Summary

An outstanding microlot from Huilla region, of Castillo varietal only: fruity, juicy and floral, It shows a remarkable complexity with notes of grapefruit, peach tea, honey and milk chocolate. It is available roasted for espresso or filter.

The Finer Details

Where it comes from

This microlot comes from Tarqui, in the Colombian region of Huila.

Tarqui, which was founded at the time of the Incas, is located on the Central Cordillera of the Andes. Coffee is grown at extremely high altitudes, up to 2000masl, and in multiple microclimates. In the northern part, the main harvest is in July-August and the mitaka, the so-called second harvest, is in November-December. In the southern region, the periods are reversed. This means that it is possible to have fresh coffee from Tarqui all year round.

Each farm is generally small in size, from 1 to 3 hectares and, as a result, farmers tend to associate themselves in organizations.

Who grew it

The microlot is composed of 100% of Castillo variety beans. It was grown at 1700masl by Dorian Felipe Osorio in Finca La Brisa, one of the micro-cultivations mentioned above.

This lot is exceptional in quality. It ranked, in fact, among the best lots of the last harvest during an event where the best Tarqui lots were tasted and selected through blind cupping. This competition is promoted annually by our partner Nordic Approach whose objective is to encourage the increase in quality of the Tarqui coffee by paying a premium to the farmers if they are able to obtain outstanding green coffee quality. More specifically, the winners get sales prices for their lots up to three times higher than market prices.

How it was processed

The cherries were harvested strictly by hand, in 4 passes: in each pass only the ripe cherries are harvested, leaving on the trees the green ones that, if necessary, are collected in the next step a few weeks later.

The cherries collected in the second and third passes are separated from the others, to obtain micro lots of superior quality, since most of the times they result to have an almost perfect ripeness.

The cherries were processed according to a completely washed process with dry fermentation, ie without adding water during the fermentation phase.

In practice, the pulp is first removed from the cherries by a mechanical depulper. The beans are then sent to fermentation tanks, where they remain from one to two days depending on the temperature: higher temperatures accelerate the fermentation which is instead slowed by milder climates. An intermediate rinsing is carried out to better control the process.

Once the desired fermentation degree has been reached, the beans are sent to the washing channels, where the immature ones are removed. They are identified by the lower density as they tend to float (floaters).

Finally, the washed beans are dried in the so-called parabolic dryers, which are nothing but greenhouses open from the sides to promote air circulation and at the same time protect the grains from the rain. In this way, the residual moisture in the grain is lowered to the desired level, 10–11%, in 10–18 days. During the drying process, the beans are visually inspected many times to remove any residual defects.

Before the shipment, the parchment is removed, and the green beans are vacuum packed.

What to expect in the cup

This micro-lot is very fruity, juicy and floral, with outstanding notes of grapefruit, peach tea, honey and milk chocolate.

Very sweet, it is available both in espresso roasting and filter.