Colombia

Finca La Esmeralda

/Behind the story/

Finca La Esmeralda is located in Acevedo, Huila district, under an hour away from Pitalito where microlots from across Huila are collected for milling. This particular coffee is microlot and produced by Norbey Quimbayo and his lovely wife on their farm. Finca La Esmeralda boasts the perfect combination of high quality soil and geography to produce high quality coffee cherries. Norbey inherited his father's farm about 25 years ago, likely hoping to continue a life his parents experienced - as coffee farming is a typically sustainable life. The first ten years were amazing according to Norbey, however with the price of green coffee continuing to sink, Norbey knew producing commercial-grade coffee was no longer sustainable. Norbey had to make changes and he decided to join a national public institution offering comprehensive agricultural training.

/The Tabi varietal/

Learning to produce high quality specialty coffee paired with his high-altitude farm, Norbey broke his farm into a garden full with a diversity of many varieties. Five years ago Norbey also planted 5000 coffee trees of Tabi and 3000 trees of Pink Bourbon to join his already existing Caturra coffee trees. Tabi is a relatively recent coffee variety developed by Federación Nacional de Cafeteros ( FNC ), it is a cross between Timor hybrid, Bourbon and Typica. The word Tabi  means “good” in the Guambino dialect and it was released as a part of Colombia’s efforts to combat the leaf rust disease which can decimate crops. This authentic microlot is depulped 5 hours after being harvested, then undergoes for 27 hours fermentation in lactic acid to increase the carbohydrates and sugar in the mucilage and after the coffee is being washed. 

/Brew guide/
Age to drink: 5 days after roast
Coffee amount: 15g
Water amount: 250g, ppm 100-125
Temperature: 93-94 Celsius
Pours: 4 pours, 50g, 70g, 60g, 70g
Brewing time: 2:10-2:20