Colombia Huila Monteblanco – Purple Caturra – Passionfruit Co-fermented Washed Processed

Description

This is one unique coffee! We have carried only a few of these Fruit Fermentations coffees in the past, some have loved them, some have not, but a very fun and definitely unique offering for home roasters. Part high quality Colombian coffee, part passionfruit science experiment. Flavored enough by the crazy processing that the crowd will be split on this one but we found much joy drinking it. Be ready for coffee that tastes and smells like varying levels of passionfruit depending on the roast level.

This Passion Fruit Co-fermented Washed process begins with the creation of the fermentation culture that will be used. First, a mother culture was created containing microorganisms like lactobacillus and saccharomyces cerevisiae. 80 liters of this culture is separated to be fed with passion fruit, cholupa fruit, and a sweetener like panela or molasses. The cholupa and passion fruit contribute flavor to the culture, while the sweetener energizes the fermentation and brings the culture’s sugar content to a level that matches the degrees Brix of the coffee that will be processed. This initial fermentation of mother culture and fruit takes 190 hours to reach the appropriate degrees Brix and pH value for coffee processing. 

Before being processed with the fruit-fermented culture, coffee cherries are measured for sugar content as soon as they reach the mill at Monteblanco. Cherries are then floated to remove impurities before being pulped and deposited into a 200 liter sealed tank. The 80 liter culture that was previously fermented with the fruits is added to the sealed tank, and the coffee is fermented for 150 hours. During this process, the team keeps measurements to ensure that the environment doesn’t fall below 6 degrees Brix, or below a pH of 4. The coffee is then moved to the drying area, where it is dried for 2–3 days in direct sunlight and then for 15–18 days under shaded canopies until it reaches 10–11% humidity. 

Tasting Notes: Recommendation of a lighter medium to borderline dark roast to present this best. I unfortunately have not eaten a ton of passionfruit so this was harder for me to link directly to the fruit itself, where the other two strike home. More floral and citric fruity comparatively to the other two, a bit more delicate, the aromatics and fruitiness balanced best out of the three with the coffee tones but no missing the unique fruity/fermentation tones. My guess is passionfruit shares a similar tart/citric/floral taste similar to coffee fruit itself. Lighter roasts were interesting, some may want to try it here, the cup is bright and clean but a bit ferment with high acidity. Pretty much a guarantee one will have not tasted flavors like this in coffee before, but will be a limited crew that likes the light roast point best. Medium roasts push the tastes much higher in our book, still some good brightness and sweet floral along with some classic Colombian nuttiness, good body with a unique highlight of passionfruit. Darker roasts close to second crack present nicely, but into second crack more than a pop or two did pick up a little bitter contrast.

Roasting Notes: A nice larger beaned screen of coffee, roasts a little uneven, medium to low chaff levels. Error a little darker than lighter when roasting your first batch. The lighter you go, the more melon tastes and aromatics, can be quite strong. Recommend starting in the medium roast level ballpark.  Good to give this one a little extra setup time, drinking it quickly after roasting added stronger fruit notes as well and we like it best when the fruity tastes balanced with a bit of classic coffee tones.

Finca Monteblanco, located high along the winding mountain roads of Vereda La Tocora in the San Adolfo municipality above Pitalito, is a family farm managed by Rodrigo Sanchez Valencia in the tradition of coffee cultivation that began with his grandfather. Monteblanco’s 18 hectares sit on the crest of a hill, with the wetmill and drying facilities at the top of the farm and slopes of coffee planted below. 

 In 2002 Rodrigo participated in a local program teaching local children of coffee producers to cup. Before that, he and his family had never considered coffee in terms of cup profile. By learning to differentiate profiles, he and his father and grandfather were able to make the connections between the farming techniques they applied and coffee’s resulting attributes in the cup. 

 At this time, Rodrigo also began to learn about cupping competitions that evaluate the best lots from farms in a region. He noticed that farms would win one year and then never again, so he decided to investigate how to produce quality coffee consistently. This led him to explore the trees planted on Monteblanco, where he discovered various varieties his grandfather had planted in the 1980’s. One of these varieties is Purple Caturra, a type of Caturra whose cherries ripen to a deep purple color. 

 Rodrigo is proud that he, his wife Claudia Samboni, farm manager Don Gerardo, and the team that works in the fields and at the mill have reached the goal of achieving consistent quality. Finca Monteblanco produces microlots with each harvest that serve as competition coffees around the world, but the farm also consistently produces containers of delicious coffees that appear year-round on café menus and retail shelves. By applying an ethic of rigorous monitoring, planning, and management at each stage of production and processing, all coffees from Monteblanco showcase their full potential. 

 Harvesting and processing on Monteblanco have had to evolve with the times, adapting to a changing climate that yields harvest times dispersed through ten months of the year rather than in a concentrated peak. Coffees from Monteblanco are milled and prepared for export at the new, state-of-the-art Aromas del Sur drymill in Pitalito.