Farm Info

This unique lot of Purple Caturra Cherry Natural is harvested and produced at Finca Monteblanco – a farm located on the very top of a mountain, in the San Adolfo municipality above Pitalito, a family farm managed by Rodrigo Sanchez Valencia and his wife Claudia Samboni, following the coffee-growing tradition that began with his grandfather. In the 14 hectares of Monteblanco farm, Rodrigo and his team have achieved several exotic varieties’ ideal growth and productivity. This is possible thanks to the farm’s environmental characteristics allowing Rodrigo to cultivate top-quality Gesha, Pink Bourbon, Pacamara, Purple Caturra, and Red Caturra, among others.

Each harvest, Finca Monteblanco produces micro-lots that serve as competition coffees around the world. Coffees from Monteblanco are milled and prepared for export at the new, state-of-the-art Aromas del Sur dry mill in Pitalito.

Purple Caturra Cherry Natural Process

Several years ago, Rodrigo explored the coffee trees planted on Monteblanco. He discovered various varieties his grandfather had grown in the 1980’s.
One of these varieties is Purple Caturra, a type of Caturra whose cherries ripen to a deep purple colour. All cherries harvested are measured for degrees Brix. Based on the sugar content, the team at Aromas del Sur, the umbrella group of Monteblanco, Progreso, and La Loma farms, then designates which processing method is the most appropriate.

Only the reddest cherries with 25-26 degrees Brix are selected for this Natural process.
After harvesting, the cherries go straight into tanks, to begin with, an anaerobic fermentation for the next 250 hours, with a maximum temperature of 33 degrees. Once the fermentation process is completed, the cherries get floated to eliminate impurities and to level their temperature, after which it is left to dry in direct sunlight for 6 days and then again for 24 more days under the shade in canopies.

The difference between the Purple Caturra Natural and the Cherry Natural is that the Cherry Natural undergoes a much longer time of fermentation, in order to develop intense dark chocolate and malt notes.

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