Café Granja La Esperanza

This month’s subscription is one we look forward to each year, where we showcase the work of one of our closest partners. We’ve been working with Café Granja La Esperanza for many years now, eagerly anticipating their first samples each harvest season. This year, we’re sharing highlights from Café Granja’s Finca Potosí, coffees that have become a beloved part of our lineup over the years.

The Potosí farm requires almost no introduction to long term followers of La Cabra and Café Granja. Potosí produces consistently excellent lots; a wide palette of expressions from a myriad of varietals and processes, each produced with Cafe Granjá’s trademark level of attention to detail. The lots we purchase each year from across the CGLE farms have become firm favourites, with familiar flavour profiles that continue to impress us with their distinct and delicious character.

This month, you will receive both the wild naturally processed San Juan varietal, and the floral and delicate washed Pink Bourbon.

We are proud of our continuing collaboration with Café Granja, and of the consistently excellent coffees we are able to share as a result.

The Herrera family purchased Finca Potosí in 1945 and planted several varieties that were unusual for Colombia at the time, including yellow and red Bourbon. This started the Granja tradition of experimentation, leading to some recognition by other farmers in the Cauca Valley.

The large family of 14 children did much of the work on the farm themselves, but two brothers took particular interest in coffee production, and in the late 1990’s, Rigoberto and Luis took over the family business and started the push towards what Granja is now. They purchased small farms to add to their portfolio, and began the process of converting all of their coffee growing to use organic farming practices. They also looked outside Colombia for further insight, and jumped at the opportunity to lease a small farm in Panama. Rigoberto moved, and his years of producing experience led to a lot of their Geisha winning the Best of Panama within 2 years.

When Rigoberto returned to Granja, he brought back not only experience, but Panamanian Geisha seeds. These seeds were the foundation for the next stage of growth, beginning to chase distinct flavour profiles and the super high end specialty market. The experience of bringing a Panamanian varietal to Colombia was pivotal to Granja in their endeavour to adapt more exotic varietals to the Colombian soil, showcasing a wide view of the Cauca Valley terroir. They have also begun to experiment with unique processing, using open and closed tank fermentations to create incredible control over fermentation, for both their washed and natural coffees. They also use mechanical drying extensively, allowing very tight control over length and degree of drying.

This type of fermentation results in very low water usage, compared especially to traditional washed processing. This is another of Granja’s core values, focussing on sustainability. They have also worked very hard on maintaining local floral and fauna, using waste products from the farm to fire their mechanical driers, and switching to organic farming methods.

Potosí Natural

Finca Potosí is the original Granja farm, and one that we have come to hold dear over the years. We have visited the beautiful valley that forms the Las Margaritas and Potosí farms several times, and the natural XO lot from Potosí has become a stalwart in the La Cabra line-up. This is the eighth year we have purchased this particular lot from Cafe Granja, a coffee that illustrates Granja’s continuing commitment to set a new standard for flavour enhancement through post-harvest processing. This lot of the San Juan varietal is grown on the original Granja farm, Finca Potosí. The team at Potosí and Las Margaritas, just outside the town of Caicedonia in northern Valle, are constant innovators, even creating their own hybrid varietals through manual cross pollination of trees. San Juan is an example of this, a cross between Granja’s Bourbon and Pacamara plant stock.

In the mountains above Caicedonia, traditional natural processing is very difficult to control due to high average humidity of over 70%, and frequent rains during harvest. For this process, CGLE have used a very long in-cherry fermentation of around 50 hours in open temperature-controlled tanks. After the fermentation, the cherries are transferred to drying silos for a slow and controlled mechanical drying, making a full natural process possible in this humid and damp climate. Their meticulous production process has resulted in a coffee that creates a balance between primary terroir flavours, and secondary process-driven flavours.

In this cup, this means fresh and bright acidity from the high altitude Cauca Valley terroir, combined with soft ripe fruit and a heavy rich sweetness, like we’d expect from a great natural.

Potosí Washed

Pink Bourbon is a great example of the recent movement of the Colombian coffee industry. Finding fame in Huila, but with Ethiopian heirloom genetics, it shows similar disease resistance and yield characteristics to hybrid varietals, while also exhibiting an exotic and floral flavour profile. As an industry of mainly small to medium farmers, with many export routes for all lot sizes, Colombia has a very agile coffee growing population, capable of producing many different flavour profiles and follow market demands quickly. Pink Bourbon has taken Colombia by storm, now seen across the main producing regions. This Pink Bourbon is an excellent illustration of the reason why. Another washed process coffee, this lot was grown at Finca Potosí and processed at the state of the art wet mill shared with its neighbour Las Margaritas. The cherries are first fermented whole, for 24 hours, before being de-pulped and fermented for a further 36.

This double fermentation seems to enhance the floral and tropical fruit aromatic character of the Pink Bourbon, creating a rich sweetness while holding onto the fresh citrus acidity, with a clear passionfruit character.

This month’s subscription has been in the works for some time, and the lots we purchased from the Granja team are delivering excellent quality in the cup, as we have come to expect. We are proud of our continuing collaboration with this talented group of people, and to have the opportunity to share their excellent coffees each year. We hope you enjoy the fruits of this long relationship this month.