The Santuario Colombian coffee is produced by approximately 30 coffee producers from communities in the Department of Risaralda which is situated in the central Andean region of western Colombia, humbly equidistant from the famed narco territories of Medellin and Cali, and 400km from the country’s capital, Bogota.
The farms are located at altitudes of around 1,525 metres above sea level and these communities range in size from 9 to 15 hectares.
Flavour Profile of Santuario
Coffee from the Central region is known to be well balanced, with the regions to the North and South tend to polarise more along the flavour axis.
This batch uses the Castillo cultivar, a new type developed by the Colombian Coffee Federation a few years ago that was designed to be rust-resistant in the continual battle for healthy crops for the farmers and their families.
When roasted, the beans put off a flavour profile featuring hints of banana, toffee, and brown sugar.
Coffee Grown in Colombia
There was a backlash from farmers due to the heritage and known qualities of existing indigenous varietals like Caturra, however, Castillo has been resilient and shown to hold its own among Q-graders (coffee specialists who score coffees, much like tasters of wine), as can be seen from this coffee’s high score.
Coffee growers in Colombia are teaming up with Red Associations which helps farmer groups achieve their self-identified goal to achieve stable and sustainable prices for community coffee lots through improved quality control, shared knowledge, and a connection to the specialty coffee market.
Red in Spanish means network, representing the producers and roasters working together to create a sustainable value chain.
At present, hundreds of families in the association sell their washed coffees in wet form to drying station intermediaries.
In the past they would dry their own coffee and sell it on the commodity market; not for a high or predictable price, but at least capturing that valuable step of the process.
Wet selling is a new situation, brought about by climate change which has exacerbated an already challenging situation for farmers. Rainy seasons continue far longer than before, rendering traditional farmer-owned drying facilities unsuitable.
With the new infrastructure in place, Red Associations can ensure high quality is achieved, and predict the resulting cup profile throughout the season.
Controlling processes to ensure that the resulting flavour surpasses the roaster member’s quality threshold, is to also know the minimum price the green coffee will be sold for.
This knowledge lowers the need for buffers and allows for a predictable, high parchment price to be received by producers.
Fortitude Coffee Roasters
Fortitude Coffee is one of those coffee shops that you look long and hard to find. Inside, you will find this amazing uniqueness that lends to the atmosphere and environment that owners Matt and Helen Carroll have been working hard to achieve since they opened the doors in 2014.
Fortitude Coffee is situated just around the corner from Edinburgh Bus Station. If you are visiting the area, then stopping off to have a speciality coffee should be the first destination through the historical city of Edinburgh.
The journey for Fortitude Coffee Roasters began in 2014 when Matt and Helen opened a small speciality cafe in the centre of Edinburgh, which at the time was still a relatively new concept (although it has now exploded).
Over the next three years, they worked hard and developed a reputation for serving some of the best coffee available in the capital.
Try This Coffee in Your Next Blue Coffee Box
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