Description
Roaster’s tasting notes:
Tasting notes to follow cupping
Additional information:
Colombia is characterized by its many coffee-producing regions, microclimates, climbing altitudes, and excellent producers. Coffee did not spread in the country until the 19th century, thanks to Jesuit priests who first planted coffee in Colombia the previous century. Today, coffee is grown in 20 of the 35 departments in Colombia and is one of the world’s top producers thanks to its high and year-round yields. Production is dominated by exceptional smallholder producers, growing beautiful coffee throughout the many regions.
In the western reaches of the well-known coffee-producing region of Antioquia is the municipality of Caicedo. The rugged mountains and high altitudes make this an ideal coffee producing area for Colombia. Yet, in the 1990s and early 2000s, violence hit Caicedo when illegal groups fought for control of the land. Local farmers were terrorized, the state governor was kidnapped and sadly killed during a peace march for the protection of coffee farmers.
Thankfully, this violence is in the past, and Caicedo is now a place of peace and prominence. This is thanks, in part, to coffee and the increase in specialty coffee production. This area is one of the highest that our exporting partners in Colombia, Pergamino, work with. There is a deep canyon, that juts down below towards the Cauca River, allowing for warm air to rush up to higher altitudes. A magnificent and beautiful region, indeed.
Pergamino specifically work with roughly fifty independent producers in Caicedo, yet this lot is comprised of nine producers’ lots. Each producer will harvest and process their own coffee and deliver it to the Pergamino collection station. During the harvest, the cherries are carefully handpicked, and then washed and pulped to remove the external fruit. Next, the coffee is fermented for 48 hours, to breakdown the sticky mucilage. After fermentation, the coffee is dried in the open sun until the ideal moisture content is reached. The coffee is then transported to the Pergamino dry mill in Medellín, to be hulled and prepared for export.
