Tasting Notes: Peach Cobbler, Toffee, Sweet
Process: Washed
Overview
This single producer coffee comes to us from Willington Ultengo and his 5-hectare farm Finca las Narajos (Farm of the Orange Trees). Situated in the township of El Mirador, La Argentina, in Huila, at around 1700 MASL. Expect vibrant notes of pie crust, cooked fruits, specifically yellow fruits, some citrus, with a sweet and rounded caramelized finish. Think peach cobbler and toffee. Perfect as your first cup of the day with breakfast, or an afternoon pick-me-up for those incoming hotter days!
Family Tradition
Willington is actually a fourth generation coffee producer. Coming from a long line of entrepreneurial spirit within the world of coffee production, Willington informs us that his great-grandparents were among the first to plant coffee trees in La Argentina, after arriving from neighboring Cauca. His grandparents would establish the very beginning of the rich coffee-growing tradition that now exists in La Argentina. Willington grew up on his farm, which once belonged to his father, who he grew up next to, working the farm day-in and day out, learning the traditions of what produces excellent coffee in and around Huila, Colombia.
Willington and ASPROCAAR
Willington was once working toward a career in commerce, having completed his necessary coursework for international trade, but ultimately chose to stick to coffee production. He eventually transformed his entire farming operation into a state of the art production facility, focused solely on producing specialty lots. In 2018, he founded ASPROCAAR, a small association of producers in La Argentina with the goal of marketing their coffees to specialty focused exporters. As president of the organization, Willington helped guide the group to invest in good education, as well as quality equipment, to help maintain specialty standards. Willington also recently completed his Q-grader coursework and helped the team build a state of the art cupping lab on site.
Willington’s love for coffee production is overwhelming. He says he loves it for the simple reasons: “It has allowed me to learn, travel, and meet new people.” His hopes and dreams are to one day export his own coffee and travel the world to share it with as many folks as possible. On a more local level, though, he’s working towards opening up his own dry mill, made specifically to process local microlots, and luckily there seems to be lots of governmental support for commercial initiatives like this.
From the Farm
On his farm, Willington grows a wide variety of coffee. Gesha, Pink Bourbon, Tabi, Caturra, F6, and Chiroso, just to name a few. These coffees are all shade grown, covered by a canopy of native cedar and guamo trees. Willington also grows corn, bananas, beans, and yucca for his personal and familial consumption.
Picking and Processing
For this lot, cherries were picked over the course of two days and then manually picked over to remove any green or over-ripe cherries. From there, cherries are then floated to remove any other defects and the initial in-cherry fermentation begins. This initial fermentation lasts about 24 hours or so. From there, the coffee is then depulped and left in an open tank, but submerged in water to maintain a cool and appropriate temperature for fermentation. This second fermentation also lasts about 24 hours. After the coffee has fermented, Willington does a light wash on the coffee, letting some mucilage remain intact on the seeds, similar to, but slightly different from, what some might call a “honey” or “semi-washed” process. The coffee is then left to dry on covered raised beds for up to 15 days–weather dependent.
This coffee was purchased in parchment directly from ASPROCAAR by our good friends at Shared Source Green Coffee Agency. They then facilitated the dry milling process and preparation for export.
