Forty miles from Medelin, you’ll find the town of Urrao. It’s built in the Valle de Penderisco, an unusually flat valley that seems like it could have been drawn as a line in the sand, separating the mountains that surround it, home to an unusual type of coffee called Chiroso.
It was initially believed that Chiroso was a natural mutation of Caturra, the dwarf sized coffee plants that are also commonly grown near Urrao. It made sense, the plant is barely found outside of their region and it does quite well in their particular climate, which is cooler than other coffee-growing regions. For years it was sold as Heirloom Chiroso Caturra until coffee geneticists discovered that Chiroso is actually an Ethiopian landrace coffee, one of those rare coffees that are typically only grown in Ethiopia.
Nobody is quite sure how the seeds made their way to this particular town but they are very certain they produce high quality coffees. It spread throughout the region because farmers passed shared them with each other because of the impressive cup quality.
This month’s farmer, Jhon Alexander Bermudez, received his initial seeds from his sister. We’d been looking to buy some Chiroso for Coffee World Tour and when we tried Jhon’s crop, it was love at first sip. The coffee is both delicate and substantial. If you swirl it around in your mouth, you’ll experience a heavier body that’s refreshing and sweet. It’s also got a lot of floral qualities. We zeroed in on orange blossoms but you might experience any number of other flavors that remind you of an Ethiopian coffee, perhaps some lavender or bergamot tastes. It’s got an intense sweetness that’s reminiscent of raw sugar. It almost tastes like it has some milk and sugar in it already. We also tasted tea… both green tea and black tea. The acidity is bright and reminds us of green tea, while it’s got the bitterness of a black tea. Typically bitterness is used as a bad word with coffee but think about it in this context the same way you might think about dark chocolate. It’s a descriptor, not a judgement. This coffee was also incredibly versatile. It brewed well in everything from a pour over, all the way to espresso.
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Flavor profile
sweet and complex
orange blossom, raw sugar, cinnamon, and tea
Roast
medium
Process
washed
Altitude
2100 meters
Varietal/Cultivar
Chiroso
Lot Size: 1050kg, , Cup Score: 88.6
Producer
Finca Las Estrellas, Urrao, Antioquia
Relationship Established: 2021
Country
Colombia
Transparency
Green: $11.75/kg, FOB: $6.50/kg
Transportation: $1.24/kg, Production: $8.973/kg
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