Colombia – Chorro Alto

This one comes from Finca Chorro Alto in Huila, one of Colombia’s great coffee departments, and it carries a story I have a soft spot for. The farm is run by Luz Ángela Rojas, who grew up in the coffee fields helping her father with whatever the farm needed. During a rough patch for coffee her parents pushed her to get out and do something more secure, so she went to university and trained in healthcare, eventually becoming a head nurse before moving into audit management.

I’ll admit that path speaks to me. I roast this coffee as a doctor, so a former nurse who couldn’t quite shake coffee and found her way back to it is someone I can relate to For Ángela the pull came during the pandemic, when remote working let her return to the farm and rediscover why she loved it. She stayed, joined her parents full time, and turned the family plot into something more ambitious: a project built on careful agronomy and coffee good enough to stand on its own without relying on gimmicks.

The processing here is an anaerobic natural. After harvesting at a minimum 90% ripe cherry and floating off the duds, the cherries spend 36 hours oxidising in sealed drums, then 48 hours in submerged anaerobic fermentation kept below 25°C. From there they dry slowly over 72 hours at 38°C before being stabilised in GrainPro bags. It is a controlled, patient process, and it shows in the cup.

Expect bright grapefruit up top, a good hit of raspberry through the middle, and a rich chocolate brownie finish to round it off. A proper fruit-forward Colombian that still keeps some comfort and body about it.