Origin: Buesaquito, Nariño, Colombia

Producers: Wilder Santacruz

Process: Semi-Washed

Varieties: Castillo & Colombia

Altitude: 1920masl

Importer: Shared Source

Roast: Light-medium

Notes: Papaya, Orange, Grape Jelly, Hibiscus

Transparency: We paid $5.65USD/lb + exchange, shipping, and storage. Shared Source paid Wilder 2,750,000 COP / 125kg of parchment delivered to mill. Shared Source also paid for the transport from farm to mill.

Wilder Santacruz, Buesaquito, Nariño

Though the majority of our Colombia buying comes from San Agustin in Huila, we'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 we're beyond happy with this small lot of Semi-Washed Castillo and Colombia from Wilder. It's singing with ripe papaya, creamy orange, grape jelly, and poppy hibiscus!

Wilder himself 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!

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 semi-washed lot 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.

This semi-washed lot gets two light washes before going to the patio for a “pre-dry” process - the initial dripping mucilage drips off and 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.