A new coffee a new coffee that has given me more questions than answers about coffee.

Its this weeks in my mug (see below) and I promised within that in my mug to write a blog post about it so thats coming up after introducing it.

You can buy it here

We bought this cup from the cupping table, and sometimes that means we don’t know so much about it.

This is a specially selected micro lot of coffee from the Tolima region. It comes from a small growers cooperative with only 58 members (this lot was made from 16); average farm size is only 4.5 hectares,and collectively produce approximately 1000 bags of coffee per year, so small holders working together to produce this amazing coffee.

This lot was put together by Gilardo Gutirrrez (and his cat), Hernan Arias,Jose Quintero,Daniel Chauala,Gildardo Gutierrez,Elber Falla,Jose Zapata, Benicio Sanchez,Fabio Guembel,Jose Quiceno,Maximo Guitierrez,Nelso Atuesta, Oscar Guitierrez,Luz Mila Rico, Jose Vanegas,Luis Cuartas all part of this cooperative.

Tolima is one of 32 departments in Colombia and sits between the big cities of Bogota (the capital) and Cali. Tolima is a southern department, and the county is Herrera, and the nearest town to the cooperative is Rioblanco. Meridiano is about 79 mi (or 128 km) West of Bogotá.

The varietals are Caturra,Colombia and Typica and is fully washed and grown at altitudes from 1550mtr to 1900mtrs

Oh by the way its decaffeinated. I say this as a by the way as its the least important part of this coffee. It was decaffeinated in Colombia. This might not sound remarkable, but most coffee is either decaffeinated in Canada or Germany. This adds food miles to the coffee, which is not good. But what decaffeination in producing countries does, is add value at the place where I’m very happy adding value. Its around 40 km from the warehouse where the shipments are collated.

For more info on how the coffee is decaffeinated take a look at the blog post here.

In the cup its tough to tell this is a decaf, but that doesn’t matter, because its just very tasty.It has a fruity feel to it, almost natural like compared to its caffeinated brother, and much much sweeter. The best descriptor the team came up with was Jammy Dodger and I agree. Theres strawberry jam and biscuit sweetness, and lovely big body make this a great decaf, but I repeat its delicious. I’m going to say it again, delicious a decaf thats tasty and enjoyable, more so than its caffeinated counterpart

Coffee:El Meridiano
Origin:Southern Colombian state of Tolima, county of Herrera, small town of Rioblanco.
Producers coop:58 small coffee growers called ASOCEAS, “Asociacion de Productores de Café Especial de Alto Saldana”
Altitude:1500-1900 meters
Varieties:Caturra (70%), Colombia (20%) and Typica (10%)
Processing Method:Washed in micro-mills at each farm.
Drying Method:Sun-dried in green-houses and on drying patios
Shade:40% shade cover – Plantain, Cambulo, Chachafruto, Guamo
Harvest:Main: Oct. – Jan. Fly-crop: April – June
Decaffeination:Descafecol plant in Colombia – uses ethyl acetate derived from a natural source – namely sugar cane.