Region/Terroir       Elevation   

 

 Fermentation        Cultivar    

 

   Picked in            Landed in

 

Luis Saldarriaga is the owner of the farm El Encanto in Hispania, but it's his son Juan who really is the producer in this case. Juan is experimenting with different processing methods, varietals, and is also helping other younger producers in the area. This lot is 100% Tabi.
In 1961, Colombia’s Coffee Research Institute, CENICAFE, began research and field trials with Hibrido de Timor. By 1968, the same organization was combining Timor hybrid with the popular Caturra cultivar, a program that was to continue in even fuller force throughout the 1970s. In 1982, CENICAFE released the Colombia cultivar, a product of five generations of breeding and backcrossing in the Catimor line in order to marry disease resistance with good cup quality and productivity.
Research continued throughout the 1980s and 90s and, even, accelerated in the race to discover a truly resistant strain that didn’t sacrifice flavour. In 2002, CENICAFE introduced the Tabi cultivar: a variety obtained by crossing Typica, Bourbon and Timor Hybrid. One of the most important attributes is its resistance to coffee leaf rust, but it also displays the good cup quality characteristics of its Bourbon and Typica parents.
Tabi is morphologically very similar to Bourbon and Typica, being tall with long branches; however, its fruits and seeds are slightly larger. It can be grown in high density (up to up to 3,000 trees per hectare) and adapts well to high altitudes.
The name Tabi means “good” in the Guambiano (a native Colombian tribe) dialect.

Washed coffees focus solely on the bean. They let you taste you what’s on the inside, not the outside. Washed coffees depend almost 100% on the bean having absorbed enough natural sugars and nutrients during its growing cycle. This means the varietal, soil, weather, ripeness, fermentation, washing, and drying are absolutely key.
Washed coffees reflect both the science of growing the perfect coffee bean and the fact that farmers are an integral part of crafting the taste of a coffee bean. When looking at washed coffees, it becomes apparent that the country of origin and environmental conditions play a vital role in adding to the flavour.

During wet processing, the pulp (i.e.the exocarp and a part of the mesocarp) is removed mechanically. The remaining mesocarp, called mucilage, sticks to the parchment and is also removed before drying. During this process, the sugars present in the mucilage are removed through natural fermentation or mechanical scrubbing. Mucilage is insoluble in water and clings to parchment too strongly to be removed by simple washing. Mucilage can be removed by fermentation followed by washing or by strong friction in machines called mucilage removers. Fermentation can be done by stacking the coffee outside or placing them under water and allowing nature to take its course. After the sugars are removed, the beans then can be taken through a secondary washing to remove any additional debris, or taken immediately to the beds for drying.