About This Coffee
Ernesto Garcia has lived around coffee his entire life. He grew up on his farm, Finca La Palmera and today lives there with his mother, wife and son. The farm is located near Algeciras, a town on the Western Andres mountain range. Ernesto’s location on the mountain affords sweeping views of the valley between the central and western mountain ranges that run north and south across Colombia.
In 2021, Ernesto and his cousins, who also work with Sucafina, began experimenting with Natural and Anaerobic processes to great effect. We’re proud to support Ernesto’s experiments and offer such a delicious coffee.
Cultivation
Ernesto cultivates Castillo, Caturra and Colombia varieties on his farm. This lot is composed entirely of Castillo.
Harvest & Post-Harvest
Ernesto typically hires 4 to 5 laborers to help him harvest cherry. Cherry is selectively handpicked by Ernesto and the laborers. Once picked, Ernesto ferments ripe, red cherry anaerobically for 40 hours and then lays cherry to dry on marquesinas. Ernesto’s mother helps with drying coffee and turns cherry 3 to 4 times per day to ensure even drying. It takes approximately 10 to 15 days for cherry to dry.
Coffee in Colombia
Colombia has been producing and exporting coffee renowned for their full body, bright acidity and rich aftertaste, since the early 19th century.
Colombia boasts a wide range of climates and geographic conditions that produce their own unique flavors in coffee. This also means that harvest times can vary quite a bit. In fact, between all its different regions, Colombia produces fresh crop nearly all year round.
The increasing focus on the specialty industry is changing the way traders and farmers do business. It is becoming more common for farmers to isolate the highest quality beans in their lots to market separately. These higher-quality lots are often sold under specific brands or stories.
Besides its wide variety of cup profiles, Colombia has quickly expanded its certification options over the past 10 years. The most common certifications available are Fairtrade, Rainforest Alliance and Organic.