La Palma | Colombia
La Palma is a coffee that truly never disappoints. This year’s crop tastes great with raspberry, caramel and tropical flavor notes
La Palma is a coffee that truly never disappoints. This year’s crop tastes great with raspberry, caramel and tropical flavor notes
La Palma is a coffee that truly never disappoints. This year’s crop tastes great with raspberry, caramel and tropical flavor notes
La Palma, part of Santa Barbara Estate, is truly one of the most special farms we’ve had the honor of keeping a relationship with. Pedro Echavaria has curated incredible farms for the estate with La Palma being one, and we’re proud of the relationship we’ve built with them over the last handful of years.
Hernán, the farm’s administrator, has been with La Palma for years and has a long family tradition with the company. His father, Julián, was the administrator of the main mill for 20 years, until he retired in 2012. Hernán is young, passionate about his job, and an important reason why La Palma is so special.
They started naturally fermenting 100% of the farm’s productivity five years ago and mechanically demucilaged everything before that. They are constantly experimenting with different processes, but a two-day fermentation and mixing coffees from two different days of picking has become the standard for the farm and entire operation.
This specific lot, however, was an experiment that fermented for 3-4 days and mixed 3-4 different days of picking into the same tanks. This means some coffee ferments for 4 days, some for 3 days, and so on. Under normal conditions, that would result in sour or over-the-top fruity profiles, but because they’re able to control the process, the mixed-day fermentation creates complex lactic & malic organic acids, giving the coffee more complexity, depth and sweetness. Microlots are then dried on raised beds under shade at the neighboring farm, Lomaverde.
Pedro started this experiment in 2014 with just 1500lbs and has grown every year due feedback from us and our customers. We buy the entire experimental lot every single year, which maxed out at 4,600+lbs in 2019. It’s encouraging to see a farm increasing their quality, productivity, and income opportunities with creativity and innovation while including feedback from the buyers & roasters and you, the consumers.
QUICK FACTS
Country/Region: Colombia / Santa Barbara
Farmer: Pedro Echavarría
Cultivar: Colombia
Altitude: 1450-2050m
Processing: fully washed, long fermentation
We Taste: raspberry, caramel, tropical