Cristobal Melo | Colombia

Rich sweetness with a big, tart acidity, and a heavy, creamy mouthfeel. 

Tasting notes: cola, chocolate, apple, red grape

Story from the farm: Jose Cristobal Melo Higidio owns the 2.5-hectare farm called Montegrueso, where he grows 2 hectares of Castillo and Caturra coffee trees. He has worked in coffee for almost his entire life, as his mother was a farmer as well as a buyer of local coffees to dry and sell. Jose Cristobal inherited his first farmland from his father in 2008, and he has grown coffee for himself ever since.

Every 20–30 days during the harvest season, he picks the ripest cherries: Bright red for the Caturra, and a purple-red for the Castillo. The coffee is depulped the day that it's picked, and then fermented dry for 24 hours. The coffee gets washed twice to remove the mucilage before it is dried under parabolic dryers for 14 or 15 days.