OUR OFFERINGS - TRES SANTOS™, COLOMBIA

Region:  Huila
Varietal:  Caturra, Colombia
Altitude:  1800 - 1850 m
Harvest:  December - Februar

Description

Flavor:  Cherry, maple, apple
Acidity: Juicy, balanced
Finish:  Clean, caramel

Tasting Notes

Displaying the hallmark flavors expected from our Tres Santos project, this year's Huila edition stands up to its predecessors. Full-bodied and balanced in its acidity, it adds juiciness and subtle hints of orange. Flavors of cherry and maple contribute to the fruit-forward sweetness while the clean finish lends itself to warm caramel notes.

Geoff Watts' Notes

Colombia is a country with some of the most spectacular natural resources and biodiversity on the planet. It is actually the second most diverse country in the world in terms of species per land unit, with a large chunk of its territory set within the Amazonian region. It is a country that gave birth to Cumbia music (if you haven’t heard this style please check it out!). And most would agree that it is the country with the most sophisticated small-holder coffee production systems in existence.

During the sixties and seventies Juan Valdez became a household name as a cultural icon representing the small farmer. By the time Intelligentsia opened in 1995, Colombian coffee was firmly rooted as perhaps the most recognizable coffee origin in the world and, with regard to both quality and price, had became a standard by which other Latin American coffees were measured.

Today things are a bit different. Central American coffee countries like Guatemala have become the new Specialty "all-stars" and Colombian coffees have, for the most part, been relegated to supporting roles in blends. Most roasters still offer Colombian coffees, but they really are coasting on their name recognition. Ask any of these folks to name their favorite coffees and you will likely hear Ethiopia, Guatemala, or Kenya in response.

The irony is that the very success of Juan Valdez may have been what has kept Colombia out of the Specialty spotlight in recent times. As other countries scratch and claw to carve out a place for themselves in the industry by trying to highlight regional diversity and improve quality, Colombia has increasingly marched towards homogeneity and reliability. The problem is that today's Specialty drinkers don't crave consistency as much as they yearn for excitement and nuance.

In response to this situation, Intelligentsia looks for exciting coffees before they are blended into obscurity. Great coffees still exist all over Colombia, but they rarely make it out of the country before being combined with other coffees of lesser quality. Since early 2004, we have cultivated relationships with several cooperative groups of small farmers in the department of Cauca and Huila, and we travel there at least twice each year to work with them and to promote cup quality as the principal goal.

Each year we sort through hundreds of individual lots on the way to selecting the ones which will become Tres Santos. Ultimately it is our goal to trace quality backwards from the cup to the farm itself and play a role in helping producers make the change from commodity farmer to celebrated artisan. The difference between good coffee and truly great coffee lies in the details and Tres Santos is a tangible recognition of that important truth.

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