Colombia Campo Hermoso Carbonic Macerated Papayo

This coffee comes from El Cairo, in the Valle de Cauca subregion, on the western side of Colombia. Its sits right next Quindio, a region we see often in speciality coffee.

Campo Hermoso was founded in the year 2000, starting life producing washed coffees for the commodity market. Around 2014, under the direction of Edwin Noreña, the farm started working on speciality coffee, embracing techniques to drive quality, and explore new developments in coffee growing. That work has been a huge success, Campo Hermoso is now celebrated as a leader in the region for top quality beans.

There are many rare and exiting varietals growing at Campo Hermoso including bourbon sidra, rosado and sudan rume. For this particular lot, we have the extra rare papayo variety. Named for its odd shape, resembling miniature papaya fruit, no proper lineage has been been established for this plant. It was "discovered" in Acevedo, and for many years was thought to be a natural mutation of caturra, however more recently it has been linked more closely to Ethiopian landraces. Without proper evidence, we can't say one way or another, but it adds to the mystery of this super tasty coffee.

For processing, Edwin uses a combination of techniques. Ripe cherries are picked when they reach 20° Brix (a measurement of sugar content), before soaking for 2 hours, ready for cleaning and sorting. After which, the coffee goes through a 48 hour anaerobic fermentation, to develop those sugars. Next, carbonic maceration, a wine making technique popular in the Beaujolais region of France, where the cherries are fermented for an additional 72 hours in a carbon dioxide rich environment. Finally, the coffee is pulped and washed before drying under controlled greenhouse conditions for 10 days.