New Coffee: Villa Loyola, Colombia

Villa Loyola, Colombia
100% Caturra, Fully Washed (£7.50/350g)

This 100% Caturra lot from Gerardo Arango’s 2008 Cup of Excellence Colombia winning farm, Villa Loyola, brings an abundance of dense fruit sweetness in the guise of raisins, prunes and figs, while a subtle but integral apple-like acidity really brings the cup to life. A well-structured base layer of molasses means the coffee finishes well and lingers pleasantly.

Around 10 hecatres of this 18.5 hectare farm is dedicated to 40% shade-grown coffee production – this lot being exclusively Caturra variety. The farm itself was a gift from Manuel Delgado to the Compania de Jesus church over 100 years ago – Gerardo Arango being the Priest Director of the church – who remain the farm’s owners to this day.

Over the last 20 years, a greater attention to coffee growing has seen quality improve dramatically. With Eduardo Valencia as administrator of the farm, a combination of an elevated focus on technological advancement, as well as seeking help and advice from the Committee of Coffee Growers of Narino, Villa Loyola placed first in the 2008 Cup of Excellence Colombia competition.

Improvements to the salaries and living conditions of Villa Loyola’s permanent and temporary workforce continue, and children are not permitted to work on the farm, having to attend the local school, instead. Around 7 hectares of the farm has been dedicated to growing ‘guadua’ – a large, thorny bamboo – by the Environmental Control Center of Narino, to be used as a construction tool in coffee farms in the region.

For more information, and to order, visit the web shop here: http://shop.squaremilecoffee.com/products/villa-loyola.