La Esperanza is located in Quindio, Colombia, and lies at a height of 1600 to 1700 masl. It is owned by Jairo Lopez and operated by him, his 3 brothers and their sons - the next generation. While the elders maintain the plantation, the sons and their wives are in charge of (improving) post-harvest processing. Coffee trees are planted per 3x3 meters, allowing maximal development in the shade of native oak, citrus and banana trees. All Java plants are between 1 and 8 years old now, bearing coffee fruit in different stages of life. In general the plants on the farm actively produce coffee up until 25 years of age. The Java cherries are picked when fully ripe and immediately put into sealed, plastic bags to kick off the fermentation process overnight. In the morning, the bags are opened and sorted mechanically to remove the less dense cherries, then once more manually to separate the ripe cherries from the under- or overripe ones. When sorted, cherries are put into sealed, plastic tanks to ferment anaerobically for 5 days with a valve that lets the oxygen escape whilst trapping all the C02 for the carbonic maceration. Both during fermentation and drying, temperature is controlled and kept under 24°C at all times to maintain a floral cup profile. The drying happens on raised beds in greenhouses and lasts 20 to 25 days, after which the coffee is left to stabilize and finally shipped.

Sourced through our importing partner CATA Export.