Description
Few coffee producing countries are as prolific as Colombia; Bailiwick is our light roast series diving into the classic Colombia profile. Volume 2 is a chiroso cultivar microlot, of which we are excited to have secured the entire lot! We had never come across chiroso as a cultivar, and novel coffees always delight us. This one was delicate and sophisticated, and we knew we needed it as soon as we cupped it.
Colombia is the second largest producer of Arabica coffee on the globe, second only to Brazil. Where Brazil and Colombia differ, however, is their philosophy. Brazil exports an enormous amount, but most of it is grown at relatively low altitude, mechanically harvested, and processed in traditional methods that prioritize consistency and a conservative flavor profile: nuts, chocolate, caramel. You can get similar coffee in Colombia, true, but the possibilities extend so far beyond what is known as “mild” coffee.
For decades Colombia was considered an exemplar for washed coffee (where the coffee fruit is fermented in water for several hours to loosen the skin, and then mechanically demucilaged). It was consistent, clean, sweet, with notable and sometimes complex acidity. This flavor profile became so sought-after that the rest of the coffee world began to emulate Colombia. Perhaps it was this fame, and the momentum it created, that led Colombia to only begin allowing export of more experimental processes in 2018. Nowadays, while Colombia still produces classic coffees, every year a greater and greater percentage of their export is taken over by modern coffees that challenge the status quo.
