Single Origin Spotlight: Colombia Huila Finca Monte Frio
Welcome back to the single origin spotlight, where we tell you about our favorite single origin coffees, the regions that cultivate them, and the hardworking producers that make what we do possible. We got our hands on one of the most unique coffees we’ve ever tasted and think it’s the perfect addition to your morning as summer comes to an end. Let’s head south and talk about our new coffee from the mega diverse country of Colombia.
As the second most diverse country in the world—a fact made even more impressive by the country’s relatively small size—Colombia is home to distinct climate zones determined by landscape and elevation. The country is divided into departments; each of which contain such varying terrains as stretches of the Amazon rainforest, highlands, peaks of the Andes Mountain range, savanna's, and deserts. It is the only South American country with both Atlantic and Pacific coastlines and includes islands that sit to the mainland’s north in the Caribbean Sea.
(Huila, Colombia) Photo By Cafe Imports
It is this stark biodiversity, and variety of landscape, climate, and elevation that makes coffee production in Colombia so unique. Twenty of this country’s thirty-two departments produce coffee in vastly different quantities and qualities. Northern and central departments produce the majority of this country’s coffee and they make up tasting profiles that are more familiar to us when we think of Colombian coffees—full-bodied, chocolatey, and nutty. But it is the Southwestern departments of Huila and Tolima with high elevation farms like “Finca Monte Frio”, that produce smaller quantities of highly unique and complex coffees.
The Rivas Family has owned Finca Monte Frio—their farm in Southwest Colombia—for four generations. Hector Rivas and his four grandchildren currently operate the coffee farm and processing facilities that are responsible for our newest coffee offering, aptly named Colombia Huila Finca Monte Frio. After being harvested in February, this coffee was processed anaerobically; a new and experimental processing method that involves sealing the coffee cherries from oxygen in tanks to allow high levels of fermentation before the drying phase. This extra step slows fermentation down, creating highly unique flavor characteristics in a coffee. After fermenting in an anaerobic environment, these cherries are laid out to dry without being pulped; making it a natural process coffee that was first sealed off to oxygen for several days. As coffee producers continue to experiment with this processing method, some have chosen to even add fruit peels and spices to the tanks to infuse the cherries with flavor.
(Coffee Plant) Photo By Cafe Imports
The plant varieties in this coffee are called Colombia and Castillo—two disease-resistant species varieties that were developed by Cenicafe—Colombia’s National Federation of Coffee Growers. Keeping disease-resistant varieties present is an important practice to the longevity of the coffee industry and its producers.
Once we roasted this coffee at our Tallahassee Florida coffee roastery, we knew we had something special on our hands. It’s rich tasting profile of black cherry, dark chocolate, and a syrupy sweetness are unlike any other coffee we’ve had on our shelves. This coffee was produced in small quantities and will be with us for a very limited time, so make sure to pick one up at any of our cafes or online while we have it.
To get the most body out of this intensely sweet coffee, we recommend using an immersion dripper, like the Hario Switch or Clever Dripper. Here’s our recipe for the perfect cup!
- Weigh out 15g of coffee and grind to a medium course grind; heat filtered water in a kettle to 200-205 degrees.
- Set up your dripper with the plunger not yet released, add a paper filter, rinse with hot water, drain, and add your coffee.
- Bloom the coffee with 30g of water, and then wait 30 seconds before adding 220g more water, reaching a total of 250g of water added.
- Let your coffee steep for 2 minutes, before gently swirling, and releasing the plunger to drain from the coffee bed into your favorite mug, and enjoy!
Until next time!
Stay Caffeinated,
Lucky Goat Coffee
