This coffee is a blend of small micro-lots via an innovative program called Las Mingas. These are coffees that scored 86 or 87 points, solid coffees, but a tad below out 88 point cut-off on offering it as a distinct Colombia micro-lot. Because we cup each tiny batch separate and pay accordingly, these are part of our direct trade program, Farm Gate Coffee, for farm-distinct coffees. When a coffee is between 86 and 88, it goes into our 3-Star blend, and above 88 it becomes a farm-specific lot. This means that the farmer has been paid a premium price, and that is the case with our Platos Fuertes de Huila. Sometimes these tiny lots are less than 1 bag each, say 50 kilos or so of parchment coffee, so it's just impossible to isolate it and sell it separately. We build this Huila coffee after cupping a staggering amount of samples sent direct from Colombia via FedEx every week, tiny "NanoLots," with an overall cup profile in mind. The coffee has been shipped in vacuum-packed mylar bags, in cardboard box, to maximize the original green coffee quality (which often suffers greatly in the hot, humid ports of Colombia. The Platos Fuertes lot has a very sweet fragrance of caramel, and I get a scent of carrot cake as well! In the wet aroma there is the scent of fruit candies, cane sugar and peaches. I did a very, very light City roast where the coffee is still deeply creased and patchy on the surface, and yet the aroma from this was the best, and I liked the light roast cup too. It's a little bready (needs a bit more rest) but has a clean peach and citrus fruit blend flavor. It's a fantastically clean, transparent cup, with refined sweetness. At C+ roast the grain sweetness is gone, and what lingers is more like refined sugar, an elegant "sipping coffee." Light apricot fruit flavors persist along with a mild orange accent, and the aftertaste is brief yet effervescently light. The mouthfeel is fairly transparent; it suits the cup flavors well. It's a coffee that works fine at FC or FC+ roast, nearing 2nd crack, but at those levels it has a more common Colombia flavor. To really coax the special cup out of this coffee, try to stay light on the roast, and by appearance it might look impossibly light, undrinkabley light. But if 1st crack has concluded, or will finish up in the cooling for you Behmor people, you will be set.

This coffee is part of our direct trade Farm Gate pricing transparency program.

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Suarez is a municipality in the northern part of the Cauca department, a place well known for gold mining (hence the mill mark Oro de Suarez). For me, Cauca coffees have typically had a deeper, darker flavor profile than other origins in Colombia ... and there is a lot of variety from the various departments (states) of Colombia. Raisin sweetness, tropical fruits, slightly lower acidity, slightly more body, ripe fruit/winey accents; these are things I have found from Cauca coffees in the past. Some of those flavors hint at processing traditions, perhaps allowing coffee fruit to ripen to a crimson red on the tree, perhaps longer fermentation times in the wet-processing. So they may indicate a coffee tradition in local culture, and not something that comes from the climate, the cultivar and the soil. But I enjoy Cauca coffees and find them distinct from, say, the Huila and Narino lots from the South. This coffee from Suarez certainly falls in line with my expected hopes for the Cauca cup. The dry fragrance has a lush, tropical fruit sweetness with a hint of Goiabada, the Latin American sweet Guava paste. There's also a soft milk chocolate which comes through in the wet aroma, along with tamarind fruit. The cup has dark brown sugar sweetness, with fruited flavors of concord grape fresh black fig and raisin. It has a lower acidity level than coffee from Huila and other current offerings, and perhaps more body. The finish has a slight black pepper accent, and there is a dry bittering hint in the aftertaste that reminds me of mild tannins of grape skins, and a suggestion of tobacco. But in all, the dark fruited sweetness is the primary cup flavor here. It's a classic Cauca coffee in that respect.



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San Jose de Isnos is in the southwest part of Huila department, and is famous not only for coffee but for its archaeological ruins, namely‚ El Alto de los Idolos and El Alto de las Piedras, both UNESCO World Heritage Sites, created by the San Augustin culture in pre-history. It's a rugged terrain with altitude ranging from 1400 - 1800 meters for coffee production. The lots are sun dried in sheltered patios, which protect the coffee in case of unexpected showers (which are common). Adequate drying of coffee can be a problem in areas where rain comes during the drying time for coffee. But in Huila, they care for the coffee well, mainly because all farms are small-holders in size; there are few "estates" in the south. They pick and process coffee in small lots, drying them on covered rooftop "parabolic dryers", like a little greenhouse open on each end to encourage airflow. Many of these smallholders dry on raised beds/screens, which shortens dry time even further. The result is clean coffee, without musty or fermenty fruit flavors, which can happen when coffee dries too slowly. This lot isn't one of our special Farm Gate (direct trade micro-lot) Colombias, just something that cupped nice. This is a very nice cup! The dry fragrance has a dynamic and sweet smell of raisin, chocolate and nut; a very confectionary combination! The aromatics are caramel-like and sweet, and raisin notes come out with some mild hint of citrus. The cup has a medium-light body, and a bracing fruited brightness with tangy roast notes in the finish. The acidity is pleasantly sharp, and pairs well with golden raisin fruit flavor. Acidity and sweetness are tightly knit together. while these comments refer to the recommended City+ roast level, the darker roasts are very nice with dried, dark fruit (Monukka raisin, fig and prune) and chocolate. At most levels of roast, this cup has a compelling fruited complexity.



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This is a selection from out farm-direct Colombia program. When we score above 88 points, it is desginated as a Micro-lot, processed separately, and a premium price is returned to the farmer. Whe I cup all these tiny lots each week, I don't know the details behind them, but "Lot 74" was memorable and we ranked it above everything in the weekly samples shipped from Bogota. As it is revealed, Lot No. 74 was grown by Mr. Manuel Santacruz. Mr. Santacruz is 47 years old, married to Maria Maura Betancur, with 5 children and a small coffee farm in Bruselas, Huila he calls El Galpon. The area is 7 Hectares and is cultivated with caturra and variedad colombia. The dry fragrance has some refined white grape juice hints and cane sugar, while a slightly darker roast (FC) has cocoa powder tones. The wet aroma reveals some balanced spices and a cake-like sweetness ... very nice. The cup is bright and has a nice, bracing acidity in the lighter roasts, which gives a certain effervescence. It has restrained fruit flavors; green grape, panela (sugarcane cake), mild lemony citrus, a touch of starfruit. There are floral suggestions too and a honeyed sweetness. I definitely found myself drawn to the lightest roast, which, like the other vacuum pack Huila Colombias that arrived at the same time, looks impossibly light-roasted. It is variegated in color, with dark creases in the bean, as if it is not fully expanded by the roast process. It isn't! And yet stopping the roast at the City level, just as it completes first crack, has yielded great results with this lot, and the others too. When we did some later brews of this coffee, the sugarcane sweetness and a green tea finish were evident. It's a subtle yet very complex and nuanced coffee, that yields some new dimension each time it is roasted and brewed.

This coffee is part of our direct trade Farm Gate pricing transparency program.

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