Puchero Coffee Roasters, the specialty coffee that comes from the town
It is not difficult to imagine the few residents of the Valladolid town of Hornillos de Eresma trying to guess what that black barracks that calms the pastures treasures. The scent it gives off gives clues: it can't be anything other than a coffee roaster . They found out about the 'specialty' thing later.
“If now it is difficult to explain what a specialty coffee even in the capitals, imagine when we got here in 2015 ”, he comments by phone Marco Bergero, the Italian half of Puchero . When they got to Hornillos de Eresma (Valladolid) to the family farm Paloma Puentes, her partner and partner , there was no other roaster in the province and the number on the peninsula could be counted on the fingers of one hand. Now there are more than fifty who domesticate the grain in Spain. Caffeine has revived even the most sleepy. But he laments: There is still no market for everyone”.
The first was a trip. London-Valladolid . As is often the case, it was the deviations that mattered. In the case of these entrepreneurs, the scale was in Vietnam. They had questions to ask the future. They looked for answers in the present of Southeast Asia.
Hornillos de Eresma did not expect this neighbor
Then came the meeting. They came across an American guy who is dedicated to helping ethnic minority coffee growers through his NGO, philanthropy. Michael Gomez Wood trains farmers so that they know how to improve the quality of their productions, how to manage their natural resources and gives them access to higher value markets such as specialty coffee.
“Some have spectacular coffees, but they don't know it ”, Marco comments with his perfect Spanish diction. He and Paloma discovered it there, feet in the coffee plantation. And they decided that his future would smell like coffee and that they would take him to that Valladolid town of less than two hundred inhabitants that witnessed the birth of Paloma. He has also been soup : a roaster that does not lose sight of his responsibility towards the producer.
where they used to grow up organic chickens now I know cup, roast and pack coffee beans -never more than fifty kilos per consignment- from different origins, including, of course, those from Laos. Crops of Ethiopia, Colombia, Brazil, Guatemala and Tanzania. They work with importers who in turn respect, value and reward the work of small producing farms and Puchero responds by "preserving and enhancing the characteristics of coffee origin".
Marco Bergero and Paloma Fuentes
Theirs are round and balanced, versatile and complete coffees . They know what each customer profile is looking for, from the most experienced coffee growers who know how to break down the complexity of an Ethiopia to those who are entering the world of specialty coffee -who will love their Brazil Pedra Blanca for its controlled acidity and notes of chocolate and nuts-.
pigeon and frame They opted from the beginning for international distribution: Germany, England, Holland, the Czech Republic, Hungary or the United Arab Emirates are some of the destinations for your Puchero . This offset losses from the closure of Spanish cafes during the March lockdown. That, and the direct orders that they received from their website and that reached the domestic coffee machines accompanied by chocolate bars, their new line of business.
PUCHERO, ALSO OF CHOCOLATE
Now, that black construction anchored to the Castilian countryside holds more than one fascination. "We have entered the world of 'bean to bar' -the cocoa equivalent of specialty coffee- because our knowledge of coffee allowed us to achieve very interesting profiles when roasting cocoa." They were made with a melanger, a mill to grind and refine cocoa nibs , and began to play with their sugars and acids until they marketed chocolates originating from Ecuador, Tanzania, Dominican Republic or Madagascar.
The toaster, a delight
It is a market that arrives in Spain several years late and, according to Marco, "allows them to experiment, to contribute something different". For this, also collaborate with local producers who take care of the product like them . They have just launched a chocolate bar -India at 60%- made exclusively with the bread of panic (Madrid) and another 55% cocoa from Uganda with Jarradilla butter in collaboration with Farming Cheese . They don't ally with just anyone.
Their chocolate is also part of the pastries and toasts that they offer along with their coffee in the tasting area of the tostadero. The idea of opening their own cafeteria had been around their heads since Puchero was born, but his mind was focused on in the product . They wanted to continue investing in knowledge in machinery. They ended up doing both.
The cafeteria allows them to control all the coffee production process, from origin to that cup consumed by the customer anchored to a bar . They are not baristas, but they know their functions perfectly. Marco doesn't get far from being Italian. Over there the traditional bartender is a barista by nature : “He is a key piece because he is the last person who is in contact with the coffee before the final customer. It depends on him that a good product is not spoiled or even improve a commercial coffee”.
The delicious chocolates of Puchero Coffee Roasters
With all its modernity in tow, Puchero's jet-black barracks clings to the ground it steps on , which he crossed in Vietnam and which stoic coffee growers work on the other side of the seas. There is no whiff of snobbery in them. They are clear: “ The important thing is to have a spectacular product: without it it is impossible to be successful”.
Puchero Coffee Roasters, the specialty coffee that comes from the town