Colombia Gran Galope Tolima: Featured Origin Select Coffee

Each month I get the pleasure of choosing a new single origin coffee to purchase and roast for our Origin Select project. While we always carry a standard selection of single origins representing some of our favorite growing regions, this gives us the opportunity to highlight some exceptional beans on a seasonal basis that we might otherwise have missed out on!

Our Origin Select coffee this month comes from West Central Colombia, in the heart of the Andes Mountains and Magdalena River Basin. Our friends at Café Imports introduced us to this local association of coffee producers this past year, and we are thrilled to have it available this month as our Origin Select. This coffee that we carefully selected represents a classic Colombian profile: nutty, tangy, fruity, and creamy-bodied. Our roasters chose a medium roast to bring out the best in this regional select bean. 

Tolima is the third largest coffee producing region of Colombia and accounts for 12% of the country's annual production. Located in west-central Colombia, this region is in one of the most remote parts of Andean mountains in the Magdalena river basin, making it quite challenging to access. After harvest, the coffee cherries are placed in a machine pulper and fermented for 18 to 24 hours. Then, beans are washed, wet milled and dried on patios for approximately 15 days. 

Until recently, much of the coffee growing area had been considered dangerous because of the Colombian FARC's (Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia) presence. Today, Tolima has seen a drastic decline in FARC presence, allowing for increased accessibility to their remarkable coffees.While we do not have the answers to the many social problems that plague Colombia, we do hope that by working directly with growers via our importers, we can help bring much needed income to them that will in turn support our ability to continue exploring different coffee growing regions, farms, and processes. We roast our Origin Select series in-house, guaranteeing you get the freshest roast possible.