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Giuseppe Leone

Our Vertical Reserve - Juan Rivera

A complex Colombian roast, this coffee produced by Juan Rivera is beautifully vibrant with notes of peach, cherry, and grapefruit. 

A proud partnership between Juan Rivera, Pergamino, Atlantic Specialty, and Coffeebar. 

Juan Rivera's farm is located up a steep horse track, a fifteen minute walk from the town of San Antonio in the municipality of Inza, Colombia. His coffee is brought to us via the exporter Pergamino, a small, family-owned company that began growing coffee 40 years. With shifting trends in the specialty coffee world though, and in an effort to find access to better markets for their coffee, Pergamino began exporting their own coffee 8 years ago. After a couple of years exporting their own coffee, Pergamino realized that many smaller and medium-sized producers were dealing with the same issues they had faced, namely connecting to specialty markets, learning to improve quality, and ultimately achieving more sustainable pricing for their product. This realization led to Pergamino expanding from a farm exporting their own product into a fully-fledged export company. 

Their work now spans five regions across Colombia, where they work with small associations and groups, identifying the quality of their coffee and potential for improvements, and connecting them to importers and roasters globally. Pergamino are very transparent with their numbers, keeping their margins consistent and operating on a premium system that allows higher prices gained for quality to transfer directly to the producers. Any coffee reaching 84 is accepted and farmers will receive a first premium. Second premiums are delivered for coffees that achieve micro-lot status, namely 86-87 points on an industry-standard evaluation. 

Juan Rivera is one of the oldest members of his association in San Antonio, and regularly achieves micro-lot status with the coffee he produces. We're excited to be working with Pergamino for the first time, and hope to continue to grow the relationship through our connection with the importer Atlantic Specialty. 

Design Notes

The design for this Juan Rivera Vertical Reserve was inspired by the beauty in the minutiae of his farm – the worn altar overlooking Colombia, the zig zag of the stairs to the drying area, the stripes and texture of the windows, the pastel color palette breaking though an otherwise vividly green landscape, their dog who roams the property. These fine, subtle details are monuments to Juan's long legacy as a member of his community and as a coffee producer.

As always, it was such a pleasure to immerse ourselves in Juan's culture and story to create this design. In all aspects of a Vertical Reserve, we strive to depict the coffee's story, share an aspect of the producer's culture, and honor the hard work and passion that goes into each harvest to our guests.

Photos By: Atlantic Specialty
Design By: Coffeebar

Author: David Wilson

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