FLAVOR PROFILE

As a medium-light roast, this is a sweet, mild, easy to drink with notes of cane sugar and a mild citric acidity that reminds us of 0range.  Using a scale of 0-10, the cup profile has higher sweetness (8), moderate acidity (4-5), medium body (5), and no bitterness.  

As a medium-dark roast, this is a sweet, mild coffee with flavor notes of dark chocolate and hints of citrus and spice.  This coffee is very similar to the Colombia Tolima coffee it replaced as a darker roast.  Using a scale of 0-10, the cup profile has higher sweetness (7), lower acidity (2-3), a heavier body (7), and little to no bitterness (0-1).  

RECOMMENDED BREWING METHODS

As a medium-light roast, this coffee is versatile and is great brewed as filter/drip, immersion, cold brew, and espresso.  As a lighter roasted coffee, we recommend starting with a water temperature between 201F and 208F as lighter roasts are more prone to under extraction.  If the coffee tastes sour, 1) grind finer, 2) gradually increase the water temperature, and/or 3) decrease the amount of ground coffee or water used to increase the extraction.  If the coffee tastes bitter and over extracted, 1) coarsen up the grind size, 2) gradually decrease the water temperature, and/or 3) increase the amount of ground coffee or decrease the amount of water used.  For filter/drip and immersion, we recommend starting with a brewing ratio of 1:15 (e.g., 20 grams of coffee to 300 grams of water), but this again is an area you will adjust for taste preferences.  For espresso, we would recommend using a higher water temperature (e.g., 205F) and a longer pre-infusion (we use a 30 second preinfusion) if your machine allows and starting with a 1:2 ratio (e.g., 18 grams of coffee to 36 grams of coffee in the cup), but incrementally try longer ratios until you find the balance of flavors you prefer.  A longer ratio often allows lighter roasted coffees to properly extract and reduce any unwanted sourness, but will come at the cost of reduced body, which we do not prefer.

As a medium-dark roast, this coffee is versatile and is great brewed as filter/drip, immersion, cold brew, and espresso.  As a darker roasted coffee, we recommend starting with a water temperature of 198F-203F as darker roasts are more prone to over extraction.  If the coffee tastes bitter and over extracted, 1) coarsen up the grind size, 2) gradually decrease the water temperature, and/or 3) increase the amount of ground coffee or decrease the amount of water used.  For filter/drip and immersion, we recommend starting with a brewing ratio of 1:15 (e.g., 20 grams of coffee to 300 grams of water), but this again is an area you will adjust for taste preferences.  For espresso, we recommend starting with a 1:2 ratio but experimenting with a slightly smaller (1:1.5).  Our preference for this coffee as straight espresso is a ratio of 20 grams of coffee in with a yield of 30 grams of espresso out in the cup.  This yields a fantastic shot that is extremely sweet, balanced, low in acidity, heavy in body with notes of dark chocolate and hints of spice.    

ABOUT THIS COFFEE 

Producers: Cooperative Alto Occidente

Continent: South America

Country: Colombia

Region: Caldas

Altitude: 1300-1800 MASL

Variety: Bourbon, Castillo, Caturra, Colombia

Processing: Washed

Green Coffee Certification: None

Harvest Period: 2023

TRANSPARENCY

Want to learn more about this coffee and the producers who make it possible?  Want to learn more about the prices we paid for this coffee?  We paid $5.53 per pound for the green coffee.  Our goal is to create more transparency about our purchasing decisions so that you can make as informed a buying decision as possible.  Click on the following link from the importer we purchase this coffee from, Sustainable Harvest:  

https://sucafina.com/na/offerings/colombia-alto-occidente-cooperative