Colombia Maria Del Rosario Olaya: Sample Coffee Roasters

Colombia
Maria Del Rosario Olaya

We find flavours of crisp green grape, butterscotch

Body Acidity

With this delivery we’re enjoying another Colombian micro lot, this time from the farm Miro Lindo, and grown by María Del Rosario Olaya.

María washed the crop of caturra beans for eighteen hours before drying them on raised beds for around twenty days.

In many ways, this coffee has a similar story to that of Cesar Aroca: it’s from Colombia’s Tolima region; comes from the Coagrivida cooperative; and is from a similar altitude and approach to farming.

This story in Forbes, while focused on the Cauca region (south-west of Tolima) still covers plenty of great background on the challenges (and recent success) of Colombian specialty coffee growing.

Temperature and flavour

All coffees change in flavour profile as they cool down, but we’ve found this one’s range is particularly interesting.

When tasted hot, there’s big tropical flavours of green grape and guava. Then as it cools, we’ve noticed the flavours shifted towards butterscotch.

With temperatures at either extreme of hot or cold, your taste buds are less able to detect flavour, so it’s always interesting to taste your coffee as it cools (or try tasting gelato as it warms).

There’s some more discussion of temperature and flavour in the comments of James Hoffmann’s blog and also his original post.

The Guardian also has an interesting story on serving temperature and the flavour of food.

Coffee farming in Planadas, Tolima

Planadas, the town where the Coagravida cooperative is based, is shown in the photo for this coffee.

Planadas is the southernmost municipality of Tolima. It sits in the eastern slopes of Colombia's central cordillera, above the Magdalena River Valley, and boasts average temperatures of 20ºC.

Much of the coffee farming in this area takes place in partial shade, often provided by güamo (ice cream bean), nogal cafetero (Spanish Elms) and cacao.

Planadas has found itself at the centre of ongoing civil unrest, with Colombian militant group FARC’s famed stronghold Las Hermosas nearby, Planadas is often unreachable to outsiders.

FARC were in the news again this week, as a planned peace deal with the Colombian government delayed another two weeks.

Sourcing and ingredients

100% Caturra coffee beans, provided by Silo and roasted by us on Gadigal land / Sydney.

Country grade: Unknown ?

Packaging

Bag: ABA Certified home compostable
Label: Recyclable
Valve (on bags larger than 250g): General waste
Coffee ordered online is shipped in a recyclable cardboard box

Brewing this coffee

We recommend brewing this coffee 15–49 days post-roast. If pre-ground, brew as soon as possible. Our advice on storing coffee.

1:3
dose:yield
ratio

To brew on espresso, we recommend using 20g of beans (dose) to get 60g of espresso out (yield), during 24-28 seconds.

g dose

g yield

View the how to brew espresso (single origin) guide.

1:16.7
beans:water
ratio

To brew in infusion/fed brewers (V60, Chemex) use a ratio of 1:16.7 ratio of beans:water.

g beans

g water

View full recipes and videos in our brewguides

1:14.3
beans:water
ratio

To brew in immersion brewers (plunger, AeroPress, Kalita, batch brewer) we recommend using a 1:14.3 ratio of beans:water

g beans

g water

View full recipes and videos in our brewguides

1:12
beans:water
ratio

To brew as cold brew we recommend using a 1:12 ratio of beans:water

g beans

g water

View full recipes and videos in our brewguides

Producer: María Del Rosario Olaya
Country: Colombia
Region: Planadas, Tolima
Altitude: 1800m above sea level
Varietals: Caturra
Process: Washed, Dried On Raised Beds
Harvested: October 2015
Body: Medium
Acidity: Balanced
Tasting notes: Crisp green grape, butterscotch
Roast style: Omni

Varietals

Caturra varietal

Caturra is a natural mutation of Bourbon that was originally discovered in Brazil in 1937, considered to be the first naturally occurring mutation ever discovered.

The location

Coffee from Colombia

Colombia is one of the largest coffee producers in the world and benefits greatly from having one of the most unique and complex set of micro-climates of all coffee producing nations.

The Tolima region of Colombia

The word ‘Tolima’ comes from the local indigenous language and means a “river of snow or cloud”.

Farm processes

Washed, Dried On Raised Beds process

Machines are used to remove the flesh from the coffee cherry before being fermented in water, washed again, and finally sun dried. This process tends to result in more distinct, cleaner flavours.