Manos al Grano Comunidad

About the Coffee

Manos al Grano is Azahar Coffee's community sourcing program in Huila, Colombia, built to create traceable, quality-focused relationships with smallholder producers. Rather than aggregate anonymous lots, the program connects individual farmers directly to roasters, paying premiums for skilled processing and consistency. Producers in the network grow Caturra and other varieties at high elevations across Huila's mountainous terrain, where cool nights and volcanic soils create the conditions for clean, bright coffees.

This washed Caturra follows a selective picking and careful fermentation process that preserves clarity. After harvesting, cherries are depulped and fermented in tanks to break down remaining mucilage, then washed clean and dried slowly on raised beds or patios. The washing process removes fruit sugars and oils, leaving the bean's inherent characteristics in focus. Azahar works directly with producers on quality control, cupping samples at origin and providing feedback to refine each harvest.

The Comunidad lot represents coffee from multiple producers within the Manos al Grano network, blended to showcase Huila's regional profile while supporting broader access to specialty markets. By pooling smaller contributions, the program gives more farmers a path to premium pricing and skill development, with Azahar handling logistics, quality assurance, and export from their Pitalito facility.

About Fernwood

Ben and Terra started Fernwood in 2006 after leaving high-end restaurant kitchens in search of a slower pace. With their son just a year old, they bought a café with a roaster in the back and began learning coffee the same way they'd learned food: with precision, daily tasting, and no shortcuts. The day their daughter Keiko was born, their first custom-printed bags arrived, marking the shift from café operation to something bigger.

They built Fernwood on the belief that café-quality coffee could live on grocery shelves without compromise. In 2006, that wasn't common thinking in the Pacific Northwest, but they proved it by roasting in small batches, cupping every lot, and delivering one-pound bags with the same care they'd brought to plating dinner. They grew from local butcher shops to national grocers, always keeping the roasting process close and relationships direct. No warehouse pallets sitting for weeks, no mystery about when the coffee was roasted.

"Fernwood is a roaster you'll see all over Reddit as being one of BC's best. I asked to try their coffee, and now I get what all the hype is about. I bought a few extra bags of Manos al Grano for my stash at home."

- Dean, Director of Coffee