This month’s subscription has been in the works for a long time, one we’ve been looking forward to sharing since the first ideas were formed. We’ve been working with Café Granja La Esperanza for many years now, and always eagerly anticipate the first samples towards the end of each harvest season. This year, we have been working on some exclusive lots together with their team, sharing coffees you can only receive through our Discovery Subscription.

Exclusive honey process lots

The raw material that forms the base of this month’s subscription requires almost no introduction to long term followers of La Cabra and Café Granja. The Potosí, Cerro Azul, and Las Margaritas farms produce consistently excellent lots, of several different varietals and processes, each produced with Cafe Granjá’s trademark level of attention to detail. The lots we purchase each year from these farms have become firm favourites, with familiar flavour profiles that continue to impress us with their distinct and delicious character.

This month, you will receive a honey processed Pink Bourbon from Potosí, a honey processed Sudan Rume from Las Margaritas, and a honey processed Geisha from Cerro Azul. The Potosí and Sudan Rume lots were produced exclusively for our subscribers by the team at Café Granja. We are proud of our continuing collaboration, and of the consistently excellent coffees we are able to share as a result.

Café Granja La Esperanza

The Herrera family purchased Finca Potosí in 1945 and planted several varieties that were unusual for Colombia at the time, including yellow and red Bourbon. This started the Granja tradition of experimentation, leading to some recognition by other farmers in the Cauca Valley. The large family of 14 children did much of the work on the farm themselves, but two brothers took particular interest in coffee production, and in the late 1990’s, Rigoberto and Luis took over the family business and started the push towards what Granja is now. They purchased small farms to add to their portfolio, and began the process of converting all of their coffee growing to use organic farming practices. They also looked outside Colombia for further insight, and jumped at the opportunity to lease a small farm in Panama.

Rigoberto moved, and his years of producing experience led to a lot of their Geisha winning the Best of Panama within 2 years. When Rigoberto returned to Granja, he brought back not only experience, but Panamanian Geisha seeds. These seeds were the foundation for the next stage of growth, beginning to chase distinct flavour profiles and the super high end specialty market. The experience of bringing a Panamanian varietal to Colombia was pivotal to Granja in their endeavour to adapt more exotic varietals to the Colombian soil, showcasing a wide view of the Cauca Valley terroir. They have also begun to experiment with unique processing, using open and closed tank fermentations to create incredible control over fermentation, for both their washed and natural coffees. They also use mechanical drying extensively, allowing very tight control over length and degree of drying.

This type of fermentation results in very low water usage, compared especially to traditional washed processing. This is another of Granja’s core values, focussing on sustainability. They have also worked very hard on maintaining local floral and fauna, using waste products from the farm to fire their mechanical driers, and switching to organic farming methods.

Potosí

Honey, Natural and Washed
3x250g

Cerro Azul

Crisp white florals backed up by rich apricot and oolong tea
100g

Sudan Rume

Ginger, lemongrass, ripe peach and a delicately floral finish
100g

Potosí Honey

Finca Potosí is the original Granja farm, and one that we have come to hold dear over the years. We have visited the beautiful valley that forms the Las Margaritas and Potosí farms several times, and the natural XO lot from Potosí has become a stalwart in the La Cabra line-up. Pink Bourbon is a great example of the recent movement of the Colombian coffee industry, and of Café Granja’s commitment to continuously improving and honing their offering. Originally appearing as a natural mutation in Huila, it shows similar disease resistance and yield characteristics to hybrid varietals, while also exhibiting an exotic and floral flavour profile. Pink Bourbon has taken Colombia by storm, now growing in all of the main producing regions. This Pink Bourbon is an excellent illustration of the reason why. This honey processed lot was produced exclusively for us, grown at Finca Potosí and processed at the state of the art wet mill shared with its neighbour Las Margaritas. For all of Café Granja’s innovation, this is a rather traditional honey process, with cherries de-pulped and dried initially in mechanical driers, before finishing on raised beds.

This leads to a very clean profile, while enhancing the rich tropical fruit character of the Pink Bourbon, and creating a deep honey sweetness.

Potosí Washed

Finca Potosí is the original Granja farm, and one that we have come to hold dear over the years. We have visited the beautiful valley that forms the Las Margaritas and Potosí farms several times, and the natural XO lot from Potosí has become a stalwart in the La Cabra line-up. Pink Bourbon is a great example of the recent movement of the Colombian coffee industry. Originally appearing as a natural mutation in Huila, it shows similar disease resistance and yield characteristics to hybrid varietals, while also exhibiting an exotic and floral flavour profile. As an industry of mainly small to medium farmers, with many export routes for all lot sizes, Colombia has a very agile coffee growing population, capable of producing many different flavour profiles and follow market demands quickly. Pink Bourbon has taken Colombia by storm, now growing in all the main producing regions. This Pink Bourbon is an excellent illustration of the reason why. Another washed process coffee, this lot was grown at Finca Potosí and processed at the state of the art wet mill shared with its neighbour Las Margaritas. The cherries are first fermented whole, for 24 hours, before being de-pulped and fermented for a further 36.

This double fermentation seems to enhance the floral and tropical fruit aromatic character of the Pink Bourbon, creating a rich sweetness while holding onto the fresh citrus acidity.

Potosí Natural

This lot of the San Juan varietal is grown on the original Granja farm, Finca Potosí. The team at Potosí and Las Margaritas, just outside the town of Caicedonia in northern Valle, are constant innovators, even creating their own hybrid varietals through manual cross pollination of trees. San Juan is an example of this, a cross between Granja’s Bourbon and Pacamara plant stock. In the mountains above Caicedonia, traditional natural processing is very difficult to control due to high average humidity of over 70%, and frequent rains during harvest. For this process, CGLE have used a very long in-cherry fermentation of around 50 hours in open temperature-controlled tanks. After the fermentation, the cherries are transferred to drying silos for a slow and controlled mechanical drying, making a full natural process possible in this humid and damp climate. Their meticulous production process has resulted in a coffee that creates a balance between primary terroir flavours, and secondary process-driven flavours.

In this cup, this means fresh and bright acidity from the high altitude Cauca Valley terroir, combined with soft ripe fruit and a heavy rich sweetness, like we’d expect from a great natural.

Honey Sudan Rume

This is the seventh year we have purchased Sudan Rume grown on Cafe Granja La Esperanza’s Las Margaritas farm. Always stunning us with its strong varietal characteristics, we once again look forward to the distinctive aromatic character. The Sudan Rume varietal has been lauded for its cup quality, partly down to competition success. The varietal originates from modern day South Sudan, in what is now the Boma National Park, just across the border from Ethiopia, inside the small area where Arabica coffee still grows completely wild. Sudan Rume is an heirloom or ‘wild’ varietal, mainly used as a stock of high quality genes for new hybrid varietals. There are very few commercial plantations of pure Sudan Rume due to its low yields and susceptibility to disease, but Granja have planted a 4.8 hectare plot on Las Margaritas, and it has consistently produced outstanding results, with distinctive floral and herbal aromatics.

In this honey lot, the Sudan Rume is showcasing all of its traditional characteristics, with the distinctive aromas of ginger and lemongrass backed up by ripe peach and a delicately floral finish.

Honey Cerro Azul

This is the ninth year we have purchased the revered Cerro Azul Geisha, the coffee that our baristas Sonja Zweidick, Dane Oliver and most recently Victor Kristensen have taken to the world stage, in both Barista and Brewer’s competitions. Cafe Granja are intimately familiar with the care and attention the Geisha plant needs, they were one of the first to bring it to Colombia, having previously owned a farm in Panama, the adopted home of this lauded varietal. This translates into their excellent work at the farm level, this coffee is a true representation of the potential of the Geisha varietal in Colombia. Clean acidity, intense and distinct flavours, and some of the most incredible aromatics we have come across in coffee. Cerro Azul was chosen by the experts at Granja as a perfect location for the development of ultra high quality Geisha cherries. The location of the farm is further southwest in the Cauca Valley than Potosí and Las Margaritas, closer to the state capital of Cali, and to Colombia’s Pacific coast. The cool breeze from the Pacific combined with the very high altitude mean that the trees have to fight low average temperatures and large day-night swings in temperatures to survive, concentrating energy into their cherries as sugar.

This leads to a high level of both sweetness and intensity of flavour in the final cup. This honey process lot maintains the crisp white Geisha florals, backed up by notes of rich apricot and oolong tea.

V60

Brew Guide

Our barista Victor Kristensen brewed Cerro Azul at the World Brewer’s Cup in 2019 and 2020. He used the V60, with a 4 pour recipe and a coarse grind combination with a high temp to accentuate the coffee’s fruit character.

DATA

15 grams of medium coarse grind
250 grams of water 30-50 ppm 96°C

METHOD

0:00 Pour the bloom 60g

0:45 Pour up to 125g

1:30 Pour up to 190g

2:15 Pour up to 250g

Total brew time should be 3:30

This month’s subscription has been in the works for many months, and the exclusive lots we commissioned from the Granja team are delivering excellent quality in the cup, as we have come to expect. We are proud of our continuing collaboration with this talented group of people, and are proud to have the opportunity to share their excellent coffees each year. We hope you enjoy the fruits of this long relationship this month.