I headed over to Sustainable Harvest, a coffee importing company based here in Portland, earlier today to take part in a cupping they were hosting. It’s part of an effort that they’re making to help build and connect with the coffee community around here. They plan on hosting the events every two months or so, and they will bring in coffee growers to talk to people about their coffees. It started off well today with a visit from agronomist and coffee producer Hernando Tapasco from Café Granja La Esperanza from Colombia.

Hernando Don Pasco a coffee producer from Colombia gives us a presentation about his organization and its efforts to bring unique coffee varieties to Colombia.

In a unique twist, Hernando and his partners have started growing a number of varieties in Colombia, many of which are very atypical of the country’s famous flavor profile. Hernando brought Red and Yellow Bourbon, a few lots of Geisha, a Mokka, Laurina (which naturally has very low caffeine) and more. It made for a fun and very entertaining cupping table as we constantly found flavors not normally featured in Colombian coffees.

Their Mokka varietal produces these tiny, round beans, unlike any I have seen.

Alex and Talon, two Portland baristas, take in the different coffees at the cupping table.