Origin : Colombia
Farm : Los Guayabos
Varietal : Castillo
Altitude : 1500 MASL
Certification : Micro-Lot
Process : 48HR Apple Infusion, Natural
Cup Score : 87
Caramelised Apple, Spiced Cherries & Cloves
This is a fantastic Apple-Infused Castillo from Jairo Arcila’s wife, Luz Salazar.
Fruit-infused coffees are rare and their vibrant and unmistakable taste profiles make them not to be missed.
Infused with dehydrated apple pulp at 2x stages - this lot showcases a whole different side to post cultivation processing.
Processing:
Once ripe, the cherries are processed by Cofinet at their processing station, La Pradera. The coffee is then transported to fermentation barrels where it is exposed to a dry anaerobic fermentation of 48 hours.
During this fermentation, dehydrated apple pulp was added to the anaerobic environment. Once the fermentation is completed, the coffee is then placed on raised beds where the second stage of infusion withore dehydrated apple pulp takes place, at an observed sub 35 degrees until ideal moisture content is achieved.
Producer:
Luz Helena began her coffee journey more than twenty years ago after listening to her husband, Jairo Arcila, as he spoke about his daily challenges as a coffee farmer and dry mill manager.
She felt that the farm had a capacity for something much better than the commercial coffee it was producing at that time, and set herself to overhauling their farm management in order to improve the cup quality and health of the trees. Along the way, she also took a meticulous approach to processing, something that her two sons, Carlos and Felipe, have expanded upon with their own coffee business.
Farm:
Of the many farms in the region of Armenia, Colombia, Los Guayabos does not have the highest elevation nor the most ideal terroir for growing high-quality coffee. What it does have is a team of specialists, led by Luz Helena Salazar, who have learned how to coax the best from their coffee trees through years of close attention to the particular needs of the land.
For several years now, her focus has been on producing Specialty Coffee. With the support of Cofinet, Luz has been able to improve farm practices and focus on producing the best cherries she can.
Varietal:
In 1968 Café de Colombia’s research centre Cenicafé, which is dedicated to studying and improving coffee farming, began a genetic improvement programme to create rust-resistant varieties. After 23 years of research and development Castillo was released for production in 2005. 12 years later, it is still resistant to both leaf rust and coffee berry disease.