La Riviera | Colombia

TL;DR:  something for the funky cats out there. Rich, bold, and packed full of flavour. Like a Guinness to our usual IPA style, this one’s a bit decadent.

 

Operated by Julio Cesar Madrid, Finca La Riviera is located in Vereda La Estrella in the municipality of Santa Rosa de Cabal in the Risaralda department of Colombia. The farm is situated near the Los Nevados Natural National Park, a 58,300 hectare reserve surrounding the northern volcanic complex formed by Nevado del Ruiz.

 

La Riviera has an elevation of 1750 meters above sea level, giving the 40 hectare property temperatures ranging 18–28°C year-round. This climate provides ideal conditions for harvesting the more than 10 varieties planted on the farm, which makes La Riviera the farm with the most varieties amongst its related farms in Café UBA, an alliance of three farms from Risaralda including Finca Buenos Aires, Finca Milán, and Finca La Riviera.

 

This lot of Purple Caturra coffee underwent Natural processing. Floaters are sorted out and then the ripe coffee cherries are placed 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.

 

Risaralda is one of Colombia’s principal coffee growing Departments. Along with neighbouring Caldas and Quindío, it forms part of the “coffee axis” or “coffee triangle,” indicating the important coffee activities—from research to social support programs to freeze drying to dry milling—that take place in the area, which is in turn part of the Coffee Cultural Landscape, recognized by UNESCO as a World Coffee Cultural Heritage site.

 

The soils of Risaralda have their origin in igneous rocks and volcanic ash with slopes descending towards the Cauca river, forming a landscape of colourful towns where more than 20.000 smallholder farms and mid-sized estates dedicate themselves to the department’s main agricultural activity; coffee. The main coffee varieties found there include Castillo, Colombia, Caturra, Típica and Tabi.

 

Risaralda is the only Colombian department recognised as a Model Forest, a title given by the International Model Forest Network because of the community management of the areas declared as reserves, combining the social, environmental and economic needs of the local communities with long-term and large-scale perspectives on the sustainability of the territory.

 

We’ve roasted this with the coffee’s processing in mind. We’ve kept things a little shorter and cooler (like Dani) than usual, so that we can maintain more acidity and character but still taste all that natural funky business.

We prefer our filter brews from a v60, but we won’t judge for use of anything at all to make yourself a coffee - even a (clean) sock.

 

Our recommended ratio when brewing filter coffee is 60g of coffee per litre of water. Simply scale this down, or up, for your desired size of brew.

 

With all methods, you’ll want: a grind size similar to granulated sugar, boiling water, and about 3 minutes of brewing time. This goes for v60, aeropress, plunger, and the (still hopefully clean) sock.

 

Our favourite recipe for v60:

• 20g of medium to coarsely ground coffee, it’ll feel a little like granulated sugar.
• Set your kettle to boil, and ready your socks to be rocked.
• We use a 60g bloom, with a swirl of the slurry to make sure it’s all wet. You can stir of that’s easier, just don’t rip the paper!
• After that, when your timer is at 45 seconds, add more water to a total of 200g, and swirl gently.
• Then finally at 1:15 on your timer, add the rest of your water, to 330g, and do one last little swirl.
• Wait till it drains through, roughly 3:30 is a good time, pour into your favourite mug, and let those socks be rocked.

 

If you’d like more info or tips, get in touch! hello@coreroasters.cc