Farm info

Finca Monteblanco, located high along the winding mountain roads of Vereda La Tocora in the San Adolfo municipality above Pitalito, is a family farm managed by Rodrigo Sanchez Valencia in the tradition of coffee cultivation that began with his grandfather. Monteblanco’s 18 hectares sit on the crest of a hill, with the wetmill and drying facilities at the top and slopes of coffee planted below. 

In 2002, Rodrigo participated in a local program teaching children of coffee producers to cup. Before that, he and his family had never considered coffee in terms of cup profile. By learning to differentiate profiles, he, his father, and grandfather were able to make the connections between the farming techniques they applied and coffee’s attributes in the cup. 

At this time, Rodrigo also began to learn about cupping competitions that evaluate the best lots from farms in a region. He noticed that farms would win one year and then never again, so he decided to investigate how to produce quality coffee consistently. This led him to explore the trees planted on Monteblanco, where he discovered various varieties, his grandfather had planted in the 1980’s. One of these varieties is Purple Caturra, a type of Caturra whose cherries ripen to a deep purple color.  

All cherries harvested are measured in degrees Brix. Based on sugar content indicated, the team at Aromas del Sur, the umbrella group of Monteblanco, Progreso, and La Loma farms, then designates which processing method is appropriate. 

Purple Caturra was chosen for its versatility and high Brix levels, which provides an optimal environment for microorganisms like lactobacillus and saccharomyces cerevisiae due to the high sugar content. 

This lot of Purple Caturra underwent a co-fermentation washed method with mango fruit juices, enhancing the coffee’s natural sweetness and high Brix levels to develop a rich and nuanced profile.  

Processing Method: 

• Microorganism Selection: Cultivation of lactobacillus and saccharomyces cerevisiae.  

• Mother Culture Preparation: A blend of microorganisms with red fruit juices and liquor.  

• Fermentation: Coffee cherries are fermented with the mother culture for 190 hours, ensuring Brix levels stay above 6 and pH remains above 4 to highlight fruit notes without altering the coffee’s base flavor. 

This Mango Co-fermentation begins by creating a mother culture from the lactobacillus and saccharomyces cerevisiae microorganisms derived from the coffee cherries, and is fed with sugar, molasses, and then added ingredients of 50% fresh mango and 50% caramelized mango to intensify the flavor notes. This fruit mixture contributes flavor to the culture while the sweetener energizes the fermentation bringing the culture’s sugar content to a level that matches the pH and Brix degrees of the coffee that will be processed. This initial stage takes about 8 days (190 hours). 

Next, harvested coffee cherries are cleaned and tested for Brix levels. The coffee is then placed in 200-liter sealed tanks with 80 liters of the fruit-fermented culture. The coffee ferments for 180 hours, while the team at Aromas del Sur monitor the process to ensure the coffee maintains Brix levels above 6 and pH above 4. This balance highlights fruit notes without overpowering the coffee’s natural flavor, resulting in a harmonious blend that preserves the coffee’s base character. 

Rodrigo is proud that he, his wife Claudia Samboni, farm manager Don Gerardo, and the team that works in the fields and at the mill have reached the goal of achieving consistent quality. Each harvest, Finca Monteblanco produces microlots that serve as competition coffees around the world, but the farm also consistently produces containers of delicious coffees that appear year-round on café menus and retail shelves. By applying an ethic of rigorous monitoring, planning, and management of each stage of production and processing, all coffees from Monteblanco showcase their full potential. 

Harvesting and processing on Monteblanco have had to evolve with the times, adapting to a changing climate that yields harvest dispersed through ten months of the year rather than in a concentrated peak. Coffees from Monteblanco are milled and prepared for export at the new, state of the art Aromas del Sur drymill in Pitalito.