Cauca, Colombia (Whole Beans)

Finca Santuario sits in the Cauca region of Colombia at 1,650 to 1,850m above sea level. The farm was established in 2000 by Camilo Merizalde, who grew up near coffee farms in Valle de Cauca before leaving for the United States to study and work in food and beverage. It was during those years abroad that he began asking a question that would define the next two decades of his life. Why was Colombian specialty coffee so consistently underestimated?

He returned to Colombia with a plan. The farm was divided into 266 individual micro-plots, each monitored for its own growing conditions and microclimate. Soil was enriched with nitrogen-fixing plants. Varieties were selected for quality over yield. The first export left Finca Santuario in 2005. Since then the farm has become a reference point in the specialty coffee world, working with competition baristas including 2015 World Barista Champion Sasa Sestic.

This lot is a Red Bourbon, processed using the honey method. Cherries are harvested only when the fruit reaches peak ripeness, measured at a sweetness level of Brix 22° or above. Only the ripest cherries make it through. After pulping, the beans are dried with 75% of the fruit mucilage intact on raised African beds for approximately 22 days. The retained mucilage builds the syrupy body and concentrated sweetness that defines this cup. Maple syrup, pineapple, and dried black currant.