Origin: Buesaquito, Nariño, Colombia

Producers: Wilder Santacruz

Process: Honey

Varieties: Castillo & Colombia

Altitude: 1920masl

Importer: Shared Source

Roast: Light-medium

Notes: Fresca, Orange Blossom, Field Berry Jelly, Honey

Transparency: 

• We paid Shared Source 6.61 USD per pound of exportable green coffee + shipping & storage fees
• waiting for updated transparency report from Shared Source! but they're always solid.

I've always had a love for coffees out of Narino. One of the first regions I worked with as a roaster, they bring a very nostalgic flavour profile.

We asked our pals at Shared Source to help us source some more tasty coffees from Narino, and they helped link us up with some amazing coffee's from the talented Wilder Santacruz. This Honey processed Caturra is a real fun treat, showing off a process we don't see as often in Colombia.

Wilder Santacruz, Buesaquito, Nariño

Wilder comes from a coffee producing family, with his father once winning the cup of excellence in 2012! Wilder took a different path in life, and worked as a business administrator up until recently, when a plot of land near his father's farm came up for sale, and he decided to give coffee producing a go.

Coming at it from a very business focused mindset, he was determined to have high quality, differentiated products, doing experimental processing, and growing many varietals, including SL28 and Gesha(which maybe we have...).

This lot comes from his farm in Buesaquito where the climate is warm. His farm is situated on a steep hill, and faces some wild winds, often drying out the soil. He's battled this with planting indigenous citrus and avocado trees, providing much needed coverage for the coffee plants, and lots of natural by-products for composting.

For this honey processed lot is similar to the process of his semi-washed we had last year. The cherries are picked and floated in plastic tanks, and the initial fermentation process begins for 48-72 hours, depending on the temperature. From there the cherries are de-pulped and fermented in either sealed plastic bags or sealed food-grade plastic barrels for an additional 24 hours.

Afterward the wet cherries are spread onto raised beds to be sun-dried, while still covered in it's sweet sticky mucilage. The mucilage drips off as the sun begins to dry the seeds, before it’s moved to the mechanical dryer, which runs on rice husks.

In the dryer, the temperature is carefully controlled so that it doesn’t go past 35C, and the drying process continues for the final process under a shade cloth until it reaches 10-11.5%.

He is also progressive with his use of coffee by-product for farm fertilizing. Mixing his coffee's de-pulped cherry with lime and chicken feces to create a natural fertilizer.

Brewing Recommendations:

This coffee is syrupy sweet and super fun to work with. I've been enjoying it as a pour-over, and it's super nice as a straight espresso or cap.

Pour-over: 1:16-17 ratio, 15g in, 250ml water, I like going 45g bloom, up to 150g, 200g, 250g, try to have it end in 2:10-2:30 depending on your taste preferences!

Espresso: 18g-18.5g in / 37g-39g out / 27-30 seconds. Pretty flexible though, the acid in this coffee is sweet and forgiving, so play around with it!