Granja Fabrica

Description

This Granja Fabrica marks the return of coffees transported by sail by Javry, a partner in the wonderful TWOT cargo ship project. A 100% Arabica washed coffee, hand-harvested in the Colombian terroirs of Planadas and Gaitania. Fruity and delicious, it will give you a cup full of flavour, with notes of almond, lemon and caramel.

Harvested at high altitude by two cooperatives of indigenous coffee growers in the Nasa WE'SX community, its name is closely linked to the notion of a ‘cloud factory’, symbolising the mountains where it is grown and where the clouds hang permanently. This is due to the region's impressive humidity level: 95%!

Harvest and production

The coffee cherries are harvested from May to July: this is the farmers' second harvest, following a first one earlier in the year, around February. The small harvest produces around 60,000 kg, compared with 130,000 kg for the large harvest. 240 families are involved, each owning 2 to 4 hectares of coffee trees, where each hectare is home to more than 6,000 trees.

This coffee is washed, not dried (click here to find out the difference), because of the natural and permanent humidity of the region. Like all Javry coffees, Granja Fabrica is roasted by hand every week. This way to find out more about our ‘slow’ roasting process.

The projects enabled by this coffee

The two cooperatives producing this coffee, ASOCANAFI and ASCISP, have to deal with very high humidity levels, which can hamper the drying of the coffee. Through the Fabrica project, our supplier Belco installed 2 mechanical silos in 2022, one for each group of coffee growers. 

Their purpose? To enable a standardised, higher-quality coffee drying process for their beans. This is part of a comprehensive support approach, including on-site training for producers. Workshops are also set up in the field to identify their urgent needs directly, and to identify future projects to support.

The region

The department of Tolima is an emblematic coffee-growing region, producing top-of-the-range coffees that have won numerous awards in national competitions. Its geographical and climatic conditions are idyllic: fertile soil, mountainous terrain, ideal altitude and a moderate tropical climate allow highly reputed varieties of coffee trees to flourish. 

Before being revived by the coffee industry, the region was unfortunately also the cradle of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia. The Nasa WE'SX community was the first in the country to sign a peace agreement with FARC on 26 July 1996, after decades of violence and guerrilla warfare. 

A transport by cargop-ship ?

This is one of the special features of this particularly virtuous coffee. The green sacks of beans were transported from Colombia by sail, a natural and responsible form of energy, aboard a cargo sailing vessel run by the TOWT company. This means that, compared with a traditional motorised container ship, the emissions linked to the journey are considerably reduced! That's the reason we're talking about low-carbon coffee. 

It's an ambitious project, but one that makes so much sense! It's part of our overall approach for a more eco-responsible coffee. Little by little, we are going to significantly increase the proportion of coffee imported under sail in the Javry range. Sailing a cargo ship produces 90% less CO2 than a conventional container ship on the same route. It is the most carbon-free form of transport to date. Find out more about sailing coffee here !

By buying our Granja Fabrica coffee transported by sail, you are making a concrete contribution to the cause of responsible coffee, without compromising on quality. In the cargo ship, the coffee is transported in dedicated holds whose technical specifications (temperature and humidity) are adapted to each product.

Why is this coffe more expensive?

When we first imported coffee by sail, this mode of transport was in its infancy and very rare. As a result, the cost of transport was high: between €4 and €5 per kilo. As of comparison, conventional transport costs an average of €0.30 per kg. Today, thanks to growing recognition of sailing, the cost of transporting this Granja Fabrica under sail is €1 per kilo. To ensure that everyone gets a fair deal, each player in the chain is making an effort:

• TOWT (carrier) and Belco (source), who bear part of the extra cost ;
• We (Javry) who are reducing our margin on this coffee to encourage the development of the sector ;
• You, as consumers, who accept paying more for a virtuous product.

Ultimately, it's a joint effort to promote an ecological alternative and show that it can be done. The good news is that with the construction of new ocean liners, the price should fall to around €0.30 per kilo in 4 or 5 years' time... enough to make transport both environmentally friendly and competitive!