Description
Cupping notes: Melon, peach, panela and mango.
Producer: Andrès Julio Quiceno & Julio Madrid
Farm: Finca Milán, Colombia
Region: Risaralda
Variety: Castillo & Caturra
Process: Culturing Fermentation/Starter Cultures & Cantaloupe
Altitude: 1600 masl
Harvested: 2024
Meet the farmer.
Nestled in the beautiful Risaralda Department of Colombia, Finca Milan is a coffee farm with a story stretching back over 40 years. Run by Julio Cesar Madrid, a third-generation coffee farmer, and his business partner, master processor Andres Julio Quinceno, this farm blends tradition with a passion for innovation and top-notch coffee production.
Spread across 250 hectares in the central foothills of the Andes Mountains, Finca Milan enjoys perfect coffee-growing conditions. At 1600 meters above sea level, with year-round temperatures between 18–28°C, the climate here is just right.
Julio doesn't just stick to the usual coffee varieties. He's on a mission to discover rare types like Sudan Rume and Laurina, which are celebrated for their complex flavours. Helping him in this quest is his daughter, Maria Antonia Madrid, a biologist. Her research into the sensory effects of microbial starter cultures in coffee fermentation has refined their processing methods, resulting in coffee with truly unique and fascinating flavours.
Finca Milan's Culturing Fermentation Technique.
Finca Milan uses a special fermentation technique called culturing, similar to how yoghurt is made, which enhances the flavours and aromas of their beans. This involves using starter cultures rich in microorganisms to transform the coffee. They mix these cultures with locally available fruits and aromatic plants, then combine them with the coffee to ferment.
Here’s how it works: for the April lot, the freshly harvested coffee beans were mixed with the starter culture and cantaloupe. This combination underwent a fermentation process in airtight containers, promoting anaerobic fermentation, for 144 hours.
The local environment's unique bacteria and microorganisms played an important role in this process. Throughout fermentation, Finca Milan monitored factors like pH, temperature, and sugar levels. Once the fermentation reached the desired point, the coffee was rinsed and solar-dried for twenty-five days and five days of mechanical drying.