Description
A beautiful screen, although not technically a Supremo, this is a larger bean screen.
As the name suggests, the Guática Especial lot is a special coffee and represents the best that La Cristalina has to offer. The municipality of Risaralda has long been famous for its production of exceptional coffees, and La Cristalina, founded in 2007, has been building a standout reputation for producing some of the best coffees to come out of Risaralda—definitely no small feat. La Cristalina’s success is a testament to what can be achieved to continually making improvements to quality processes year after year.
Guática Especial hits on everything we love about Colombian coffee—great, mouth-filling body, refreshing citrus acidity, caramel sweetness—and then some. The isolated areas where La Cristalina’s farmers are located play to their favor; the unique micro-climates certainly influence this coffee’s striking flavors. Guática Especial comes from five high-altitude areas ranging up to 2,000 masl, resulting in intensified sweetness in the cup.
Tasting Notes: A wonderful very clean and smooth, sweet edged Colombian. Great from light to dark, our favorite was a nice medium roast, pulled the best balance between light and dark tones and was super easy to drink. A very chug-able cup. A little hint of nuttiness like a good Colombian should show but all in all the cup leans more towards chocolate like, a hint of a soft fruit tone at the light to medium roasts which adds good sweetness without being acidic. Good body and fairly low acidity. Darker roasts will get more robust and semi-sweet, but if looking for strong and dark, we would look at the other Colombians. A wonderful daily drinking cup!
Roasting Notes: Easy to roast and good from light to dark. Medium chaff, even roasting. We recommend starting in the medium roast ballpark, but take your personal preference into play, if you generally like darker, take it darker, if you generally like light roasts, take it light. Tasted great right out of the roaster, but with some setup you will see more little tones pop out.
La Cristalina was founded in 2007 by 55 members in the municipality of Guatica, Risaralda. Today, the cooperative has 81 active members from villages across the municipality. La Cristalina means “crystal clear waterfall,” in honor of a nearby ecological reserve. The organization takes care to manage wastewater and use carefully selected fungicides that do not harm the environment.
La Cristalina is working hard to become a leader within Colombia’s coffee belt by showing how quality improvements can lead to exceptional-tasting coffee within the region. They’ve worked extensively with the organization SOCODEVI to improve their quality control processes, and the results of their efforts show in the quality of their lots.
Given Guatica’s tumultuous history as a FARC stronghold, La Cristalina’s emergence as a leading cooperative in the region is doubly impressive—the members have overcome immense challenges through perseverance, dedication, and hard work. Simply put, their coffee is made with passion that is tangible in the cup.
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