Colombian Cauca – Finca Juan Martin – Red Striped Bourbon – Anerobic Natural

Description

Finca Juan Martin is an innovative and experimental farm owned and operated by Banexport. The goal and focus of this project are to cultivate, harvest, and process different varieties in order to develop appropriate practices for each step toward optimum coffee quality. Beyond this, Juan Martin serves as a resource and example for coffee producers that sell and export their coffees through Banexport. Located in the highest area of Sotara, just 30 mins from Cauca’s capital of Popayan, Juan Martin is dedicated to developing environmentally-conscious practices as well as providing jobs to community members with educational opportunities.

Various maintenance tasks are carried out at Juan Martín Farm: soil conservation is done because of the steep slope of the farm; undergrowth is allowed to grow to avoid erosion; evaluations are made on coffee crops to identify pests or diseases and eliminate them; the surface of the tree is cleaned every 75 days and coffee the space between rows is cleared with a scythe every 2 months.

In general, coffees here are cultivated, harvested, and processed while adhering to the highest standards of quality, organization, and control depending on the ambient conditions as well as the specific needs required by each variety as determined by various factors including Brix level, moisture content, and desired cup characteristics.

Tasting Notes: A very crisp and clean “new wave” coffee. Highly rated; which will bring more potent acidity and soft fruit tones to the foreground at most roast levels.  Although the cup has some traditional Colombian features, they are brought to the next level with the anaerobic natural processing. Strong citric, floral, and grape like fruitiness combine to create a sweet edged, complex and exotic cup.

Traditional light roasts are where this cup will shine; crisp lemony acidity, sweet floral with a stronger grape like fruitiness.  Those lovely lighter tones comingle with hints of a smooth and nutty darker undertone to create some balance in the cup.

Medium roasts mute up some of the brighter, lighter tones, creating a smoother cup still on the exotic side; not nearly as punchy with the citric, floral and fruit but still no missing the fact its a natural processed. Brings the richer nutty/chocolaty tones to the foreground. Easier to drink all day but not quite the fruit/citric bomb of the lighter roast points.

Darker roasts are much more traditional Colombian tasting, bakers chocolate like with hints of nuttiness and a mild fruitiness that will appear as the cup cools, more of a barrel aged tone that compliments the more roasty side of coffee.

Roasting Notes:
Although tasty from light to dark, to see this cup shine keep it at the lighter roasts. With the more potent acidity and fruitiness, a longer setup will help bring out lots of complexity. We thought 2-3 days worked well but some may want to give it more into the 5-7 day range. Higher chaff but nice and even roasting for a natural.