Colombia

Maria Edilma Medina

2016

Washed process Caturra, Castillo
Flavour: rose hip, mandarin, guava
Body:     Acidity:

Maria came to Gigante nine years ago because of violence and conflicts elsewhere. Using savings and a bank loan, she bought La Esperanza farm in partnership with Elias and Isaias Lizcano. Elias is her father-in-law and he helps her to manage the farm and is in charge of all the quality inspections.

Maria, alongside bags of coffee ready for transport. Photo: Caravela Coffee

At 1,700 metres above sea-level, La Esperanza is a relatively high altitude crop and has a total area of around nine hectares.

Last year she produced around 1,100kg of AA, AA+, AAA, and now ML, a grade which recognises microlots of very high quality coffee.

La Esperanza sits 1,700 metres above sea-level and is around nine hectares. After this year’s pruning to prevent leaf rust and ensure healthy future crops, she has 1,600 caturra trees in production and 2,000 castillo trees.

For Maria, the move from commodity coffee to specialty coffee was a great way to improve her life: the money she has received has helped to pay some of her debts and also to better provide for her family. Before focusing on specialty coffee she says it was difficult to take care of her farm because of a lack of money, but she’s now able to fertilise and make all roya (leaf rust) controls on time, further improving the quality of her crop.

Photo: Caravela Coffee

She’s proud to be producing specialty coffee and says she has learned a great deal. After studying the PECA education program run by our sourcing partners Caravela, Maria has better practices for managing the farm, with the higher quality crops being recognised by the market with much better prices.

Maria wants to improve in every lot she produces and hopes to continue having coffee that reaches ML (microlot) grades.

Photo: Caravela Coffee

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Roasted for espresso and filter (best enjoyed black)

Roast style: omni. Omni roasts are designed to brew and taste great both as espresso and filter. Our omni single origins generally sit on Agtron values in the ~70-60 value range. So, technically, they are somewhere in the lighter side of the medium spectrum.

Designed for espresso and filter brewing. Best enjoyed black.


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Best brewed within days 15-49 post-roast

The ‘fresh is best’ saying doesn’t apply to coffee (contrary to popular belief). Waiting before opening and brewing your bag of whole coffee beans helps develop peak flavour and acidity.

But heads up: if you buy pre-ground coffee, brew it as soon as possible.


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For pour over, immersion, and other filter brewing styles, check our brew guides.
For our espresso single origins, we recommend a coffee:yield ratio of 1:3:

  • Dose: 20g ground coffee
  • Yield: 60g espresso
  • Total brew time: ~24-28 seconds

This is just a starting point! We encourage you to experiment, taste, and adjust to find the recipe that you enjoy the most.


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Packaging and sustainability

  • Bags: ABA-certified home compostable (AS 5810-2010)
  • Labels: recyclable
  • Valves (only on +250g bags): general waste
  • Box and tape (online orders): recyclable

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Our packaging

Producer

Maria Edilma Medina

Country

Colombia

Region

Gigante, Huila

Altitude

1700m above sea level

Varieties

Caturra, Castillo

Process

washed

Importer

Caravela

Body

Medium

Acidity

Balanced

Tasting notes

Rose hip, mandarin, guava

Roast style

Omni (filter + espresso)

Map showing location of Colombia Maria Edilma Medina 2016

Varieties

Castillo variety

Castillo is named after the researcher Jamie Castillo, who helped develop the varietal in 2005 by Cenicafe, Colombia’s coffee research centre

Caturra variety

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 Huila region of Colombia

This region boasts the perfect combination of high quality soil and geography and is quickly becoming one of the largest coffee producing regions in Colombia. One of the best regarded regions for high quality, fruit driven coffee.

Farm processes

Washed 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.

Coffee delivery: coffee in resealable bag and farm information card

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