How does the Colombian coffee crop shape Monteverde Wushwush flavor?
Colombia has two coffee crop seasons each year: an early crop from April to June and a main crop from October to December. Finca Monteverde in Tolima sits at 1,850 meters, and its natural Wushwush lot shows cinnamon, white florals, green grapes, oranges, pomegranate, and dried cranberries, with a black tea finish.
The Gutierrez family has grown coffee on this 15-hectare farm for seventy years, planting Red Bourbon, Yellow Bourbon, Geisha, Wush Wush, and Mocha. Fermentation is monitored for up to 36 hours, then cherries dry on raised beds under a plastic roof for as long as 25 days. Pour-over and Japanese-style iced pour-over recipes suit this fruity, clean profile.
Located in the Tolima region of Colombia, Finca Monteverde uses a custom natural batch of the Wushwush variety to present a complex flavor interwoven with cinnamon, white florals, green grapes, oranges, pomegranate, and dried cranberries, finishing with a black tea aftertaste. The estate sits at 1,850 meters above sea level and is run by the Gutierrez family. Its cultivation history can be traced back seventy years, and today it still insists on meticulous harvesting and temperature- and time-controlled fermentation throughout the process, allowing the coffee cherries to dry slowly on raised beds for as long as 25 days. This article introduces the terroir background and variety story of Finca Monteverde, and includes Front Street Coffee’s reference recipes for pour-over and Japanese-style iced pour-over to help coffee lovers recreate this bean’s fruity profile and clean texture at home.
Colombia Coffee - Tolima Finca Monteverde Wushwush Natural Custom Batch
Colombia Tolima Las Mercedes Finca Monte Verde Wushwush Natural
Flavor Description: Cinnamon and white florals, green grapes, oranges, pomegranate, dried cranberries, with a black tea aftertaste
Tasting Notes: Bayberry & White Flor, Green Grape, Tangerine, Pomegranate, Dried Cranberry, Black Tea Finish
Region: Tolima
Producer: Gildardo Gutiérrez Tejada
Farm: Monteverde
Variety: Wush Wush
Process: Natural
Elevation: 1850 meters
Finca Monteverde covers a total area of 15 hectares. The varieties planted include Red Bourbon, Yellow Bourbon, Geisha, Wush Wush, and Mocha, and the estate owner is Gilardo Gutierrez. The Gutierrez family has a seventy-year history of growing coffee at Finca Monteverde. The estate is extremely strict in detail management, picking only the ripest coffee cherries and monitoring the fermentation stage, which can last up to 36 hours, throughout the entire process. These efforts allow Finca Monteverde’s coffee to show a distinctive fruit profile. At Finca Monteverde, coffee cherries are placed in a drying space with a plastic roof and dried on raised beds. Air can circulate freely from above and below the cherries, and the entire drying process is kept at cool temperatures, so the natural processing time can be slowly extended to 25 days.
Colombia has two coffee harvest seasons each year: the early crop from April to June and the main crop from October to December. In addition to growing coffee, Finca Monteverde also supplies avocados, citrus, and lemons to the local market.
Recently, when reviewing the estate’s history, the owner Gilardo’s son mentioned: “I am a fourth-generation coffee farmer, and four children in the family are professional coffee cuppers. When we learned that Panama’s Hacienda La Esmeralda had achieved great success growing Geisha coffee, we spent eight years striving to cultivate excellent exotic varieties. We planted many rare coffee varieties on the estate, and through honey processing and natural processing, we tried to bring our customers the quality they had always dreamed of. Many years ago, our estate was already a certified organic farm. Although the organic farm certification has now expired, we have always practiced clean and environmentally friendly agricultural measures.”
How to brew Colombian coffee [Finca Monteverde] well?
FrontStreet Coffee pour-over reference: Weigh 15 g of [Finca Monteverde] coffee grounds, pour them into a grinder and grind to medium. The ground particles are slightly coarser than table salt. We use a BG grinder setting of 5R (standard sieve pass rate 60%), water temperature 89°C, extract with a V60 dripper, and recommend a coffee-to-water ratio of about 1:15.
Using the center of the dripper as the pivot, pour the hot water from the gooseneck kettle in a clockwise circle, circle by circle, and start timing when brewing begins. In 15 seconds, brew the coffee to 30 g, then stop pouring. When the time reaches 1 minute, pour the second time. For the second pour, do the same as before: use the center of the dripper as the pivot and pour in a clockwise circle, circle by circle. Do not let the stream hit the place where the coffee grounds meet the filter paper, to avoid channeling.
Pour until the coffee grounds reach the outermost ring, leaving one ring, then pour again circle by circle toward the center. At 2 minutes 20 seconds, brew the coffee to 220 g, and the brewing is complete.
｜ Japanese-Style Iced Pour-Over [Finca Monteverde]
FrontStreet Coffee iced pour-over [Finca Monteverde] reference:
Colombia coffee [Finca Monteverde], light-medium roast, BG grinder setting 5M (standard sieve pass rate 67%)
20 g grounds, 150 g ice, 150 g hot water. The water temperature is 1°C higher than the 90°C normally recommended for pour-over. For regular grinding, use a Fuji Royal 3.5 setting; for iced pour-over, grind slightly finer by half a step - Fuji Royal 3 setting. Recommended grounds-to-(water + ice) ratio is 1:15.
Blooming water amount 40 g, blooming time 30 seconds.
Pour in stages: the first stage 60 g water, the second stage 40 g water. Use a relatively thin but high pouring stream and stir with force to make the coffee grounds tumble fully, but be careful that the liquid level is not too high and does not reach the filter paper at the edge.
The total extraction time is also about 2 and a half minutes (close to the usual extraction time for 20 g of grounds).
The above content is compiled by CoffeeHunters, a coffee news website.
