Colombia, La Virginia

Expect notes of Prune, Chocolate, Papaya.

Rafael Amaya's farm, Finca La Virginia, sits between 1,700 and 1,800 metres above sea level near the town of Timaná, in Colombia’s Huila department. In 2010, Rafael decided to focus his production on speciality grade coffee. Through constant learning and honing of his craft, he is now able to sell 90% of his production as micro-lots of sensational quality.

This particular lot is a Caturra that was hand-picked at peak ripeness. The coffee is firstly placed in an aerobic environment to kickstart fermentation. Then, it’s placed in sealed GrainPro bags for an astonishing 200 hours to give this coffee its signature funky, fruity and delicious flavour profile.

For years, Rafael Amaya has been constantly striving to learn, and to improve the quality of the coffee that he grows. In 2014 he joined SENA, which provides free agricultural training, and with the assistance of his teacher, he started experimenting with different fermentation techniques. Seven years on, the results have been dramatic – just taste his coffee and see.