COLOMBIA CATTLEYA #1186

Curator's Notes

Fundamental Coffee’s Colombia Cattleya is back just in time for spring! Deeply complex and floral, Cattleya's profile is a nod to the flowers of springtime (as is the name, borrowed from the Cattleya orchid). At first sip, you'll taste a bold, but delicate, interplay of flavor that's rare in darker roasts. The body is round and juicy, like campfire-grilled papaya on a tropical beach. Aromatic, night-blooming florals rise throughout, alongside notes of chocolate and sweet toasted sugars.

Roaster's Notes

We worked with our producer partners in Colombia to create this Mercon Specialty exclusive profile blend, which is available for shipment year-round, ensuring a consistent supply of high quality, fresh Colombian coffee. The cattleya orchid is the national flower of Colombia and we chose the name to represent the complex floral characteristics we are looking for in this coffee. Cattleya is a regional blend made with coffees from the Tequendama province of Cundinamarca department and the Lengupá province of Boyacá department, both located on the Eastern Andes mountain range, forming the Cundiboyacense plateau. Prior to the Spanish conquest, the indigenous Muisca tribe lived in the region and now contains many preceramic and ceramic archaeological sites. This Cundiboyacense region is mountainous with altitudes raging between 1100 to 4000 masl, it has many rivers and lakes and contains a unique Andean unique ecosystem: páramos (moorlands). 60% of all páramos in the world are situated in Colombia. Thanks to this, complex microclimates are created resulting in high quality agricultural products, especially coffee. Our coffee is grown between 1,200 and 2,000 meters above sea level, with coffee varieties of Colombia, Castillo, and Caturra. The average farmer in Colombia has less than one hectare of land, so this coffee is made up of 100’s of farmers in the region who pool their coffee and process it in area coffee mills. The coffee is depulped, washed and soaked overnight, and dried either in full sun on patios or in mechanical dryers, depending on availability and climate. We developed this profile coffee to be very complex, with bright tropical fruit, stone fruit, floral, and chocolate notes. It has a juicy body and a lingering sweet finish.