Villamaria - Colombia - Natural

Cherry Cola, Black Currant, Maple Syrup

Roast Level:

Recommended Brew Methods:

Producer: Smallholder farmers, Chinchiná

Origin: Colombia

Region: Chinchiná, Caldas

Varietal: Castillo, Colombia

Processing: Natural - 48-60 hours fermentation

Elevation: 1800 m.a.s.l.

Importer: Falcon Specialty

Exporter: Raw Material

Price Paid: €12.02/kg + €0,39 EUR/kg Shipping

FOB: $11.41 USD/kg = approx. €10.18 EUR/kg

Farmgate: $7.94 USD/kg = approx. €7,08 EUR/kg

Tastes Like: Cherry Cola, Blackcurrant, Brandy, Maple Syrup

Villamaría is a municipality in Colombia’s Caldas department, a few kilometres from the city of Manizales. The region has plenty of water and natural resources, and the Chinchiná River runs around Manizales’s urban areas. The coffee is processed at the Jamaica drying station in Chinchiná, Caldas. It handles the harvests of 30 to 50 coffee-producing families around Villarazo. Their farms sit higher up, while Jamaica is about 500 metres lower, at 1,300 MASL. The warmer temperatures down there suit honey and natural processing well. The station produces washed, honey and natural lots. It uses a Nuna dehydrator and mechanical dryers to control humidity and temperature, which matters most for the honey and natural coffees.

For the natural process, freshly harvested cherries are delivered to La Aurora. There they are floated, sorted and rested in cherry for 24 hours. The next day they go to Jamaica for a further 48 hours of fermentation in cherry. Then they spend around 15 days on drying beds in the greenhouse and finish with 3–4 days in the mechanical dryer.

We’ve been buying Villamaría decaf every year since 2020, but the last time we had a non-decaf Villamaría was 2021, so it’s great to have it back. We thought it would be fun to offer both at the same time, so stay tuned for the Villamaría decaf returning to our portfolio very soon!

We roast this lot on the lighter side to bring out its sparkling cherry-cola body, blackcurrant acidity, boozy brandy notes and maple-syrup sweetness. It's for those who enjoy a balanced, sweet and funky natural.