Juan Restrepo Jardin Pineapple Anaerobic Natural

Elmer & Juan Felipe Restrepo, the father and son team behind Finca Jardin & Finca Chambacu are re-envisioning coffee production in Chinchina. The rolling hills of Chinchina, Caldas, the third biggest coffee producer in Colombia after Pitalito in Huila and Planadas in Tolima, are home to bigger estates that mainly focus on high volume commercial quality production. Elmer and Juan Felipe are redefining their coffee production with a hybrid approach.

While they continue to devote a portion of farm to commercial production, they have been increasingly developing their specialty offerings and experimenting with new and varied processing styles.

Juan Felipe has taken the helm of the specialty aspect of the operation. He has been a passionate experimenter, developing countless processing protocols to enable him to bring out the best in the coffees from their 4 specialty plots – El Placer, Jardin 1, Jardin 2 and Chambacu.

Elmer and Juan Felipe employ 12 year-round workers who carry out selective handpicking during the harvest and help with farm upkeep in the off-season. This team is paid a premium for their selective picking expertise and their full-time employment helps them maintain stable income throughout the year.

Colombia’s wetter, more humid climate makes producing Naturals more difficult, making their clean and fruity, repeatedly large volume Naturals an extraordinary find.

Much of their success is due to their innovative processing methods that make producing clean, large volume Naturals possible, no matter the weather.

Elmer and Juan Felipe use Brix (a measurement of sugar content) to ensure that only perfect ripe cherry – cherry with about 21% Brix – is processed. 

After selective harvesting, cherry is floated and any under- and over-ripes are removed. Cherry is lightly fermented in open tubs for 16 hours. This lot is unique because cherry is fermented with pineapple to infuse fruity, acidic flavors. Before combining, the pineapple is pre-fermented to promote microorganism growth. Then, cherry and pineapple are mixed in sealed plastic containers and anaerobically fermented for 32 hours. Juan also adds several yeast cultures to promote lactic fermentation. Follow fermentation, cherry is laid in parabolic driers to sundry. Workers rake cherry frequently to ensure even drying.

The coffee is milled at the Restrepo’s dry mill, called Invercafe, located in the town a few kilometers away from the farm.

Parts of Caldas are located in Eje Cafetero, the Colombian Coffee Growing Axis. Eje Cafetero was the first major coffee-producing region in Colombia. For many years, the region held the distinction of being the most well-known and highly sought-after Colombian coffee region. Tropical rainforest conditions, volcanic soil and a wealth of rivers and streams in Eje Cafetero make the area ideal for coffee growing.

Today, producers in Caldas are increasingly focused on high-quality coffee production. These producers have become common and well-known enough to earn an affectionate colloquial name in the region. They’re called juiciosos (literally: sensible/wise), which in this case means hard-working and attentive to detail. In addition to finding ways to perfect existing processing methods, juiciosos are experimenting with new processing methods and planting new varieties of coffee.