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Nariño Region
Located in southwestern Colombia, Nariño is famous for its high-altitude coffee farms (1,500-2,200 meters). The volcanic soil and climate create a unique coffee with bright acidity, full body, and fruity notes, often with citrus and floral hints. This region's coffee reflects its rich cultural heritage and commitment to sustainable farming.
Huver Castillo
Even though Huver is a third-generation coffee farmer, he wasn’t involved in the business before 2015 as he used to work as a math teacher at a school in Nariño before.
The El Paseo farm is located on the Suma Paz trail. El Paseo farm has been in the family for over 20 years. It is a beautiful farm with an altitude range of 1750 meters to 1950 meters, featuring several native shade trees and situated on the slopes overlooking the valley of Buesaco.
Processing
This coffee undergoes a meticulously crafted anaerobic semi-washed process which begins with 60 hours of aerobic fermentation in a concrete tank, where the cherries are floated to remove any that do not meet quality standards. Following this, the coffee is depulped and transferred to special anaerobic steel tanks, where the pH is monitored daily to ensure optimal fermentation conditions.
Huver explains that the coffee is ready when the pH is close to 4.5. At that point, he adds his homemade lactic acid bacteria mix, made from cooked sugarcane and passionfruit, to the tanks to cultivate a specific fermentation profile that Huver has perfected over the past four years.
After the fermentation, the coffee is sun-dried for an average of 20 days.
Once dried, the coffee gets stored in GrainPro bags for an additional 20 days before milling, ensuring stability and preservation of its unique characteristics.