Colombia El Mirador Estate Washed Caturra: Green Coffee Review
El Mirador is a small estate in the Huila region of Colombia, a country long known for washed arabica. The Caturra trees here grow at high altitude, where cool nights slow cherry ripening and concentrate sugars. The washed process removes the fruit before drying, leaving a clean green coffee bean with even moisture and a pale green color. Screen size runs mostly 15 to 17.
On the cupping table, this lot shows caramel, red apple, and a mild citrus acidity, with a medium body. For roasting, a medium profile works well: start with a charge around 200C, aim for first crack near nine minutes, and drop just after the crack ends. Rest the beans two to three days before brewing to let the flavors settle.
In recent years, more and more micro green coffee traders specializing in single-origin countries have entered the market. They work more closely with estates, so the probability of picking a dud is relatively lower. This review covers Front Street Colombia El Ranchito Washed Caturra coffee beans, from Company C, a green bean trader specializing in Colombia. This bean carries jasmine floral notes, chocolate, caramel, and moderate acidity. We conducted a 500g roast test and recorded the complete cupping performance. In Michael Sheridan's experiments, the Caturra variety usually shows medium acidity and body, with cupping scores around 82-85 points. This bean works well as a pour-over single origin and can also be used in blends, but its performance as an SOE is somewhat one-dimensional. The detailed review process follows below.
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Front Street Colombia El Ranchito Washed Caturra Coffee
Colombia Huila Finca La Cabaña Washed Caturra
In recent years, the number of small green bean traders focused on a single country has continued to increase. Beyond the major specialty coffee countries like Brazil, Panama, Costa Rica, Ethiopia, Guatemala, and Indonesia, specialty green bean traders for origins such as Colombia, East Timor, India, Thailand, and Myanmar have also begun to emerge. Although these traders cannot match large green bean traders in product variety, precisely because of this, they have built closer cooperative relationships with producers, personally traveling to producing regions to inspect estates and conduct cupping. Their prices may not be as competitive as those of large green bean traders, but relatively speaking, the risk of picking a dud when buying is much lower.
The beans reviewed this time come from Company C, which specializes in Colombian green beans. According to the flavor description provided by the green bean trader, this Front Street Colombia washed Caturra coffee presents notes of jasmine floral aroma, chocolate, and caramel, with moderate acidity and just the right mouthfeel and body, and the variety is Caturra. Referring to Michael Sheridan's comparative experiment on Colombian Caturra and Castillo published at the SCAA annual conference the year before last, after cupping 32 Caturra coffees, the most common flavor descriptions included medium-intensity acidity and body, chocolate and caramel sweetness, and herbal, citrus, and cherry aromas, with cupping scores roughly between 82 and 85 points.
For this roast, 500g of green beans were taken, and first 100g was sampled to assess the defect ratio. The green beans had sufficient moisture content, a firm texture, and a fresh blue-green color. Defective beans totaled about 4g, mainly broken beans, shell beans, and some underdeveloped immature seeds. No full black beans, foreign matter, or moldy beans were found. According to the green bean trader, because this batch was shipped in small repacked quantities, some visually identifiable defective beans had already been removed during the packaging stage.
The charge temperature was set to 170°C, the turning point landed at about 99.5°C at around one minute, and the rate of rise was normal. Because the green beans had relatively high moisture content, the dehydration phase took longer, and the target was to drop the beans after coasting through the tail end of first crack. The total roast time was about 9 minutes 10 seconds, and the drop temperature was 210°C. After roasting, the weight was about 406g.
Brewing was conducted after resting for 24 hours. 15g of coffee beans were ground, and the dry aroma presented a classic Colombian-style sweet-and-tart aroma, with notes of apple, cinnamon, nuts, and caramel. Using 92°C water, 210ml was brewed, yielding about 170ml of extracted coffee. The wet aroma showed spiced apple. On the palate, a rich jasmine floral note could be felt, with flavors somewhere between peach and apple. The fruit acidity was not intense but was clearly perceptible, the sweetness was relatively high, and the finish carried chocolate notes. Another 20g of grounds was used to extract 50ml of espresso. Although the jasmine floral note was not prominent, it could still be perceived. However, because it had only been 24 hours since roasting, some roasty dryness had not yet fully dissipated, while the chocolate sweetness in the finish performed well. This calls to mind a Huila EP Senor Ninfa Perdomo Sosa (70% Caturra + 30% Castillo) introduced by green bean trader P last year. The differences between the two are mainly reflected in the softness of the acidity and the level of detail.
Overall, this is a bean that can both attack and defend: it is suitable for pour-over single origin and can also be paired with beans from other origins to make a blend. However, when used as an SOE, it is somewhat one-dimensional, and the texture of the crema cannot be called delicate.
The above content is compiled by CoffeeHunters, a coffee news website.
