ABOUT THIS COFFEE

Rodrigo Sanchez Valencia is a third-generation coffee farmer at Finca Monteblanco. His grandfather began cultivating coffee here several decades ago and today, Rodrigo works to preserve the natural diversity and productivity of the farm.

CULTIVATION

Finca Monteblanco is located near Cueva de los Guacharos, one of the 59 protected parks in Colombia. The Suaza river also runs nearby and provides fresh water for cultivation and processing.

Rodrigo cultivates Caturra, Geisha, Pink Bourbon and Pacamara varieties on Finca Monteblanco. The high altitude and superb microclimate of Acevedo, Huila creates the ideal conditions for cultivating specialty coffees.

HARVEST & POST-HARVEST

Cherry is selectively handpicked and delivered to the on-site wet mill. Rodrigo selected “Purple Caturra” for this lot, a Caturra variety with different leaves and cherry color than Red Caturra. When measured on Brix sugar content meters, “purple” Caturra has higher Brix content than typical Red Caturra. Cherry is floated to remove any under or over-ripe coffee.

Before processing cherry, Rodrigo combines a mixture of lactobacillus, saccharomyses and cerevisiae bacteria for a total of 10 different yeasts to cherry to promote fermentation. Rodrigo also added passionfruit and cholupa, a sour fruit often used to make a form of lemonade to this mixture to add additional flavor. Finally, he adds a sugar-rich mixture to feed fermentation, such as molasses, panela or granulated sugar. The mixture is sealed and fermented for 8 days.

Once picked, cherry is pulped and coffee is added to the fermented fruit mixture. Coffee ferments for an additional 180 hours (7.5 days).

Following fermentation, parchment is washed in clean water and laid in parabolic beds to dry. Parchment is raked frequently to ensure even drying. It takes approximately 20 to 25 days for parchment to dry.

CLEARPATH

Founded by experienced agricultural trader Vicente Mejía, Clearpath Coffee works with producers in Colombia and exports high quality, sustainable single-origin coffees from smallholders, cooperatives and estates. Clearpath partners with producers to support ethical, sustainable growth through fair prices, direct communication with buyers and building long term relationships with sustainability-minded buyers.