Juan Saldarriaga is a coffee farmer, exporter and consultant from Bolivar in Antioquia. He has two farms just outside Bolivar, El Encanto and La Claudina, the latter being, somewhat obviously, where this coffee is from. This is our first time buying from Juan and our first time buying from Nordic Approach who import his coffees. It's a really beautiful big juicy example of why people keep coming back to Colombian coffees and in particular naturally processed ones. With loads of strawberry and florals reminiscent of coffee blossoms in the cup.
Juan Saldarriaga and his farm manager William Laverde have done an amazing job over the years of refining their drying of naturals using cold mechanical dryers similar to those used for drying fruit such as apricots. The common misconception with mechanical drying is that it produces coffees that age badly but from speaking to those in the industry that know a lot more about these things than me it seems that quick aging due to drying is usually due to poor / aggressive drying practices. Saldarriaga and Laverde have developed a very precise and measured approach to using the mechanical dryers that mimics the intermittent drying you would get from ideal weather. The results year on year show that these coffees in fact age more slowly than a lot of other coffees!
In Bolivar Juan Saldarriaga is a well known figure, he has a coffee lab just off the main square where he cups samples from producers and advises them on improving their coffee and he exports coffees from lots of producers, allowing them access to international and specialty markets.
Elevation: 1400-1600 Meters Above Sea Level
Varietal: Castillo, Colombia
Cup score: 88
Price paid per kg: £10.44
Process: Fully natural in mechanical cold dryers
