Roast Level: Medium Tasting Notes: Orange, Caramel, Milk Chocolate Farms: Various Farms in the South of Huila region in the San Agustin province of Colombia Process: Fully Washed and Sun Dried Altitude: 1,500 - 1,750 MASL Species: 100% Arabica Varietals: Castillo and Caturra About the Coffee: Coffee farming in this remote region of South of Huila is different from other regions. More than farming it is an art; which has been passed on through generations. The family does their own harvesting usually with the help of neighbors. After the red and ripe cherries are picked, they are depulped by passing them through a manual depulper at the farm. The pulp itself will be used later as a natural fertilizer. The mucilage is immediately removed through the wet process which dissolves its sucrose ingredients by leaving the beans in a processing tank anywhere from 12 to 18 hours. Once this process is complete, farmers sun dry the parchment on patios, or on the roofs of their houses (Elbas). They have designed a mechanism by which they can slide the roof with pulleys to cover the coffee in case of rain. The other sun drying method which is now commonly used is "marquesinas" which are raised ventilated beds covered by polyethylene. The coffee is dried and rotated to achieve the color and moisture uniformity. Producers of San Agustin are a well selected group of small producers who understand our strict quality standards and are fully committed to produce and deliver their best coffees. Among these producers we can find several participants and some winners of Cup of Excellence competitions. The beans have been carefully selected to meet the San Agustin quality standards. Only those who meet the cup profile standards are then milled, sorted, and classified for export under the supervision of a mill manager and quality control director. This unique coffee is carefully selected by electronic sorters to ensure a zero defect coffee.
