Sometimes we encounter coffees with such strong flavour profiles that you can pick up the notes in the green coffee or during roasting. This is one of those coffees: it smells like you're making jam in a perfume factory. If you want your socks knocked off, look no further. It may not be the most refined coffee we've carried at Skylark, but it's loud and proud, and if you like notes of strawberry, rhubarb, and nasturtium along with the potent sweetness of bubblegum, you HAVE to try this one before it's gone.
We sourced Chiroso from the talented Luz Ángela Rojas, who left her fast-paced career to return home and rejuvenate her family's coffee farm. Her passion and dedication to coffee create beautiful results, and we're delighted to share three distinct lots from her this year. You can read a bit more of her story below from our importing partners Mi Cafe:
Luz Ángela Rojas grew up surrounded by coffee plants, immersed in nature while helping her father with every task the farm required. Her childhood and adolescence were spent amidst the green landscape of the coffee farm, where she learned from a young age the value of hard work in the fields. During a time of coffee crisis, her parents advised her not to stay at the farm. "Study, do something different," they said. The idea was for her to go to university and follow a different path, away from the challenges of the coffee sector and the traditional roles of household duties, looking after children, and maintaining the home. Ángela began a career in healthcare, where she became a head nurse. However, as she advanced in her career and gained professional experience, something was calling her back to her roots: coffee. She began to realise that coffee plants, just like humans, require care and attention to thrive.
It was then that Ángela began to reconsider her life. Coffee became part of her dreams, and she saw it not only as a family tradition but as a project that could be reinvented. She decided that her life would not just be about studying and working in the city, but about integrating her knowledge of health and management into the coffee world. She discovered that the principles of administration she had learned could be applied to any business, even to her family’s coffee farm.
Ángela worked for two years as a nurse and then five years as an audit leader until the pandemic changed her course. Her administrative job allowed her to work from anywhere, giving her the opportunity to return to the farm and rediscover her purpose. Although her parents insisted she follow her professional career, she reconnected with life on the farm and decided to stay and work alongside her parents. Thus, the new project was born: a family dream that not only seeks to preserve the roots of coffee but to transform, innovate, and make it unique. Ángela is committed to offering differentiated coffees with a wide variety of flavours beginning with quality agronomic work. Her goal is for the coffees to be so exquisite that, without the need for complicated processes, they can captivate the final customers.
The project is entirely family-run, and everyone involved is more motivated than ever to continue learning and taking their coffee to new horizons. Ángela, with her experience, dedication, and vision, has transformed the family legacy into a model of innovation within coffee farming, never losing sight of the essence of what it means to work the land and the coffee.
To process this lot, cherries were floated to remove green, overripe, and dry cherry. It was then oxidized in food-grade plastic drums for 48 hours and fermented in water for another 48 hours at temperatures below 25°C. After fermentation, the coffee was dried for 72 hours at 38°C. Finally, it was stabilized and prepared for transport in GrainPro-type bags.
Elevation: 1600-1850 Meters Above Sea Level
Varietal: Caturra Chiroso
Cup score: 90+
Price paid per kg: £14.25
Process: Natural
