Country: Colombia
Farm: Hacienda La Palmera
Region: Anserma, Caldas
Varietal: Colombia & Castillo
Process: Natural +Aerobic Fermentation
Altitude: 1,450 - 2,000 MASL
Cupping Notes: Creamy, Strawberry, Fruit Leather
Recommended Roast: City to Full City
Good For: Auto Drip, Pour Over, Espresso

Description: The story of this family owned farm goes back to 1969 when Don Octavio Rodríguez, a young student from Manizales was transferred to the Coffee Triangle region to finish his medical studies on the field. Son of a coffee grower in the Valle del Cauca, Don Octavio grew up surrounded by coffee trees and growing by the rhythm of the harvests. In love with these new lands and their coffee landscapes, he decided to buy La Palmera, a 6ha farm. Thanks to his passion and his excellent administration, he managed to grow the farm, harvest after harvest, to reach its current area of 161 hectares, of which 135 are destined for coffee production and the rest is kept as a reserve and environmental protection area. Doctor, hospital director, coffee grower, husband and father, Don Octavio always knew that dedication and passion are the key factors of all human adventures.

Now in the hands of the next generation and managed by Ignacio, his son, Hacienda La Palmera is dedicated to the production of high quality coffees. Ignacio focuses his efforts on naturally processed coffees, cup consistency, and transitioning from traditional agriculture to specialty with quality on the forefront. Ignacio has built a cupping laboratory and a microbiology laboratory to help him better understand the process at the biological level and ultimately improve his processing for consistency and flavor.

La Palmera employs 48 women year-round. These women, many of whom are single mothers supporting their families, are manually sorting the cherries to ensure only high-quality, ripe cherries are processed. A key step before fermentation and drying.

From the coffee pulp to the water used to wash his coffees, Ignacio is recycling as much as he can, reducing wastes and focusing on sustainable practices. Additionally, the processing infrastructure is entirely run by renewable energy from solar panels.

We’ve brought in coffees from this farm for a couple of years now, but this is the first year we’ve brought in enough that it wasn’t all pre-booked before arriving. We fell in love instantly reading the lot names for their processing profiles: Witch, Wizard, and Shaman (each differing in fermentation style). Even their umbrella coffee company has a fun name, Cafe Embrujo (roughly translating to “bewitched coffee”).

Ignacio pays above the going rates for picking to ensure that only ripe cherries are delivered. Once delivered, cherries are floated and then hand sorted, removing any that may be damaged or aren’t at ideal ripeness. Once sorted, this lot was fermented for roughly 35-40 hours aerobically. During this time, the processing team monitors brix, TDS, and PH to ensure replicable, ideal results. When fermentation is finished, cherries are dried in silos at temperatures below 38°C. These silos have 3 floors and each have arms that stir the cherries so it’s dried uniformly.

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