From La Esperanza Farm to Meanwood Valley Urban Farm

Our lovely espresso machine is unwell, so she’s taking the weekend off. Although this is sad news it has given us the opportunity to showcase some of tastiest coffee we’ve ever tasted from Colombia. It’s the first coffee we’ve ever tasted from the Quindio region and its gorgeous!

Here’s a little info from the importer: Raw Materials.

Quindío is a small region in the Western highlands of the Central Cordillera, one of the three principal mountain ranges that run through Colombia and converge at its southern tip to create the Andean Massif at the Ecuadorean border.

The first settlers in the Salento region arrived in the 1890s from Tolima. Many were radical liberal guerrillas, fleeing reprisals from the governing conservative regime and the civil disorder that culminated in the Thousand Day War. These days, it is only a 45-minute drive from Armenia to this spot, however, for the first 36 years of its existence, Salento had no road access. Instead, there was a mountain path to Calarcá that took two days to transit by mule.

We have been working with Norbey for the last two years; his impeccable attention to detail and consistency with post harvest processing has made his coffees routinely stand out. This selection was harvested in March, after pulping and fermentation it was dried for 20 days on African style raised beds. This drying technique ensures an even airflow around all aspects of the resting parchment and is key in avoiding any mold or ferment, the depth to this coffee no doubt comes from this technique.

Back to us, on our simplified spectrum of coffee here's where we place this single origin.

This origin has been roasted in Leeds by a little micro-roastery called Shiloh.