Colombia - The Wall - Fully Washed Caturra/Castillo

In the cup: Sweet & full round-bodied. Complex, balanced flavours of blackberry, strawberry & milk chocolate

Cupping Score: 87

Mouthfeel: Round, full.

Variety: Caturra & Castillo

Process: Fully Washed

Altitude: 1600 - 1700 metres above sea level

Region: Buenavista

Background:

Hacienda San Alberto is an advanced, family-owned and run coffee farm in the small village of Buenavista smack in Colombia’s coffee heartland. The soil is predominantly volcanic and the area has a stable temperature between 18 and 23°C year-round.

Juan Pablo’s grandparents, Gustavo and Melba, acquired the first part of the farm in 1972 When they acquired the farm it was called La Alsacia, but they renamed it San Alberto in honour of their son who had passed away.  In 1996, Juan Pablo’s parents Eduardo and Olga took over the business.

Ten years later, Juan Pablo and his brother Gustavo came into play. They decided to steer Hacienda San Alberto to the specialty producing farm it is now. They implemented practices they learned from the time they spent in France in the wine production sector to reach an even higher standard. Nowadays, the farm itself is a picture perfect example of what specialty coffee in Colombia could look like, with the right knowledge and dedication of the producer.

The Wall selection

Juan Pablo puts great care in the lot selection to compose microlots with distinctive profiles for each different part of the farm. The Wall consists of an assemblage of cherries harvested from a lot planted with Castillo (45%) and Caturra (55%). He will cup through many different samples and combine only a selected few day lots to achieve the profile he has in mind.