Colombia - Small Producers of El Bombo

The special regional blend is made up of coffee from seven members of ASOBOMBO Cooperative, an enterprising coffee association from the town of El Bombo, in the Pitalito municipality of Colombia’s state of Huila. Founded in 2015 by Jhon Díaz and his brother Hernando, the co-op has quickly become one of Pitalito’s best-regarded groups, and has now expanded to support hundreds of local producers.

The town of El Bombo is one of Pitalito’s smallest, with most of the region’s producers farming on a hectare of land, or less. Jhon Díaz, ASOBOMBO’s founder, began growing coffee on half a hectare he and his brothers inherited from their grandmother. The brothers were no strangers to long days on the field, however, as their father, grandfather and great-grandfather all worked as day labourers across Colombia’s coffee regions. Yet the pair hoped to make something of their inheritance, because as Jhon put it, “My brother and I wanted to break that paradigm, we thought there had to be more for us in life.” Following a C price crisis in 2013-14, a childhood friend of the siblings recommended Jhon enter a local competition that awarded high-scoring coffees as a way to earn better earnings from their crop. With little knowledge or preparation, Jhon submitted his coffee — and to his surprise, went on to win the event, fetching a great price for his coffee, plus an added premium once it sold.

Jhon spent the next year attending workshops and preparing himself for the 2015 competition, which he won again, except this time he had a better understanding of why his coffee had received a higher cup score. After being approached by his friends and neighbours, Jhon and 30 other producers decided to establish ASOBOMBO — a coffee cooperative named after their hometown of El Bombo, because Jhon was convinced “Pitalito’s smallest town could grow the region’s greatest coffees; that’s why today, everyone wants to be a part of El Bombo!” On the association’s first year, 20 of its members entered the same local competition, with a whopping 12 of them placing in the top spots.