Orange, Blackcurrant, Apple Juice

Producer: Small Holder Farmers
Origin: Gaitania, Colombia
Varietal: Castillo, Caturra, Colombia
Elevation: 1900 masl

The Process

This lot is washed in line with Colombian coffee processing traditions. Ripe cherries are de-pulped and then dry fermented for 60 hours, thoroughly washed in the fermentation tank, and then dried for 15 days in a marquesina (a specialised covered drying method common in Colombia, essentially a greenhouse-marquee).

The History of Coffee in Colombia

As with many coffee origins, it is believed that coffee was first brought to Colombia by priests, arriving, perhaps, within a decade or two after coffee first came to the Americas via the Caribbean in the first half of the 17th century. It was likely a garden crop grown for local consumption and barter for decades. Unlike other coffee regions, we have the story of a priest named Francisco Romero, who could be called the father of commercial coffee cultivation in Colombia. The folkloric tale goes that in the early 1800’s, Father Francisco, hearing confessions in the northeastern town of Salazar de la Palmas, assigned planting coffee to his parishioners as penance for their sins. The Archbishop of Colombia heard about this and ordered all priests to adopt the practice. Commercial production of coffee expanded quickly, moving into regions where the growing conditions were ideal.