Ciro Lugo is a coffee "Llanero" through and through. A tough Colombian cowboy who embodies self-reliance, positivity, and grit. He's the type of person we created Corvus Coffee to partner with and help succeed. With or without specialty coffee buyers he would be (and was) producing the best coffee he possibly could every year. Up at the break of dawn, restless to the point where it's hard to have a conversation for more than a couple minutes before he heads to the next task, he inspires us to work harder, be better, and hold ourselves to a higher standard. Meeting Ciro helped clarify our mission in the world. He greets you with a smile and a handshake that could crush the bones in your hand. He'll invite you immediately into his home for a meal. And as you eat at his simple table (some of the best food you'll ever have - his wife is an outstanding cook), you'll realize that this man puts his whole being into his work. He sees his coffee as a reflection of himself, and his work in light of the reverberations it will have for the future generations of his family. And for years he had no one paying him what his coffee was worth. Over the last five years we've seen him and his son, Albiero, invest heavily in their coffee processing systems. They've been able to expand drying beds, add living quarters for pickers who work at their farm, upgrade their processing equipment, and invest in additional land and varieties. This coffee is one of our proudest partnerships. We exist to showcase coffees like this; great without the story, but the love we have for this family makes the cup ten times better. It's characterized every year by a buttery smooth mouthfeel, apricot like acidity, and dominate brown sugar sweetness.