Caturra by José Solarte from Nariño, Colombia (2023)
US$0.00
Producer: José Solarte and family
Where: Nariño, Colombia
Variety: Caturra
Processing: Washed (48hr in cherry/48hr depulped)
Importer: Apex
Harvest: Nov-Dec 2022
Tasting notes: pink berry, jelly donut, baking spices
Pastry-like with sticky-sweet pink berry and jelly donut vibes, this Caturra variety was grown by José Solarte on his family farm in Buesaco, Nariño, Colombia. Processed as washed using a 48hr fermentation as whole cherry in a sealed environment, followed by an additional 48hrs of dry fermentation after depulping, before a final rinse and moved to raised beds to dry over 18-22 days.
Producers
Finca La Maria is a family farm located in Buesaco that is owned and managed by Luis Alfonso Solarte, his brother, Jairo (an electronic engineer who specializes in Telematics, with a Master’s degree in Computational Engineering), and his son José (a lawyer who specializes in constitutional law and also coffee production). This talented and skilled family has a larger farm than is typical of coffee producers in Nariño with 12 hectares of land planted with Caturra, Castillo, Colombia, and Pink Bourbon varieties. The family employs 2-3 core workers to manage the processing during harvest and 10-20 pickers from neighbouring families. This larger farm size, along with their academic backgrounds gives the Solarte family an advantage in building a stable and sustainable coffee business in an otherwise difficult region where many others are subsistence farmers with incomes reliant on much smaller coffee harvests.
Variety
Caturra
Processing
This particular lot of Caturra was processed by first allowing the ripe cherries to ferment whole in sealed environment for 48hrs, measuring for pH and Brix to determine when to proceed to depulping. Once the coffee has been depulped, the seeds are transferred to a tank to continue fermentation without water for another 48hrs, until the sticky mucilage comes off clean, where it is washed and moved to raised drying beds where it will take 18-22 days to dry.
Water
We brew all our coffees with municipal water that flows from our taps in Metro Vancouver. This municipal source is very soft, low ppm water (around 30 TDS)
There are many alternative water recipes out there that will produce tasty cups if your water from the tap isn’t giving you good results. A good place to start is 1/2 strength Third Wave Water of around 60-70ppm (0.16g.-0.2g./L of TWW powder). Another great choice is the Light and Bright recipe from Lotus Water if you use that.
Brewing
We make an effort to taste our coffees in a variety of ways, but mostly use cupping, V60, and Kalita 155 brews as our main ways of quality control and dialling in roast profiles. Our filter recipes can be found in our Journal here:
Espresso
Roasted with filter coffee in mind, expect shots that are lighter in body and brighter in acidity than your typical espresso profile.