APRICOT | MANDARIN | CACAO NIBS

Cesar Buesaquillo grows coffee at La Esmeralda, his farm in Buena Vista, Quindío, where the trees sit at 1,750–1,800 meters in volcanic ash soils. He and his pickers harvest only ripe cherry. His sorting team then hand-sorts and floats every batch to remove anything underripe, low-density, or defective.

This lot is Castillo, a rust-resistant variety Cenicafé released in 2005 from a cross of Timor Hybrid and Caturra. After sorting, the cherry ferments underwater for 30 hours before it's pulped. The mucilage is then washed off, and Cesar recycles that water to float the next batches. The coffee dries in thin layers in parabolic dryers for about 12 days, until it reaches 9.5–11% moisture.

In the cup, we taste juicy apricot and mandarin, with a pleasant cacao nib bitterness on the finish.

Country / Colombia
Producer / Cesar Buesaquillo
Location / La Esmeralda, Buena Vista, Quindío
Process / Washed
Variety / Castillo
Altitude / 1750–1800 masl