Forest Coffee | El Vergel | Colombia
Our Relationship with Forest Coffee & El Vergel
How We Met Shady & Elias
I was fortunate enough to meet Shady & Elias (proprietors of Forest Green and El Vergel) a few years ago at the Conduit in London, while in preparation for a national competition. Getting to sit down with them and chat through all things coffee felt like a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. The two had unrivalled passion and expertise, which made me hungry to work with them in a commercial capacity once Harmony began.
About Forest Coffee
Forest Coffee was born out of a desire to unite the coffee-producing community in Colombia. They offer a series of green coffee categories, each of which provides customers with different levels of quality, innovation and social impact:
1. Community Coffees
These coffees highlight the Condor projects in Colima and Huila, aiming to maximise social impact, enhance local coffee quality, and uplift the communities involved. This is where we source our Really Good Decaf Coffee from El Vergel.
2. Microlots
Focused on small-batch production, this category highlights unique profiles from individual producers or small collectives. It is centred around exceptional cup quality and the storytelling behind each lot.
3. Reserve Coffees
A showcase of one-of-a-kind coffees with extraordinary profiles. These lots prioritise luxury, refinement and uncompromising quality.
4. Innovation Series
This category is dedicated to experimental processing, new harvesting methods and creative flavour development. Forest Green is particularly well-known for their Koji inoculation work, trailblazed in partnership with Christopher Feran (blog here) and Kaapo Paavol. We have also featured several Koji–processed coffees from El Vergel in our coffee lineup.
5. Competition Series
A rigorously curated lineup of truly world-class coffees designed for the global competitive stage. I was fortunate enough to secure several of these lots for my own national competition — read more about that here. My experience with El Vergel’s competition lots made me rethink the often-repeated industry assertion that Panama is always the premier origin for Gesha — something I later discussed in my interview with Perfect Daily Grind.
Our Partnership with Forest Coffee
Working with El Vergel and Forest Coffee has made me realise the importance of community within coffee and the social benefits that can be passed along through the supply chain. Their emphasis on innovation, producer upliftment and quality aligns perfectly with our values.
With the help of our sourcing partner and UK Barista Champion 2024, Roosa Jalonen, we've committed to an exciting lineup for the coming year — one that we hope will inspire and delight anyone curious to taste exceptional coffees.
Learn more about our other Green Coffee Partners.
If you're interested in working with us on a wholesale basis, or to feature some of Forest’s coffees – follow this link and drop us a message! You can also subscribe to our decaf coffee subscription here.
FAQ — Forest Coffee & El Vergel
Who are Forest Coffee?
Forest Coffee is a Colombian green coffee sourcing project focused on community upliftment, experimental processing and exceptional cup quality. They also manage the renowned El Vergel Estate.
What makes their coffees unique?
Their coffees are organised into categories — Community, Microlot, Reserve, Innovation and Competition — each with different goals, flavour profiles and producer impacts. Their Innovation Series, particularly Koji processing, has gained global attention.
How did Harmony Coffee begin working with Forest Coffee?
We first met Shady & Elias in London while preparing for a national competition. Their passion and expertise left a deep impression, eventually leading to a commercial partnership once Harmony was founded.
What Forest Coffee lots have we used?
We’ve sourced decaf from El Vergel, multiple Koji-processed coffees, and competition-grade lots which have been used in national competitions.
Can Forest Coffee’s offerings be purchased through our wholesale programme?
Omwani
Our wonderful sourcing partners specialising in East African coffee sourcing from Uganda, Burundi, Rwanda, Ethiopia, Malawi, Tanzania and Kenya.
Omwani have been with us since the word go, and it's always a privilege to work with them. Most recently, we sourced the incredible Basha Bekele and their amazing Bukonzo Dream, which features as a permanent house coffee for our friends at Little Blondie Bakehouse
Omwani has also been instrumental in much of our understanding of regulations like EUDR via the educational section of their website. We have found it so useful in fact, that we included it in our 'best free coffee tools' blog in our blog section.
Coffee Cargo
Our wonderful Brazilian coffee partners, focusing on sourcing exceptional Brazilian Coffees.
Phil and the team at Cargo coffee have supplied us with incredible Brazilian coffee from some of the world's best farms, like our Sitio Portella, Sitio Lagoa and a number of other incredible coffees, such as our wonderful Sitio Baixao da Serra, which we supplied to our friends over at Grind & Tamp.
Sitio Portella was also a well loved and gorgeous addition to York based Vinyl Cafe, Forty Five and Black Wheat Club - Both of whom found it was received particularly well.
Karst Organics
Our wonderful sourcing partners based in East Timor.
Karst's phenomenal business integrity has earned them a permanent seasonal spot on our coffee offer list, featuring with us from February - May with various coffees like their Hatuhei.
Our mates at Batch Coffee club wrote a lovely review about our coffee with Karst Organics that you can read on their website.
This coffee also features very heavily with our mates at York's best climbing wall, Redgoat.
You can find out more on Karst organics by following the link below.
Yundian
Since their inception, Yundian's coffee has become a staple of our coffee offerings.
Chinese coffee production has always been on our radar as having incredible potential due to its incredibly rich agricultural history and diverse terroir.
Yundian have more than earned their spot as our regular partner for Chinese coffees, providing us with some exceptional coffees such as Lu Sun and the Red Sparrow.
Caribbean Goods
Caribbean Goods are a Guatemalan specialty coffee importer. We work with Caribbean Goods to source some of the best coffees that Guatemala has to offer with a fair, fully traceable and just supply chain.
Javier's ethos aligns perfectly with our own, with an emphasis on Quality, Traceability, Customer and Farm level relationships, Empowerment and Environmental Conservation.
Caribbean Goods work with sustainable farms, using new techniques that use 90% less water than traditional coffee farming practices.
Micafe
Our wonderful sourcing partner for various Colombian coffee microlots.
Johnny has become a very good friend of ours since Harmony's inception in 2022.
Johnny's coffees have become a regular staple on our offer list, thanks to their incredibly high quality and extremely reliable consistency.
Most recently we added our Edinson Argote from one of the farms that Johnny works closely with, Quebraditas.
Forest Green Coffee
Our sourcing partner for El Vergel's microlots in Colombia.
Shady & Elias have also earned themselves a permanent spot on our Really Good Decaf Coffee rotation, with their exceptional Decaf from El Vergel.
We have been consistently blown away by the quality of their coffees, especially their Sugarcane Decaf, which has been a key feature at many of the best coffee shops in York and around the country - easily one of the best decaf coffees we've ever tried, which has since become a mainstay on our offer list.
For more information about El Vergel, follow this link here
Makicuna
Our wonderful sourcing partners based in Ecuador.
Makicuna now source from over 25 different coffee producers in Ecuador - primarily from Loja, Pichincha and Imbabura.
They source from some of the best coffee producers in the world - we are extremely excited whenever Ecuador is in season.
Conscious
We first met Culainn and Lea at Nottingham coffee fest in 2023, where we were exhibiting alongside them.
At that point, we really quite enjoyed the coffees that we tried, and lined them up for our Multi-roaster coffee subscription, Just Bru. We found that our values on quality, transparency, traceability and wanting to make the coffee supply chain a better place were wonderfully aligned.
After being so impressed, we have made Conscious our main supplier for Peru and Bolivia, supplying us with wonderful coffees like El Diamente and Los Rodriguez.
Cofinet
Our wonderful sourcing partners for various Colombian & Peruvian Microlots.
Bethany, Liam and the rest of the team at Cofinet have been excellent in sorting us out with some spectacular Colombian & Peruvian Microlots.
Currently available is our San Sebastián that you can find roasted for our mates over at Wombat Wisdom.
We also have a gorgeous release from El Arrayan!
Check Out Our Coffee Beans
View all-
Coffee E-Gift Card
Regular price From £5.00 GBPRegular priceUnit price per -
EL VERGEL DECAF
Regular price From £9.95 GBPRegular priceUnit price per
