Colombia
This month, we continue our exploration of the recent Colombian harvest with two new lots; excellent examples of the direction of modern Colombian coffee. We can see that previously remote rural regions like Huila and Nariño have become centres for innovation, leading to new interpretations of the classic Colombian profile, while still paying respect to tradition, culture and history. In Nariño, Mauro Tulcan has tweaked the profile of his coffee with a short anaerobic pre-fermentation and a drying process with mucilage attached. This leads to a deeply sweet, fresh and fruity profile in his Medina Espejo. At La Llanada in Huila, Oscar Oma has fermented Sidra cherries with a saccharomyces yeast culture before washing, leading to complex floral and herbal aromas followed by ripe peach and strawberry in the cup, with an intriguing eucalyptus finish.
Medina Espejo
Medina Espejo is a tiny 2 hectare plot where Mauro Tulcan grows coffee perched on a steep mountainside in Buesaco, in Colombia’s mountainous Nariño region. We have come to appreciate coffees from Nariño over many years, for their dense sweetness and intense, concentrated flavours in the cup, with a high degree of clarity. Incredibly high altitudes, often over 2000 masl, and excellent sun exposure mean sugar-rich, slow-matured coffee cherries, with ample fuel for fermentation and roasting to create complexity and intensity.
Mauro is a member of the Tulcan family, who have grown coffee outside the village of Medina Espejo for generations. Mauro’s plot was originally part of one of the largest coffee plantations in Buesaco, before being slowly split among siblings over the past half century. Mauro decided to name his small slice of this legacy after the village itself, a tribute to his family’s long history here.
This lot is of the Caturra varietal, processed using a honey method. The cherries are first placed in sealed containers for 48 hours, before de-pulping and a second shorter fermentation of 18 hours. The coffee is then dried directly on covered raised beds for 18 days. This careful fermentation translates the potential of these intensely sweet Nariño cherries into a bright and complex profile, with notes of tropical mango, while holding on to the crisp red berry acidity we’ve tasted from so many high altitude Nariño coffees.
La Llanada
Oscar Oma is a fourth generation coffee producer, but spent many years as a veterinary technician before returning to his family farm La Llanada, near San Agustín in Huila. The farm lies on a steep slope, with plots from 1700 masl all the way to 2200 masl, too high to grow coffee traditionally. At these higher reaches of the farm, the native forest has been allowed to remain, while fruit trees are planted among the coffee, aiding in biodiversity and shade. The Sidra varietal grows well in the high altitude conditions of Huila, often resulting in cups with striking body and sweetness, alongside complex fruit notes. This particular lot has a character shaped by Oscar’s approach to processing. Following the wave that has crossed Colombia in recent years, especially in Huila, Oscar began to experiment with fermentation and processing.
He experimented with different yeast strains, but found that the differences were less pronounced than he had hoped. His hypothesis was that native yeast and bacterial cultures were too strong and ingrained to be overcome by specific added cultures. It was here he heard about the use of ozone in coffee processing. A popular method of disinfection, especially of water, Oscar used ozone to disinfect his cherries and fermentation vessels before adding specific yeasts, and immediately noticed greater differences in the cup.
This lot is the result of that experimentation. First, cherries are fermented in sealed tanks for 72 hours, before being disinfected with ozone and placed in sterile tanks with a cultivated saccharomyces yeast for 90 hours. Finally, the coffee is washed and dried on raised beds under canopies. This double fermentation, one wild and one with cultured yeast, allows for a balance between the terroir-driven and more wild process-driven flavours, while the washing ensures a clean and bright profile in the cup. This is a wildly complex example of the Sidra varietal, with complex floral and herbal aromas followed by ripe peach and strawberry in the cup, with a eucalyptus finish.
Colombia is and will continue to be one of the world’s most exciting countries for speciality coffee. Colombia produces a huge volume of coffee; second only to Brazil, and far ahead of Ethiopia. The potential for quality is immense, and the population at large feel a genuine pride in their coffee growing heritage. These coffee are a continuation of that theme, on one hand modern, and of the future, on the other a testament to Colombia’s coffee growing culture and tradition, built on all of the experience that has come before.
