This is it. I got to go to Colombia and spent a couple days out at El Fenix, it was fucking incredible. The project is fantastic, the people are fantastic, the coffee is fantastic. We spent the whole time immersed in coffee. Miguel and his family are beautiful and lovely to the highest degree. It was probably the highlight of my coffee career so far... to be somewhere so beautiful and feel justified in going there.
I think Colombia is fairly unique in terms of how producers work and live - and that's not me saying that El Fenix is a typical Colombian farm by any stretch. It's not the heartstrings, poor farmers earning a bit extra for producing better coffee story at all. Miguel's built something really special from the ashes of family financial trouble, and through his work with Raw Material created opportunities for progression and knowledge sharing with the local and international coffee community. It feels as if the typical speciality "global North is here to save the global South from the system the oppression of commodity reliance and unfair trade" vibe is totally turned around, we're just lucky to have access to the coffees, and even luckier to have been able to visit and learn. The scran was pretty good too.
Anoxic Natural
Once cherries are received, they are hand-picked and floated to ensure only those of the best quality continue to the processing stage. These cherries are placed into a deep cleaned fermentation tank. A sheet is then placed over the cherries, which is then submerged with cool water.
The seal created by the water pressing onto the sheeting creates a vacuum effect on the coffee below, creating an anoxic environment for fermentation to begin, which lasts for 48 hours. The water and sheet act as not only a sealant, but a heat exchange, allowing the heat build up to transfer to the water, which evaporates away. A stabilised temperature of around 25 degrees Celsius ensures that the cherry doesn’t over ferment. This temperature is regularly monitored, and if it falls too low for fermentation to continue, hot water is added to the water pillow, to provide warmth to the fermenting coffee underneath.
Once the fermentation is complete, the water is drained, and the sheet is removed. The now fermented coffee is rinsed and drained of all residual liquid.
To continue into the natural processing phase, coffee is dried in cherry on raised beds for between 4 to 5 weeks. The raised beds ensure optimum circulation of airflow, assisted by the cherry being turned every 30 minutes of the duration of its drying!
The Farm: El Fénix
El Fénix serves as Raw Material’s central hub in Colombia — more than just an office, it was developed with a long-term vision in mind. The site brings together three distinct but interconnected components: a rare-variety organic coffee farm, a post-harvest processing lab, and a community wet mill. These elements function together to support innovation in coffee production, processing, and trade.
Located in Calarcá, in the eastern municipality of Quindío, Colombia, El Fénix is ideally situated facing the Cauca Valley and the central mountain range. Its microclimate offers optimal conditions for coffee growing: strong sunlight reflected off the valley, an average annual rainfall of 2,275mm, and abundant freshwater from natural spring falls. This setting supports the growth of rare and experimental coffee varieties under organic farming conditions.
As a working farm and research space, El Fénix enables Raw Material to carry out selective breeding programs, experiment with new post-harvest processing techniques, and adapt farming practices to organic production. It also serves as a venue for hosting farm management and cupping courses for producers and roasters, all while building stronger relationships across the value chain.
Community Wet Mill
In addition to coffee production and research, El Fénix is home to a growing community wet mill — a collaborative infrastructure project initiated and crowdfunded with support from Raw Material. The goal is to offer smallholder producers in the surrounding area greater control over both quality and income.
The model allows Raw Material to purchase coffee in cherry form rather than parchment, enabling complete oversight of the post-harvest process to ensure consistency and maximize quality. Producers benefit not only from improved quality outcomes but also from a transparent, two-part payment system designed to stabilize cash flow.
The first payment is made when cherries are delivered — up to six weeks earlier than traditional parchment payments — at a fixed rate equivalent to COP 1,000,000 per carga of parchment. A second payment is made after export, based on the final price roasters pay. If the export price exceeds the benchmark, that added value is passed directly to the producers.
This system provides a meaningful step toward equity in the coffee value chain and demonstrates Raw Material’s commitment to delivering long-term, community-driven development through trade.
