Dear Coffee Subscribers,
I’m sure you are all wondering what the theme is for this month, but a quick glance at the coffee titles below will tell you everything you need to know: “Finca Tamana”. That is what they all have in common – the farm which they come from. The cool thing is that while I am drafting this newsletter for you, I am actually preparing to fly over there from Honduras in just a few days’ time. (I am currently in the middle of my annual trip to Central America to visit the farmers we buy from and to select coffees for 2019). Annually I spend about two months at Finca Tamana, mainly to work on the biological coffee farm we own right next to Elias’, but also the help Elias improve his farming practices and develop the quality of the coffees at Tamana. While my farm, Finca el Suelo (http://fincaelsuelo.com), is not yet yielding very great results, luckily Elias’ farm is. These coffees from Finca
Tamana have subtle differences which you can read about in the tasting notes below. Also, for those with a 3-bag coffee subscription, you will be the first ever to taste the Bourbon variety from Finca Tamana. Enjoy.
Filter
Finca Tamana Variedad Colombia, Colombia 1 bag, 2 bags, 3 bags
Producer: Elias Roa
Harvest: July – August 2018
Origin: El Pital, Huila, Colombia
Cultivar: Variedad Colombia
Process: Washed
Flavour notes: Brown sugar, stone fruit, herbal
Elias has planted most of his farm with the Variedad Colombia cultivar. The reason for this is that it is resistent to leaf rust. Among the traditional Caturra which regularly gets attacked by leaf rust and the new Castillo hybrid which is a further development of the Variedad Colombia, the Colombia variety has consistently been tasting sweeter than the Caturra and fruitier than the Castillo. Since I started working with Elias in 2012 it has been our goal to raise the average quality of this variety and slowly we have been able to raise the score from an average 83 points in 2012 to an average of 86 points last year. This lot is from the July / August harvest 2018. The harvest was later than normal due to cooler weather and more clouds during the ripening phase of the cherries. This meant the cherries got a little more time on the trees and we think that this is the reason why this coffee is tasting sweeter and has more flavour concentration than ever before. I know I always say that the latest harvest is the best one so far, but because we have been working systematically with improving everything from fertilisers, weed control picking, processing, drying, storage and milling I can honestly say that it has ben a gradual improvement year after year. I really hope you enjoy the sweet coffee from the last harvest.
Finca Tamana SL28, Colombia 2 bags, 3 bags
Producer: Elias Roa
Harvest: July – August 2018
Origin: El Pital, Huila, Colombia
Cultivar: SL28
Process: Washed
Flavour notes: Floral & red berries
I planted these SL28 seeds with Elias in 2013 and the trees were planted in the field in early 2014. Since then we have been waiting to get this coffee in our shop. In 2017 we got 24 kilos, last year 160 kilos and this year we managed to get 450 kilos from the half hectare we planted with this variety at Tamana. The SL28 at Finca Tamana has some of the classic SL28 flavours but tastes very different from the Kenyan SL28 coffees. It has a bigger body, lower acidity and an interesting spicy and sweet note that makes it really different from the brighter and more intense Kenyan grown SL28.
Finca Tamana Bourbon, Colombia 3 bags
Producer: Elias Roa
Harvest: July – August 2018
Origin: El Pital, Huila, Colombia
Cultivar: Bourbon
Process: Washed
Flavour notes: Floral, red grapes, winey
This is the very first harvest we have of the red Bourbon cultivar from Finca Tamana. I managed to get some seeds from a really nice red Bourbon in 2014 that I gave to Elias. We planted these seeds together in June 2014 and the trees were planted in a small hill at Finca Tamana in August 2015. Because we waited a bit too long before we planted the trees in the field, a lot of the seedling’s roots were curled up in the small poly bags of soil they were planted in. This meant that Elias had some problems growing these trees afterwards, but the long wait is over and now the trees are finally producing coffee cherries. Elias also added a small amount of bourbon trees with yellow and pink colour on their cherries and this lot is a mix of all of them. I am thrilled that we have a whopping 282 kg of this coffee and I am also very happy that so far it is one of the best coffees we have tasted from Tamana. A really fruity coffee with delicate floral aromas. For those of you subscribing to 3 bags you will be among the first to ever taste this coffee from Finca Tamana.
Espresso
Finca Tamana Variedad Colombia Espresso 1 bag, 2 bags, 3 bags
All espresso coffee subscribers will get the espresso roast of the Finca Tamana Colombia above.
Finca Tamana SL28 Espresso 2 bags, 3 bags
If you subscribe to 2 bags of espresso/month, you can also expect the espresso roast of the Finca Tamana SL28 above.
Finca Tamana Bourbon Espresso 3 bags
3 bag espresso subscribers will get the espresso roast of the Finca Tamana Bourbon above.
We hope you enjoy them as much as we do! In the meantime, feel free to check out our website for more brewing tips and techniques.
Cheers,
Tim
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