The Producer
Coffee producer Alejandra Angel and her farm manager Luis Alberto Chavarro have a unique approach to growing specialty coffee. Alejandra prioritizes soil nutrition practices, and her coffees are consistently high-scoring. She uses many diverse coffee varietals at her farm Fincamigos, located in the town of Jardín, in Antioquia, Colombia.
Alejandra Angel (right) and Luis Alberto Chavarro (left) at Fincamigos
The Coffee
With tasting notes of raspberry, tamarind, and chocolate, this natural process Colombia is a Tabi varietal. This varietal was released for use in the early 2000s, developed by the National Coffee Research Center, Cenicafé in Colombia. It's a cross between the Typica, Bourbon, and Timor varietals, and was formulated to be a high-quality consistent coffee despite changes in its environment. Like Bourbon and Typica, Tabi is a taller tree with longer branches with larger fruits and seeds than its parents. It can be grown at much higher altitudes and a higher density. The word "tabi" is of Guambiano origin, coming from the dialect of a native Colombian tribe. In English, "tabi" translates to "good"!
The Process
A natural process coffee is left whole for the drying process after its harvest. It has a 72-hour anaerobic fermentation process, where the cherry remains intact. This Tabi varietal then has a 20-day drying process, with a combination of sun-drying and mechanical drying.
The Importer
This coffee was imported by our friends at Know Where Coffee. KWC is a specialty sourcing group working with CoTrade, a coffee sourcing collective. Both strive to facilitate easy, fun, and enjoyable importation processes for both producers and roasters while promoting sustainability and equitability in coffee sourcing.
Makeworth Coffee Roaster's production roaster Alanna Halliday
The Roast
Because this coffee is grown at a moderately high elevation and is naturally processed, it lends itself to a high acidity perception in the cup. While the acidic red fruit and other vibrant tasting notes are what make this coffee truly special, it's important to not over-accentuate these and lose other wonderful savory and sweet traits. Overall, this coffee has a "light" roast level, but we made two important decisions to maintain a balanced taste: first, a few added seconds to development time at the end of the roast, and second, a one to two-degree lower-end temperature. We tasted a noteworthy impact by keeping the end temperature low to preserve the acidity but extending the development to enhance sweetness. At the end of the day, this coffee is layered in nuance and complexity. We hope you enjoy this one!
Brew Tips
Depending on what you'd like to gain from this coffee, two important factors to consider are grind size and brew temperature. For this coffee, we recommend a slightly coarser grind and a slightly hotter temperature than a normal brew. Opening up the grind size and increasing the water temp highlights the fruit-forward profile, extracts more from the coffee, and prevents over-extraction. We love this coffee for its myriad of fruity tasting notes, but be intentional to avoid over-extraction so you can experience each delicious layer of this flavor profile!
A box of Makeworth Coffee's natural Columbia from Alejandra Angel's Fincamigos farm