Luis Alberto Jojoa - Colombia - Extended Washed Fermentation

Producer Name: Luis Alberto Jojoa

Exporter/Importer: Azahar / Langdon Coffee

Processing: Extended washed fermentation

Region: Huila, Colombia

Tasting notes: Walderdbeere, Joghurt, Winey

Wild Strawberry, Yoghurt, Winey

We’re proud to have worked with coffees from Luis Alberto Jojoa for four harvests now. We love the creamy, yoghurt-like character of his coffees, which he achieves through expert fermentation.

Luis Alberto has perfected a processing style of his own: he de-pulps 50% of the cherries and places them in the water fermentation tank. After 24 hours, he adds the remaining 50% of freshly de-pulped cherries. He then removes the entire lot after 48 hours.

In short, this means that coffee beans within the same microlot have different fermentation times, resulting in a coffee with layers of flavour and complexity. This technique helped him to win the prestigious Cup of Excellence Award in 2009, an achievement which helped him to really kick start his career and the reputation of his farm, Finca la Perla del Otún.

Specifically for this season’s lot, we wondered if there was a way to elevate the coffee even more, to highlight what makes it unique, as well as its cleanliness. In communication with our exporting partner Azahar, we agreed on adding an additional round of hand sorting to the production process, and we believe this is a contributing factor to what makes this the tastiest this lot has been to date.

Since 2021 Luis Alberto has participated in a new initiative called Manos al Grano. The project’s aim is to create a regulated and normalised system of paying coffee pickers in a legal and ethical manner. It includes health coverage, transparent wages and training. This is an important step because coffee picking is often itinerant, unreliable, and poorly paid work. Coffee pickers have been particularly affected by work insecurity during the pandemic, and we see Manos al Grano as an important acknowledgement of their essential skills and labour.