Description
NOTES OF FIG, CARAMEL, CHOCOLATE
PRODUCER: Community Lot
REGION: Planadas, Tolima
HARVEST: April – August, October – January
VARIETY: Caturra, Colombia, Castillo
ALTITUDE: 1,400–2,100 MASL
PROCESS: Washed
Planadas sits in Tolima, ringed by the mountains of Colombia's central cordillera, its creeks and rivers all draining down into the Atá River. The municipality dates back to 1932, when the Spanish Jesuit priest Fermin Larrazabal led a group of settlers from Huila and Antioquia to a plateau above the river. San Fermin takes its name from him, loosely tied to the San Fermin festival back in Pamplona, Spain.
Coffee here is grown by small, family-run farms, everyone from the picking to the record-keeping staying within the same household. The San Fermin lot itself started in 2013 with thirty producers pooling their coffee together, and more have joined nearly every year since.
Ripe cherries are hand-picked, then floated to sort out anything underripe or damaged. Most farms here ferment the coffee dry now, without added water, for 30 to 36 hours in traditional, covered tiled tubs. After a light double wash, it dries slowly, anywhere from 15 to 30 days depending on the farm's climate, spread across parabolic patios, raised beds, or rooftop patios built with retractable roofs.
This lot is washed Caturra, Colombia, and Castillo, grown in the shade of guamo, cedar, and cambulos trees. Smooth and silky, with a really satisfying mouthfeel, San Fermin's fig, caramel, and chocolate carry all the way through the cup.
