Coffee Description
Complex, layered flavors of apple and blood orange with a honeyed sweetness and a kiss of tart cranberry on the finish.
Roast Level from the Roaster
Refers to the roast level in comparison with other coffees from the roaster
Light
Variety
Caturra
Process
Honey
Elevation
2100 masl
Region
Nariño
About Ema Ordoñez of Colombia
"This coffee comes to us from a single farmer, Ema Ordoñez. Her farm, La Piedra (The Stone), is located in the highlands of Tablón de Gómez, Colombia. Nestled between the Amazonas and Andes geographical regions in the Aponte region of Nariño, the area offers one of our favorite coffee growing microclimates.
Ema cultivates just 5,000 trees, primarily those of the Caturra and Colombia varieties. At a stunning 2,100 meters above sea level, the cherries are able to mature more slowly, concentrating their sugars as the crop ripens. When conditions like this are paired with the skill and attention of a farmer like Ema, you get coffee that is bursting with sweetness and complexity.
The fate of most coffees like Colombia La Piedra is to be blended with hundreds of bags of coffee from the same region and sold under an exporter’s brand. Quite often coffee sold as a single origin is actually sourced from several different farmers in a specific area. While this can yield a delicious coffee, it does not offer the same, intimate experience as a single farmer lot like this one from Ema.
In order to separate higher quality single farmer lots like this, professional coffee tasters must taste through every delivery to separate the good from the truly great. This process takes time, skill, and organization, but when it works, individual producers growing truly spectacular coffee can be incentivized and celebrated.
This is our third year buying coffee from Ema, and this year’s harvest has us smacking our lips. The extended contact time between the coffee fruit and the seeds in this honey process lot offers up an amazingly sweet and fruited expression of Colombian coffee. Notes of sweet, tart cherry are filled out by a well structured, lime-like acidity and a clean, floral finish. With tang, pop, and a delicate bloom, La Piedra will put some pep in your step."
Nariño, Colombia
Wonderstate Coffee
Since 2005, we've dedicated ourselves to the pursuit of spectacular coffees that spark connection, inspire curiosity, and build integrity across communities.
For us, great coffee has to serve a collective future. At Wonderstate, our passion for exceptional beans and (some might say) obsession with terroir––the way the land speaks through a coffee––is matched by our passion and unwavering dedication to our community of farmers and farmer cooperatives. From leading the industry in fair compensation for farmers, to supporting resilient agriculture and innovative ways of doing business, we’re working to do our part.
And that isn't just talk. In 2015, we became one of the first 100% solar powered coffee roasteries in the world. And in 2017, we announced the highest published minimum price guarantee to farmers, more than 80% above the Fair Trade conventional minimum price and over 50% higher than Fair Trade organic prices.
Our roastery is tucked amidst the rolling hills and valleys of the Driftless Region, a rare topographic wonder in the Midwest. Our founders, Denise & TJ Semanchin and Caleb Nicholes, were both drawn to this small community of 4,000 to set roots and raise their families. We may have outgrown the old train depot where we first roasted our beans, but we’re still as committed as ever to the communities that make our work possible.
The farmers who cultivate and harvest our coffee may feel seemingly distant from this place. But, like them, we also live surrounded by fields and growing crops. Where the stars blink bright and the rivers cut oxbows. From our hometown of Viroqua, to the rural communities where our coffee farmers live and work, to the vibrant neighborhoods our Wonderstate cafes call home across the state, honoring a connection to place and to the people that define it is at the heart of what we do.
