Colombia Finca Monteblanco Purple Caturra

Cherry, Plum, Caramel, Spice Rum

Monteblanco Purple Caturra Natural is one of the many unique combinations of special varieties and special processes that define Finca Monteblanco’s approach to sustainable specialty coffee production.

Finca Monteblanco, located high along the winding mountain roads of Vereda La Tocora in the San Adolfo municipality above Pitalito, is a family farm managed by Rodrigo Sanchez Valencia in the tradition of coffee cultivation that began with his grandfather. Monteblanco’s 18 hectares sit on the crest of a hill, with the wetmill and drying facilities at the top and slopes of coffee planted below.

In 2002, Rodrigo participated in a local program teaching children of coffee producers to cup. Before that, he and his family had never considered coffee in terms of cup profile. By learning to differentiate profiles, he, his father, and grandfather were able to able to make the connections between the farming techniques they applied and coffee’s attributes in the cup.

At this time, Rodrigo also began to learn about cupping competitions that evaluate the best lots from farms in a region. He noticed that farms would win one year and then never again, so he decided to investigate how to produce quality coffee consistently. This led him to explore the trees planted on Monteblanco, were he discovered various varieties his grandfather had planted in the 1980’s.

In 2009 Rodrigo Sanchez planted 25,000 Caturra trees on his farm Finca El Progreso in the region of Palestina Colombia. 20 of the trees planted were phenotypically different in their structure, grain and leaf color, and their susceptibility to coffee rust. In 2012, those 20 trees did not suffer from defoliation like the other caturras and had a different profile from the other trees when cupped. In order to differentiate these trees from the other caturras, Rodrigo named this plant the “Caturra Purpura” or the “Purple Caturra” because of its resemblance to the variety known as “Purpuraceas”. Rodrigo now has more than 12 acres of the Purple Caturra growing on his other farm, Finca Monteblanco. This is a wet process coffee.

All cherries harvested are measured for degrees Brix. Based on sugar content indicated, the team at Aromas del Sur, the umbrella group of Monteblanco, El Progreso, and La Loma farms, then designates which processing method is appropriate.

Coffees with 20-23 degrees Brix are selected for Natural processing. Floaters are sorted out and then the ripe coffee cherries areplaced in the solar dryer for five days, followed by roughly 22 days on raised beds in the shade. The moisture content of the cherries is monitored throughout the process and cherries are turned to avoid the formation of any mold or mildew or collection of moisture. Coffees dry until they reach the desired 10.5-11% humidity.

Rodrigo is proud that he, his wife Claudia Samboni, farm manager Don Gerardo, and the team that works in the fields and at the mill have reached the goal of achieving consistent quality. Each harvest, Finca Monteblanco produces microlots that serve as competition coffees around the world, but the farm also consistently produces containers of delicious coffees that appear year-round on café menus and retail shelves. By applying an ethic of rigorous monitoring, planning, and management of each stage of production and processing, all coffees from Monteblanco showcase their full potential.

Harvesting and processing on Monteblanco have had to evolve with the times, adapting to a changing climate that yields harvest dispersed through ten months of the year rather than in a concentrated peak. Coffees from Monteblanco are milled and prepared for export at the new, state of the art Aromas del Sur drymill in Pitalito.

Area: Pitalito, Huila
Process: Natural
Varietal: Purple Caturra
Altitude: 1730m