Colombia
Huila
Rodrigo Sanchez Valencia and Claudia Samboni
Finca La Loma
Caturra, Castillo, Colombia
Washed
December–January
Caramel, Chocolate, Plum, Lemon
1650 meters
N/A
70 kg with liner
SOLD OUT
Finca La Loma is located in Vereda Agua Negra in the Pitalito municipality of Huila. The farm has 12 hectares planted with many varieties, including Caturra, Variedad Colombia, Pink Bourbon, Pacamara, Laurina, and Geisha. The mill on the farm includes a depulper and tanks for dry fermentation. Producers Rodrigo Sanchez Valencia and Claudia Samboni have been cultivating coffee on La Loma since 2011.
In 2017, Rodrigo and his team at Aromas del Sur—the parent company for La Loma, El Progreso, and Monteblanco farms and the Aromas del Sur dry mill—constructed a cupping lab on La Loma to facilitate sample roasting, crop evaluation, and sourcing at origin. The lab overlooks the farm and the valley of Pitalito, with coffee trees and other crops dotting the rolling landscape.
This lot is a blend of the many varieties grown on Finca La Loma. This coffee captures the essence of what makes La Loma special, from its hilltop location to the attentive care taken by Rodrigo and his team during all stages of cultivation, processing, and preparation for export.
Cherries are measured for degrees Brix as they are harvested. Based on sugar content indicated, the team at Aromas del Sur designates which processing method is appropriate. Coffees with 24-27 degrees Brix are typically processed as washed coffees, and cherries with 22-25 degrees Brix were specially selected for this lot. First, floaters were removed and coffee was depulped the same day it was harvested then left to ferment for 28-32 hours. This lot dried in the sun for five days then on raised beds in the shade for 25-28 days until it reached 10.5-11% humidity. Finally, coffee was dry milled and prepped for export at the Aromas del Sur facility in Pitalito.
Read more about coffee at Monteblanco and new Aromas del Sur processing innovations.
The Colombian Department of Huila is located in the southern portion of the country where the Central and Eastern ranges of the Andes mountains converge. Huila’s capital city of Neiva is dry, flat, and desert-like, markedly different from the coffee regions further south.
Centered around the city of Pitalito, Huila’s coffee farms are predominantly smallholder owned and over the past ten years have made concerted efforts to produce specialty coffee that reveals the full character of the region’s terroir. Selective manual harvesting, attentive processing, and careful post-harvest sorting all contribute to increasing recognition of the region.
Huila’s Departmental coffee committee, the local connection to the national Colombian Coffee Growers Federation, has invested notable resources into training producers in everything from fertilization to roasting. This, combined with producer enthusiasm, has created a regional culture of quality-focused production.
Huila holds important historic significance dating back to pre-Columbian cultures. The archeological site at San Agustin includes a large number of stone carvings, figures, and artifacts that offer a rare glimpse into the land’s past prior to colonialism.
