Colombia Urrao La Despensa Chiroso

This Chiroso lot comes from a pair of producers in La Despensa valley of Urrao, Antioquia. The topography of Urrao lies in stark contrast to other areas we buy from, like Inzá, and Buesaco in the South. When you crest the mountain leading into the region, instead of dramatic, rocky mountain faces, and windy dirt roads, you see rolling pasture land, with wide valley floors that are flat. The altitude is very high, starting around 1900 meters on in the valley pastures, with coffee stretching up as high as 2200 meters above sea level. They are also known for a unique coffee variety widely disseminated in Urrao, that the locals have dubbed, "Chiroso". Initially prized for high yield, this unique tasting variety popped up on everyone's radar around 2014, when an Urrao farmer won the Cup of Excellence competition with a Chiroso coffee (causing it to spread far beyond Urrao). Chiroso plants can be tall and short, but the seeds of both tend to be elongated and narrow-shaped cherries/seeds that look an awful lot like Typica. Perhaps most importantly, the cup is known to possess complex aromatics that are tea-like, and even floral at times. This is a blend from farmers Jorge Hernando Cuellar, and Fray David Moreno Montoya. We hiked to the 1900 meter farm of Fray David a few years back to see his processing first hand. He and his siblings split up their family farm that was started in La Despensa valley of Urrao some 50 years ago. He named his small plot, "El Rosal" (the rose bush) and re-planted the entire plot in 2200 Chiroso trees. Both farmers use a long fermentation time over a few days to remove the sticky fruit mucilage, something that is possible in Urrao due to the abundant cold natural springs that help keep the pH optimal for slow fermentation.