Castaño Anaerobic | Colombia

Gabriel and his wife Carmen have six children—four daughters and two sons—five of whom have followed in their parents’ footsteps and become coffee producers in their own right. The family’s two-hectare finca, La Granada, located in the department of Huila, in the southern municipality of Acevedo, is where Gabriel Sr. started everything anew after leaving the storied and dangerous coca production in the 1980s and dedicating himself to coffee. There he planted the Pink Bourbon variety that was not very well known at the time, and crafted it to produce a truly exquisite cup of coffee.

Although Gabriel is getting on in age and due to his health and can no longer drink coffee, he says he wouldn’t trade lives with anyone. He has 8,000 trees sown, and has become known throughout his municipality for introducing Pink Bourbon to his fellow producers. Don Gabriel is a short and quiet man, with a full, jet-black mustache, kind eyes, and is quick to return a shy smile when prompted. This microlot is Caturra and Castillo varieties, was carefully hand-selected for ripeness by local and itinerant pickers and has undergone natural fermentation.  We are very fortunate to have such incredibly hardworking pioneering producing partners such as Gabriel Castaño and his family, and we thank them tremendously for their hard work and dedication.

This lot was fermented for 70 hours in cherry and 70 hours in the fermentation tank.  Technically labelled as an anaerobic, it won't present as "boozy" as previous harvests since they decided to reduce the amount of fermentation time to reduce potential volatility and defects.

Farmer: Gabriel Castaño Buendia

Region: Huila

Cultivar: Pink Bourbon

Processing: Anaerobic Washed

Altitude: 1620 masl

Tasting Notes: pink grapefruit, tepache, strawberry candy