Colombia, Antioquai, Cafe Giraldo

Quality dark roast for the French roast drinker. Keeping all the lovely flavors inside the bean for you. This is our darkest roast, but Not Oily! Developed Roast

We Taste: Dark chocolate, pipe tobacco, roasted walnuts, and molasses. 

Origin: Colombia

Region: Antioquia

Altitude: 1700-2150 masl

Variety: Caturra and Typica 

Process Method: Classic Washed

Roast Level: Developed  

Roasting Notes: Every green coffee has a specific roast profile for its wanted cup qualities. Dark roasting has gotten a bad name! I as a roaster enjoy doing dark roasts. They take more knowledge and control as a roaster. And the range of finish temps are wider than any other roast. At Peace I developed a very specific dark roast. I use that style of roast for most of my developed roasts. Hot high charge temperature and faster dry phase. Then I extend the mid phase. For sweetness but also to really slow the ROR before 1st crack. Then I spend much more time than most roasters in the development phase. The exact time and finish temperature of the Dev phase really decides the overall cup.     

Sourcing Notes: I sourced this coffee because of its overall usability, clean cup, classic cup profile, and interesting story about the community that produces it. And that it would make a kick ass developed roast(dark). It also cupped out super nice!!! So it could be a nice origin roast or sweet spot. It also would work very well in some of my planned blends. Great potential all around blender. 

Coffee Info/Story: The town of Giraldo is located in thee region of Antioquia, about 1.5 hours north-west from the Coffee Quest office in Medellin. In the last years Giraldo has become known as the hidden gem in the Colombia coffee scene. We have been buying our Exotico de Altura lots here already since 2013, but since opening our 2nd buying station we've been able to tap into the vast variety of beautiful coffees this mountain region offers. 

The secret of Giraldo is the abundance of traditional varieties like Caturra and Typica and remarkably dense beans from high elevation (1700-2150 m.a.s.l.). Tropical updrafts from the deep Cauca River valley generate a micro-climate benefiting the high-altitude coffee crops. 

The town of Giraldo is located in the region of Antioquia, about 1.5 hours North-West from The Coffee Quest Colombia office in Medellín. In the last years Giraldo has becoming known as hidden gem in the Colombian coffee scene. We have been buying our Exótico de Altura lots here already since 2013, but since opening our 2nd buying station we’ve been able to tap into the vast variety of beautiful coffees this mountain region offers.

The secret of Giraldo is the abundance of traditional varieties like Caturra and Typica and remarkably dense beans from high elevation (1700-2150 m.a.s.l.). Tropical updrafts from the deep Cauca River valley generate a micro-climate benefiting the high-altitude coffee crops. 

The Antioquia region is home to The Coffee Quest Colombia, based in the city of Medellin, “The City of the Eternal Spring”. The violent past of the city is slowly fading away with the growing amount tourism and general development in the city. There is a very nice range of specialty stores in Medellín promoting the best of Colombia. From this base we manage a variety of high altitude farms from the Andes mountain range, North-West from Medellín towards where the Magdalena river flows towards the ocean. 

Antioquia is the second biggest producing area of Colombia, and is one of the first areas to have started planting coffee trees in the past. Currently we see a mix between small and larger farmer that produce and sell coffee next to each other. In this “Classic” region we find producers willing to experiment with longer fermentation periods in their Washed process. The Andean mountains help bring a consistent growing climate and interesting volcanic soils. High up in the mountains the colder temperatures slow down the ripening of the bean. Remarkable: The Antioquia bean is one of the densest beans we are finding in Colombia at the moment.

The farmers in the area of Giraldo (for example: Vereda La Sierrita) have limited opportunity to improve their living conditions, as the market-related prices offered by the local cooperative and “coyote” buyers remains low. The last two decades of growing coffee have not been profitable for the smallholder farmers (average 1-2 Hectares). In the Giraldo station we always pay better than the local market prices, with transparent (and fixed!) prices for 84+ scoring lots.

For example; A producer reaches the needed 85 score, his/her lot to be added to the Café La Sierrita (Type 1).  This results in about 50% price increase, compared to commercial buying station prices in the area. An excellent step towards a better living income for producers with good quality. Minimum quality requirements are set at SCA 83 points, with a preference for non-Castillo varieties. 

Once Jessica (TCQ cupper) and Miguel take the decision to purchase a coffee lot based on the sample, the farmer is asked to bring down the coffee. The lot will be re-packed into new bags with plastic inner bag for protection. This can be seen as essential step to promote shelf-life for the Roaster, at the end of the value chain. A new sample is taken and reference code created. All of the lots and quality scores will be registered by Lizeth in the TCQ database. The farmer can always request the feedback about the coffee, and the initial registration forms the start of a relationship with a producer. The performance of farmers in both the main crop and fly crop will be monitored, and during the off-season there are trainings to develop the knowledge about: picking, post-harvest, but also practical requirements for delivering samples. The main difference to other buyers in the area is our focus on details to improve quality. -The Coffee Quest