Our friends Laura and William at Minga have been helping us source amazing coffees for several years. We're delighted to showcase a few new Colombian naturals from them this season, starting with this gorgeous Guayaba!
The leading note of this coffee is sugar: it's just SO sweet. The second note is its namesake, fresh-pressed guava juice. There isn't much funk here for a Colombian natural – just 100% sugar and juice, and we think you're going to love it.
The producers of Guayaba are located in the municipality of Oporapa, Huila, one of the pioneering regions in Colombia for specialty coffee. It all started in the 1990s with a group of smallholder Oporapa coffee producers who invested in higher-quality coffee through training in selective picking, post-harvest processing, and slow drying, all innovative practices at the time. Oporapa also benefits from fertile volcanic soils, a temperate climate, and well-distributed rainfall, all ideal for coffee cultivation.
Natural processed coffees are not common in Huila due to its rainy climate, which poses a risk for mold development and requires significant drying time and space. There is an additional risk: commercial buyers often purchase it at very low prices, as natural coffees are less likely to align with the flavour profile preferred by Colombia’s primary coffee export professionals, who generally favor the clean acidity of washed lots.
When Minga received specific orders for classic naturals from European roasters, this was a new opportunity for producers. Because they could eliminate the market risk and guarantee the sale, naturals became an attractive option for them, and Minga suggested using varietals that typically yield the lowest cup scores when washed: Castillo and Colombia. This would result in better payment than if the coffee had been washed. This led to the creation of the Guayaba profile — a classic, unfermented natural. This Guayaba lot is made of contributions from three different producer teams, including Hervey and Rocio Cuellar, whose other natural we are selling here.
Elevation: 1600-1800 MASL
Varietal: Castillo, Colombia
Cup Score: 88.5
Price paid per kg: £11.90
Process: Natural
