This coffee comes from a small farm, Finca San Gabriel. The farm run by Ruby Paguatian, is located in Chachagui, and it's a member of the Cafè Occidente Co-op.
Founded in 1977 in Nariño, Café Occidente Cooperative had originally only 50 members, located principally in Sandoná and Pasto's municipalities. Today, it counts eight farm supply stores in 12 municipalities of Western Nariño. The cooperative has 1670 members, including four winners and two runner-ups in the Cup of Excellence since 2005. Quality is a top priority for all the members: they aim to ensure that all coffees meet high-quality standards with scores above 86 points.
In contrast with other Colombia regions, these producers can have extremely dry conditions during the harvest time, with very low humidity. Together with really high altitudes (coffee grows up to 2200 masl), these conditions affect the flavor profiles, making these lots distinct from any other Colombian coffees.
Coffee cherries are picked in three to four passes. The workers handpick the ripe cherries by blocks, and they wait a few weeks until more cherries ripen before passing through the same block again.
The farmers have a small beneficio (wet mill), a small manual or electric pulper, and fermentation tanks. They pulp the cherries in the afternoon, then transfer the coffee from the pulper into fermentation tanks without adding any water. The coffee sits there for 48H or more, depending on the temperature. Higher temperature will speed up the fermentation process, and lower temperature will slow it down.
Producers normally stir the coffees in tanks and then remove the floaters before drying.
In regions like Nariño, the coffees are commonly sun-dried in parabolic dryers that almost work like greenhouses. The producers of higher quality coffees, like in this case, have well-ventilated facilities. There are many different variations and constructions, but generally, they are all systems that protect the coffee from rain. Producers with well-ventilated drying facilities dry the coffee to around 11% in 10 – 18 days, ideal for quality, consistency, and shelf life.
In the cup this coffee has notes of bright fruits and juicy florals, with a very juicy acidity tending towards acetic, making it very much anaerobic style, but still balanced. Very sweet. Complex and delicate fruit, very well structured and clear. Flavour notes of caramelized, hibiscus, strawberry jam, sweet and funky.
Minimum resting period: 10 days from the roast date for espresso roast, 5 days for filter roast.
