ABOUT ALEJANDRO RENJIFO

It is a true honor to have the opportunity to work with this selection from the exporter, producer, and all-around legend Alejandro Renjifo of Fairfield Trading. Alejandro has been one of the most influential contributors to the development of Colombian specialty coffee, and works intimately with some of the best and most well-known producers in Colombia. A few years ago, Alejandro started his own farming project atop San Agustín, in southern Huila. This is the second year his farm has produced an exportable amount of coffee, and the first time we've tasted anything other than Gesha.

ABOUT THIS FIELD BLEND

This is a field blend of two of the main varieties grown in Colombia—V.Colombia and Caturra—as well as one rather unique variety of Gesha. V. Colombia is a Catimor hybrid which gives it high disease resistance as well as high yield. Caturra is a natural mutation from Bourbon, is very susceptible to disease, and is lower yielding but generally produces better cup quality. Gesha was originally collected from the coffee forests of Ethiopia in the 1930's. From there, it was sent to the Lyamungo Research Station in Tanzania, and then brought to Centro Agronómico Tropical de Investigación y Enseñanza (CATIE) in Central America in the 1953. It is genetically an Ethiopian landrace-type variety, and has become quite famous for its floral notes and exceptional cup quality.

ABOUT MITACA

In Colombia there are two coffee harvest cycles each year: the main harvest, and a second—generally, but not always, smaller—second harvest called the Mitaca. Given the vast seasonal differences in microclimate, these harvests vary widely even within the same region. Because seasonality is an important part of our approach to coffee, we will begin differentiating these harvests for greater traceability and transparency.