In a world of process-forward microlots we have started referring to plain washed coffees as “low intervention” at the Crown. This is a wine world term that, in wine, tends to be associated with wilder, more spontaneous fermentation flavors and a departure from the tradition of safe, controlled flavors. In coffee, however, we use it to mean the opposite—low intervention coffees are the traditionally washed or sundried with more nuanced, predictable results that used to be dominate specialty standards. Washed milds, full naturals, passive honey processes...remember these?
It's easy to relegate the previous flavor wave in favor of the current one, especially when manipulated fermentations make coffee so new and challenging. We can also be quick to forget how ego-melting straight washed coffee can be. How it’s like drinking the very genetics of the plant, how it inspires the worship of nature. Whenever we need a reminder, Finca La Terraza is here.
The SL-28 cultivar doesn’t need much of an introduction. It's hardly grown anywhere in Latin America except on farms like La Terraza, but it’s been the backbone of Kenya’s coffee industry for almost 100 years, and it’s very well-understood in its fully washed form. Juliana and Weimar of Finca La Terraza have a small plot of it, which recently arrived tasting incredibly good. There are whifs of Kenya in the cup (umami sungold tomato, citric blood orange) and also impressively fragrant tarragon, basil, roasted pistachio and sage. The body has a dense sugary cling and the flavors are wonderfully tart, evoking peach and pineapple. An amazing “low intervention” result.
Southern Huila
Huila is arguably Colombia’s best-known department for top microlots. Huila’s geographical accessibility, dense population of knowledgeable farmers, warm and subtropical forests, high elevations, and microclimate diversity have for many years sustained one of specialty coffee’s most beloved regions. The fact that most of the department is harvesting coffee almost every month of the year means that fresh coffee is always available.
Huila is a long and narrow valley that follows a winding gap between two large cordilleras of the Andes. Colombia’s 950-mile long Magdalena river has its source in southern Huila and has shaped the agriculture here for centuries. Uphill from the valley’s lush and picturesque lower slopes are a diverse array of coffee producing communities, often dramatically steep, and each with their own unique climate and history.
Finca La Terraza & Processing
Finca La Terraza is the name for the farm owned and managed by Juliana Guevara and her husband, Weimar Lasso. Juliana and Weimar are the duo behind the processor group Terra Coffee (more below). The farm is very passionately run—with a delightful and educational Instagram account no less (@Fincalaterraza). Finca La Terraza resembles countless farms in this part of Colombia, being only a few hectares in size and in a very specific microclimate that encourages coffee trees to fruit nearly the full calendar year—requiring constant monitoring and harvesting in small quantities. We regularly carry their coffees at the Crown.
La Terraza has a number of separated varieties, including pacamara, yellow Colombia, and gesha. The farm’s elevation means a cool climate with particularly frigid nights, which retards everything in coffee production that is temperature dependent, including the maturation of cherry on the tree, fermentation, and the drying of parchment.
This washed SL-28 microlot was hand-picked by La Terraza’s permanent labor force, who are considered by Juliana and Weimar to be calibrated to each cultivar’s unique ripening patterns. Once picked, the coffee was depulped and fermented for 40-56 hours in concrete tanks. After fermentation the parchment was washed completely clean and sundried on a combination of patios and toldos, a traditional Colombian rooftop awning designed especially for coffee drying. Drying took between 16-24 days for each day lot to complete.
Terra Coffee SAS – Beyond La Terraza
Terra Coffee SAS is a local producer group, established in 2016 by Weimar and Juliana, with a narrow focus on developing high quality coffees alongside select producers in the Huila and Nariño departments, and sharing them with the world. The small company manages one single producer association in each department where they work, “Ecoterra” in Nariño, with 140 producer partners, and “Terra Verde” in Huila, with 120.
For Terra Coffee SAS as a whole, quality in coffee is very rationally understood as a direct pathway to well-being for volume-limited, small coffee farming families. Driving their business model is an understanding that quality results from small harvests have direct impacts on not just the farm owner, but the many dependents on each small farm, including young children, older adults, and the women of the household performing essential labor that often goes unpaid. By increasing quality and placing microlots in the market, Terra Coffee SAS plans not only to increase prices to growers and their families, but also increase their sense of pride in the details of their work.
