Colombia - Tres Montes

Notes of Berry Ganache, Fruit Punch and Fine Dark Chocolate Three Farms, Three Distinct Takes on Natural Processing, One Roast This coffee is nothing if not complex. The coffee opens with a bright red grape, pineapple, raspberry, and other red fruits. The fruit notes are quite vast,, but we find pineapple, papaya, cherry, orange, dehydrated strawberry, passion fruit, blackberry, and naranjilla. Generally, the impression is that of Hawaiian Punch. The cup is rounded out with earthy, herbal notes that overlap with a port wine. Dark chocolate, cacao nibs, and fine tobacco round out the cup. Producer Notes: This year's Tres Montes brings together three natural process coffees: Jhon Cuellar, a third-generation coffee farmer from Acevedo, Huila, runs Finca Las Brisas, a 10-hectare farm. Jhon has spent the last 15 years experimenting with new varieties and processing methods, adjusting fermentation times crop by crop to bring out the best in each lot. This lot is composed entirely of Castillo that went through 100 hours of traditional fermentation followed by 70 hours of submerged anaerobic fermentation in water. He farms without pesticides, using coffee husks as organic fertilizer and planting banana and cachingo trees alongside his coffee to build soil nitrogen. Diego Horta grew up on his family's farm and now runs Finca El Rincón, an 11-hectare farm in Santa Maria, Huila. He's built a reputation for experimenting with varieties like Geisha and Sidra alongside more the more traditional Colombia and Pacamara varieties, and for pushing into anaerobic and natural processing. This lot is a mix of those varieties and underwent 160 hours in anaerobic fermentation in bags before a short dry in a mechanical silo followed by eight more days in a drying room. Diego also grows plantains, yucca, avocados, and bananas to maintain biodiversity and financial viability. The third component comes from Juan Saldarriaga's farms La Claudina and El Encanto in Ciudad Bolívar, Antioquia. Juan took over the farms in 2012 and moved from commercial production into specialty coffee not long after, experimenting with Castillo, Tabi, and Colombia varieties. Cherry is picked by cultivar, floated, hand-sorted, fermented for 48 hours, then mechanically cold-dried for 72 hours. Brew Notes: A 1:16-1:17 brew ratio with a medium grind and 195-202°F yields cups that showcase this coffee's complex range of flavor Coffee Details: Varieties: Castillo, Colombia, Caturra, Tabi, Bourbon, Geisha, and SL28 Processing Method: Natural and Anaerobic Natural Producers: Jhon Cuellar – Finca Las Brisas Diego Horta – Finca El Rincón Juan Saldarriaga – La Claudina & El Encanto Finca Las Brisas, Finca El Rincón, La Claudina & El Encanto Jhon Cuellar, Diego Horta, Juan Saldarriaga Altitude: 4900–5900’