Regional Selects is a new project we are creating in Colombia meant to highlight the unique profiles we have found are inherent in specific microregions within Colombia. The regions we will begin highlighting to start are Huila, Narino, Cauca and Tolima.
Cauca is a Department, or State, in Colombia. The capital Popayan has a little over a quarter million people within the city limits. Cauca stretches from the Western Cordillera mountain range to the Pacific Ocean. Valle de Cauca is to the North and Narino to the south. This coffee comes from multiple farmers in the Sierra and Paez communities within Cauca.Coffees from here, when done right, are big and juicy with red fruits, caramel, chocolate and some intense lingering acids.
Farmers in this region average about six acres of land. They pick, pulp, ferment and dry their coffee on raised beds with parabolic covers. They tend to work similar varietals, some old, some relatively old and some new but the style is pretty much the same.
We think that the terroir or soil, sun weather and placement on the planet contribute largely to the flavor of these coffees, when picked ripe and handled properly. These coffees are selected by cup and then blended together like a Rhone wine or a local honey that comes many fields in a four mile radius.
