Cosecha del Sur Coffee Co.

21/10/2024

Many roasters are familiar with the farm-to-cup story, but there’s a crucial step that often gets overlooked: the milling process. In Colombia, coffee doesn’t leave the farm as green beans—it leaves as parchment. This means the coffee still has an outer layer that needs to be removed, and that’s where our mill comes in.

At Amarella Café, we handle the transformation from parchment to green coffee. This involves several key stages: removing the parchment layer, carefully sorting beans by size and density, and eliminating any defects. Each step has to be done with precision to protect the integrity of the coffee.

Why is this important? Poorly milled coffee can lead to inconsistencies in size and density, resulting in uneven roasting. Defects that aren’t removed can affect flavor, leading to bitter or off notes in the cup. In contrast, properly milled coffee ensures uniformity, better roasts, and cleaner flavor profiles.

By managing this process ourselves, we guarantee that the coffee you receive is high-quality, consistent, and traceable. For specialty roasters in the U.S., it’s about more than just a supply chain—it’s about ensuring every lot you roast meets the highest standards, from farm to mill to cup.

02/10/2024

We’re only a couple of days in and we are already beginning to feel the effects. We have containers stuck on the water and empties that need to be returned to port, collecting per diem charges.

Our team is doing our best to keep our roasters stocked as we head into the busy fall season!

Please reach out earlier rather than later to allow extra time for coordinating logistics.

Please comment your thoughts, questions or concerns below!

24/09/2024

At we don’t apply herbicides therefore our ground is covered year round by a w**d that is friendly to coffee production. While it doesn’t look as “clean” as some of the perfectly manicured farms often seen, it provides agronomic, ecological and economic benefit to the farm.

🌱 Healthy Weeds Protect the Soil 🌱
In steep coffee-growing regions like ours, erosion is a constant challenge. The root systems of healthy w**ds help anchor the soil, preventing it from washing away during heavy rains. This not only safeguards the land but ensures that coffee trees remain well-nourished over time.

🌱 They Enhance Biodiversity 🌱
Weeds aren’t just “unwanted plants”—they are part of a diverse ecosystem. By allowing specific beneficial w**ds to thrive, we attract helpful insects that contribute to natural pest control, reducing the need for chemicals and preserving the environment that coffee grows in.

🌱 Natural Nutrient Cycling 🌱
Certain types of w**ds help improve soil health by fixing nitrogen or drawing up nutrients from deeper layers. When these w**ds decompose, they enrich the soil, allowing the coffee trees to grow in a more fertile environment.

Why should roasters care? Because the health of the farm directly impacts the quality of the coffee you roast. Sustainable practices like these mean healthier plants, richer soil, and ultimately, a better cup of coffee.

When we take care of the land, the land takes care of the coffee—and that benefits everyone along the supply chain.

24/09/2024

Ask questions! 👀

16/09/2024

This week, we wrapped up planting our new trees in El Salvador at .

It hasn’t been easy, but over the last few weeks, we overcame obstacle after obstacle to plant 5,000 new trees.

I know our challenges aren’t unique for specialty coffee producers across Latin America.

Our biggest problem has been labor. About 85% of our direct production costs for specialty coffee come from labor. In the past, labor costs have risen, but this year the issue is different. It’s not the rising costs but the lack of people willing to work. We’ve had a revolving door of seasonal workers this year. Some younger workers are only willing to work half days while still wanting a full day’s pay. Others come to work sporadically. While I am grateful for our core full time team, it has been quite a frustrating experience with temporary labor.

Here’s what we understand is happening:

1. Many seasonal workers have migrated to other countries over the past few years.

2. US dollar remittances from the US to El Salvador account for 23% of the country’s GDP. Many families can live comfortably without taking on tough jobs like planting coffee trees or picking coffee cherries.

3. Booming infrastructure projects are attracting labor to higher-paying jobs.

4. Generational shifts away from agriculture have reduced the number of workers in the agricultural sector globally.

What this means:

1. As the commodity market approaches $3/lb., specialty coffee loses its value proposition. Specialty coffee producers may switch to commercial production, which requires much less labor and is easier to sell. This is a very tempting option this year as a coffee producer.

2. Specialty roasters need to be willing to pay more, and consumers must be ready to pay more for a cup of coffee.

If you’re a fellow producer please comment your opinion on this!

09/09/2024

Roasters, it is crucial that your importer also mills your coffee. Often overlooked in the supply chain and often outsourced or brokered, this process is crucial to producing consistent roasts from every single bag.

We have heard horror stories of end users receiving bags of roasted coffee with various foreign objects: rocks, screws, nails, shotgun shells (😬🤷🏼‍♂️), etc. and the importer not guaranteeing the value of the product not being able to explain how this happened because they simply purchased the coffee from someone who brokered it to them.

Why you need to prioritize coffee milling when buying coffee:

1️⃣ Impact on Final Quality: The milling process directly affects the physical quality of the green coffee beans. Properly milled beans have more consistent sizes and fewer defects, ensuring even roasting and a better cup profile for roasters.

2️⃣ Traceability & Transparency: An importer who owns the milling process can provide direct insight into how the beans were handled post-harvest, ensuring full traceability and transparency. This builds allows roasters to confidently communicate the quality and origin story of their coffee.

3️⃣ Maximizing Yield: High-quality milling maximizes usable coffee yield by removing defects without losing too many good beans. Importers who are knowledgeable about this can help roasters get the most value from each batch of green coffee, ultimately improving profitability.

4️⃣ Removing Foreign Material: If the milling process is not done carefully, foreign material can travel from the coffee fields to the final user. This risks severely damaging expensive machines like roasters and grinders, and can even pose health issues for consumers.

03/09/2024

29/08/2024

A little bit about our briskness in 🇸🇻 El Salvador…

In 2021 I was lucky enough to find . The owner of the farm was overwhelmed with the challenges of growing coffee and the farm manager at the time was a parasite on the business. Despite the management issues, the coffee was delicious and and team (besides the manager) was rock solid. I had been working with and presented the idea of buying this farm and working together to turn it around. She was in before I could even finish my sentence!

On day one, we set the standard that there were going to be lots of changes. Starting with the fact that we will not manage the farm based on fear but rather we would be working towards a huge goal - one bigger than any single individual. I told the team that within 10 years, we would win the Cup of Excellence in El Salvador and that their names would be known globally. Bold goal for sure but who can tell us that we can’t?

Every day since that moment we have worked as a team toward this goal. We started by investing in our team, paying them salaries 60% above the standard pay of coffee workers, providing social security and medical, paid vacation and access to legal assistance. We then began to invest in our soil and ecological heath. And now we are planting new varietals that are ready to thrive to produce world class coffee!

Change doesn’t happen overnight but I am proud to say that we have turned this ship around and are getting closer to our goal every single day. We are proof that the entrepreneurial pursuit can change lives and communities, when done correctly.

With the coffee that comes from we are looking for roasters that want to make an impact and want to see their dollar support change year after year - not in a philanthropic way but rather through the support of the hard work of the people that have dedicated themselves to this massive goal that we have set.

For us, the COE is not the end game but rather the journey to get there is what will bring long lasting change and impact on the lives directly involved.

27/08/2024

🇸🇻 El Salvador naturals are hitting the water next week and will be arriving in late September. 🚢

We only have 20 bags left from which is our own farm that we have converted from essentially an abandoned farm to a thriving small business in Jayaque, El Salvador.

If you’re a roaster that’s interested in partnering with us on this project, please reach out!

Arrival samples will be available soon. Comment or DM if you would like to be on the distribution list.

24/08/2024

A little background about our business in Colombia …

In 2021, I attempted my first small export of green coffee from Colombia. Navigating the coffee industry alone, from origin to my tiny garage roaster, was challenging. The big “coffee traders” showed no interest in helping me achieve my goals. As a former commodity trader turned coffee roaster, I understood their game and knew I could play it too. However, I needed a partner because sourcing coffee is extremely complex and requires expertise. I was introduced to and .cifuentes_s, a brother and sister team running their own specialty coffee export business in Bogota since 2016. They helped me with my very first export and working closely together over several months, the three of us quickly became great friends.

Later, I flew back to Colombia and met them at in Parque 93, Bogota, followed by an afternoon at . We shared stories and discussed our visions for our businesses.
Once we confirmed our shared vision, I proposed joining our businesses, setting a big goal: building our own coffee mill. With fist bumps around the table, we started our business plan on a scratch piece of paper and set off.

Today, we operate a specialty coffee mill in Medellin, where we purchase parchment from all over Colombia, process, and even roast for some local customers.

We built our business model around the support I wished I had when sourcing coffee: receiving coffee recommendations for my menu, clear communication, not feeling like a annoyance when needing something, solving logistics problems, transparency in supply chains beyond just pretty pictures and last but not least creating bespoke contracts that work for me instead of a take-it-or-leave-it approach often provided by the big green coffee companies.

In a nutshell: we want our roasters to be in the drivers seat of their green coffee experience.

It amaze me that deciding to learn Spanish years ago eventually led to all of this. What a great decision that was!

22/08/2024

Summer is pretty much over and it feels like roasters are getting back into gear and starting to get prepped for fall roasting. It always blows my mind but some are already prepping for holiday season 😲. We have several coffees afloat or hitting the water soon for September arrival!

Please reach out for samples or questions on contracting availabilities. We also have coffees available spot!



🇨🇴 Casa Amarella Washed EP (Pitalito, Huila, Colombia) *personal favorite for a washed single origin/blender option
206 bags available, EXW NOLA
Q84-85, chocolate, caramel, red fruit notes, high body
September 2024 arrival

🇨🇴 Trujillo Washed EP (Trujillo, Valle del Cauca, Colombia)
48 bags available, EXW New Orleans
Q85-86, chocolate forward, heavy body
September 2024 arrival

🇨🇴 Las Palmas Pink Bourbon Natural Process (Palestina, Huila, Colombia)
1 bag available, EXW New Orleans
Q89+, coconut candy, cane sugar, juicy
September 2024 arrival


🇸🇻 Finca la Familia Natural Process (Jayaque, La Libertad, El Salvador)
20 bags available, EXW New Orleans
Q85, medium body, chocolate forward with tropical fruit notes, dates. Cups more like a washed than a natural which makes it very approachable
September 2024 arrival


🇸🇻 Finca Atzumpa Washed Process (Apaneca, El Salvador)
16 bags available, EXW New Orleans
Q85, clean cup, balanced acidity, chocolate and citrus fruit notes
September 2024 arrival

13/08/2024

📈 Speacialty coffee roasters often incorrectly hold the belief that the c-market has no impact on their coffees. While a significant premium is paid to producers for selling specialty coffees, the base of pricing is still based on 3 market based components:

1.) c-market
2.) foreign exchange (USD relative to origin country currency)
3.) local supply and demand of parchment in origin country

Based on the above it is crucial to stay on top of c-market market movements and have a plan in the event that the market makes a movement toward multi-year highs.

Where we stand right now, the market has been rangebound between $2.20 and $2.50 with many factors stacking up on both sides of the supply and demand equation which means the possibility of strong movements higher and lower.

Put another way, a breakout above $2.50 could point toward a movement to $3.00, a price not seen since 2011. A breakout below $2.20 seems to point toward a reversion to the mean price of the past 20 years of ~$1.75.

Let’s look at what this might mean in the former case. A movement to $3.00 + a $1.50 premium for an 84 pt washed coffee from Colombia (for examples sake) will cost a roaster $4.50/lb. plus trucking, financing, and other arrival costs. After accounting for roasting shrinkage, they are looking at $5.31/lb. roasted coffee cost!

While coffee cup economics may be able to absorb this price increase, wholesale and retail operations run the risk of major margin reduction in a time where consumers probably are not willing to pay more for a bag of coffee and other inflationary pressures add pressure on operations.

Long story short: failing to plan is planning to fail. Know that small and medium sized roasters ARE able to plan forward and that there ARE tools for you to do so. I will also add from painful experience: trying to predict market prices is a game of catch falling knives. In a world of uncertainty, it’s best to plan for the worst and hope for the best.

Reach out if you’d like to chat about any of the above!