?

Welcome to the Valle de Cauca and its "Bosque de niebla", the so-called cloud forest, where the clouds rest upon the coffee trees.
The country is very sunny due to its proximity to the equator. It is crossed by three branches of the Andes, leading to a divers microclimates, whilst providing nutrients from volcanic soil. Winds from the Pacific and Atlantic contribute to moderate temperatures. All this creates the perfect climate conditions for coffee cultivation and furthermore leads to two rainy seasons, which in return result in two harvest seasons (!) — this is rare in the coffee world.

If this is not enough. Café Granja La Esperanza is one of the most progressive and experimental farms in the world. Many innovations have led to the excellence of their coffees. For example this year about 25 varieties were being cultivated at Potosí at the same time. Most for consumption of course, but also as an endeavour to adapt more exotic varieties to Colombian soil and take a broad view of the terroir of the Cauca Valley. This approach rather reminds of fine wine-making than more typical agricultural cultivation of coffee.

As farms are facing more and more major challenges in the face of the effects of climate change, it could become essential to develop varieties that can handle future problems. The ability of coffee varieties to adapt to Colombia’s climate and soil conditions in the current situation is quite difficult. Although Café Granja La Esperanza already has been adapting hybrids, they keep on developing and studying and have also already come up with their own hybrids by manually cross-pollinating trees, such as the variety San Juan.

Although they understand the world coffee market so well and could do less and still stay a big player, Café Granja La Esperanza (besides the exceptional taste of their coffees) is known and respected for their experiments.

And the ecosystem of Colombia, the natural wealth surrounding the farms, plays an important role too of course: 20% of the land area of the farms serves as a natural reserve. They are safeguarding over 26 bird species, 14 other animal species, and 30 types of trees.

IMPACT – Work with and for the people

Rigoberto names three pillars upon which their coffee quality is built on: 'The genetic material of the variety, the terroir, and the human talent. Of the three, the people who work at Granja La Esperanza are the most important resource'.
Fair wages begin with recognizing the true value of the picker. Therefore hand pickers are trained to pick only the ripest cherries one by one and are paid by the day. There is no daily minimum a picker has to deliver and they are not being payed by the weight they pick. This leads to a better quality too. Furthermore the farm workers are being payed 24% more than the average salary in Colombia, which is especially important considering that, the latest survey in 2020 showed, that more than half of Colombia's coffee farmers were living below the poverty line.

Everyone at Café Granja is like family. There is work for women too. School supplies are provided, school infrastructure is enhanced so children are looked after and get education, while the parents work.

Café Granja La Esperanza wants to create jobs, to support farm workers, and ultimately to contribute to peace in a region where, after sliding to deep into poverty, people switch from growing coffee to growing coca plants. Which can lead to other dependencies of course … and when things get even worse, people fight for the left-wing guerrilla fighters, the right-wing paramilitaries or the pistoleros of the drug mafia. No matter who, as long as there is food for the day.

With the focus on high-quality, traceable, and ethically sourced beans, and by embracing exotic varietals like Gesha and innovative cultivation practices, Colombian coffee producers such as Café Granja La Esperanza have been elevating the profile of Colombian coffee on a global stage.
This movement has not only revitalized Colombia’s coffee industry but also encouraged sustainable practices and fair trade, providing more economic opportunities for smallholder farmers and cooperatives in the country, boosting the rebirth of the National Federation of Coffee Growers of Colombia (or Fedecafé) and overall drawing the attention of conscious coffee enthusiasts from around the world.

TASTE – Precise processing

Colombia has been cultivating coffee renowned for their full body, bright acidity and rich aftertaste. Already since the early 19th century.
Café Granja is on it for about 8 decades now and is consistently proving their commitement.

Besides the excellent geographical conditions and the ongoing development of cultivation, Tres Dragones goes through a special process in order to become a one-of-a-kind coffee. Cherries are harvested at peak ripeness bean by bean and sorted via flotation to retain only the densest fruits. Before fermentation Brix levels are measured to assess sugar concentration. The first fermentation is a 24-hour aerobic fermentation (open tanks, with oxygen), initiating enzymatic activity and setting the foundation for flavour development. In the second fermentation, the cherries undergo a 72-hour anaerobic fermentation (closed tanks, no oxygen), enhancing complexity and deepening aromatic structure. In order to stabilize their condition, the cherries are dried in mechanical dryers (called "Silos" at Café Granja) at a steady 38 °C for 8–12 days. At the end they are stored in climate-controlled conditions at 18–19 °C to retain freshness and protect aromatic integrity.
The laboratory team of Q-Grader experts, verifies and analyzes all the batches, guaranteeing the quality, homogeneity, and stability of the protocols and processes.

A very certain process that results in precisely designed flavours of dried blueberries, dark chocolate and rum barrel.

Commitment to quality, innovative fermentation methods, and cultivation of rare varieties.
Something special for everyone, that wants to take a sip of world-class quality.

FUN FACT: THREE DRAGONS?

After a devastating fire in 2017 that left the Potosí farm in ashes, the Herrera brothers looked for a silver lining and were able to redesign and organize their production facility from zero. From now on three mechanical dryers, the Tres Dragones, were used to find new ways to furtherly enhance the natural notes in the profile of the Tres Dragones coffee.

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High-quality specialty coffee – freshly roasted at NANO KAFFEE Roastery in Berlin Kreuzberg.
A product of the highest quality, cultivated, sourced and roasted with respect for people, plants and planet.
NANO KAFFEE – conscious coffee from Berlin.