How Does a Coffee Farm in Cauca Build Its Flavor?
Finca El Paraiso is a coffee farm in Colombia's Cauca Department, founded by Diego Samuel in 2008 and starting from just 2.5 hectares. Through experimental double anaerobic fermentation, it set a record for the highest bid price in Colombia's COE auction history. Cauca sits at roughly 1,500 to 2,100 meters, where slow cherry maturation shapes a rich, balanced cup.
Colombia grades coffee by bean screen size rather than altitude, with Supremo above 17 screen ranking highest and EXCELSO EXTRA at 16 screen next. Three Cordillera ranges cross the country, and Cauca's surrounding mountains block Pacific moisture and trade winds while equatorial sun keeps conditions stable. That consistency supports coffee quality from smallholder plots.
Colombia is a major global producer of specialty coffee, and its coffee grading is based on bean screen size rather than altitude. The Cauca region, with its unique terroir of surrounding high mountains, ample sunshine, and stable climate, nurtures a rich and balanced coffee flavor. Finca El Paraiso is located in Cauca Department and was founded by Diego Samuel in 2008. Starting from a small 2.5-hectare farm, it set the highest bid price record in Colombia's history at the COE auction through experimental double anaerobic fermentation processing. This article will guide you through the terroir conditions of the Cauca region, the development history of Finca El Paraiso, and its complex fermentation processes, as well as introduce related batch products from Front Street Coffee.
Three Cordillera mountain ranges run north-south across Colombia and extend into the Andes. Coffee farmers plant coffee along the high-altitude areas of these mountains, giving the region diverse climatic conditions suitable for coffee cultivation; at the same time, due to significant differences in topography and altitude, a large part of Colombia's coffee industry adopts a smallholder production model.
However, unlike most coffee-producing countries in Central America, which habitually classify grades by growing altitude, Colombia uses a classification method based on bean screen size. Among these, Supremo, with beans above 17 screen, is the highest grade, followed by EXCELSO EXTRA, which is mainly 16 screen.
The Cauca region is located in Colombia, at an altitude of approximately 1,500 to 2,100 meters. The mountainous terrain and complex, variable climate cause coffee cherries to mature slowly, but this also creates the rich, mellow, and balanced characteristics of Front Street Colombia coffee.
This region is surrounded by high mountains. The majestic mountains not only block air currents and moisture from the Pacific Ocean, but also intercept the southerly trade winds, allowing the region to maintain a stable climate. In addition, being close to the equator provides abundant sunshine. The stable climate and ample sunlight provide strong assurance for the consistency of coffee quality.
Cauca coffee is hand-picked and washed. It is worth mentioning that, at a time when many coffee-producing regions are replacing old varieties with new ones in pursuit of stronger disease resistance and higher yields, the Cauca region is rare in being mainly planted with Caturra, while also preserving ancient varieties such as Typica and Bourbon.
Finca El Paraiso is located in Cauca Department, Colombia, and began operation under Mr. Diego Samuel in 2008. At first, it was only a small 2.5-hectare semi-family farm. Each year, the farm owner invests the surplus from the harvest into coffee agricultural research, continuously exploring how to produce coffee with specialty flavor.
In 2015, he participated in a local regional competition for the first time and won first place. After becoming famous overnight, he gained industry recognition, which also gave him more motivation to promote specialty coffee cultivation. Finca El Paraiso currently mainly cultivates bean varieties such as Bourbon, Laurina, Geisha, and Castillo, and is planning to try more different varieties, making it an impressive specialty farm.
In the November COE auction, although Finca El Paraiso's double fermentation processing method only ranked 10th, it set the highest bid price record of the year, becoming the highest bid price result in Colombia's history!
The experimental processing method developed by Diego has a rather complicated process, so the flavor is especially unique. For example, [Front Street Double Anaerobic Rose Tea Batch Rosa Té] first undergoes 24 hours of whole-cherry anaerobic fermentation in a sealed container, then after depulping, undergoes 36 hours of anaerobic fermentation with mucilage, which is why it is called a double anaerobic fermentation processing method. During fermentation, Diego uses specific containers and needs to continuously monitor the temperature. [Front Street Double Anaerobic Tropical Batch Tropical] has a first fermentation stage of 28 hours and a second stage of 40 hours. In the drying stage after fermentation, different parameters are also used in stages to optimize the flavor.
The above content is compiled by CoffeeHunters, a coffee news website.
