Colombia Granja La Esperanza Yellow Bourbon

Cafe Granja La Esperanza manages 3 farms: Cerro Azul, Potosi, and Las Margaritas in eight distinct microclimates located in three mountain ranges in Colombia, which gives the experienced agronomists behind Cafe Granja La Esperanza plenty of room to experiment with a number of variables, such as microclimates, processing methods, and varietals. The team at Granja La Esperanza is driven by a combination of science, business, and an obsession with quality coffee. The team creates milling and processing protocols tailored for each distinctive microclimate and varietal.

This particular coffee comes from the Las Margaritas farm in the Valle de Cauca region and is a Yellow Bourbon vartietal, the total crop is only 4.3 hectares. The coffee is picked then depulped without water and sits in fermentation tanks for about 20 hours until it is fully washed and mechanically dried.

The staff is so dedicated to quality and research that they recently spent two years studying the famous Geisha varietal in Boquete Panama, on a property adjacent to the famed Peterson Esmeralda farm, before becoming the first producers to bring the varietal to Colombia at their Finca Cerro Azul in Trujillo. Their dedication to quality goes so far that coffee harvesters must demonstrate a level of excellence during a five month training period before being qualified to pick the Geisha cherries at the peak of ripeness.

In addition to winning the Triple Crown Award at SCAA in 2012, coffees from Cafe Granja La Esperanza were also used in competition by the winners of the Brewer's Cup and Roasters Choice Awards. Their hard work was described as an unrelenting quest to steadily obtain the most perfect cup of coffee" and this coffee is proof of their success in this quest.

This Yellow Bourbon coffee was used in and won 1st place at the Dutch Barista Championship this past year in 2016 by two time champion Lex Wenneker.

Region: Caicedonia, Valle del Cauca
Producer: Granja La Esperanza
Grade: AA (largest beans)
Altitude: 5,750-5,900 feet
Cultivar: Yellow Bourbon
Milling: Washed
Picking: Every 4 days during harvest season and only fully matured cherries