Story
El Vergel
El Vergel farm run by Elias and Shady Bayter is located in the beautiful departamente of Tolima spanning across the Andean mountains in Colombia. More precisely on the slopes of Black Mountain, an inactive volcano.Colombia is filled with diverse landscapes, from rainforests to mountaintops, two coastlines, and much more. Apart from that it boasts 11 different altitudes, each containing a unique flavour palate that is unrivalled anywhere else in the world.
Tolima Region
Tolima region is located in central-west Colombia. Local soils are some of the most nutrient-rich for planting coffee trees, offering some exotic flavours which are quite unique to the region. Tolima's farmers have made the switch from primarily working large yield crops to dealing with micro lots that require more care and dedication. This led to more focus on nurturing the coffee and emphasising quality over quantity. The extra care is evident as we are allowed to taste some incredible coffees in recent years.
Processing
This Red & Yellow Caturra is one of the flagship coffees produced at EL VERGEL, located in the micro-lot next to the washing station, and surrounded by Guava trees. The profile has been one of the most intense and fruity coffees developed by the estate. Planted in 2016 & 2018 with a quantity of more than 40.000 plants, this lot has been one of the best in the estate to experiment with processing bigger lots. Hand-picked, and carefully inspected by one of our tenured pickers. We go through great lengths to only produce the finest yields from our crops. This coffee was processed with a unique method that consists of a special two step controlled temperature anaerobic fermentation for 48 to 60 hours in order to develop a more intense but clean profile and showcase all the attributes of the variety combined with flavours unique to the process. Strict and close control of the pH levels is being taken, followed by an intermittent drying process of a series of stalls in different moisture levels to enhance complexity, and finished in silos to obtain accurate moisture of the beans. Coffee then gets stabilised for another 45 day to homogenise the beans and promote complexity of the profile.
After the fermentation, the coffee gets dried in the sun for 15 to 25 days depending on the actual weather conditions.