Serving People Serving Coffee Since 2005
Issue link: http://baristamagazine.epubxp.com/i/609699
35 www.baristamagazine.com SUBSCRIBE AT BARISTAMAGAZINE.COM follow us on Instagram @baristamagazine follow us on Facebook at Barista magazine follow us on twitter! @BARISTAMAGAZINE Bourbon, Elkin has been playing with Castillo for a number of years, as well as Tabi, a hybrid of Typica, Bourbon, and Timor, which was also developed at Cenicafe. For this day, we would wander the lush farmlands and marvel at how robust and productive Elkin's trees were. It was in the evening, however, when we cupped the coffees, that we truly understood how effective his efforts have been. We gathered at a restaurant in the center of Pitalito for the cupping and also an intro- duction to the Banexport team. Banexport is actually only in part an exporting company, and is moreover dedicated to the development of the coffee industry across the country, and consequently the improvement of producers' lives. The experimental work to which El Mirador is dedicated, therefore, is not entire- ly the initiative of Elkin; rather, the farm is the space where Banexport's team as a whole conducts its agricultural research under the leadership of Jairo, the commercial manager. Before we started the cupping, Jairo led us through an in-depth discussion about all the work Banexport does in Colombia, going back a decade over which the company has developed close-knit relationships with more than 600 producers who have gone on to achieve such exceptional coffee profiles that they have been continually recognized in the international market. After this energizing speech, we were welcomed to the cupping table by Banexport's team of cuppers. Eight coffees waited for us in this blind exercise, and we approached with enthusiasm. They were all quite different: some juicy, some subtle, some chocolaty, some delicate, others bold. Noah asked the baristas to discuss their cupping forms, and marks were uniformly high, with some of the coffees scoring as much as 95 points. Imagine our surprise then when Jairo and Elkin revealed they were all the same coffee from the same lot, and the variety was Castillo. We couldn't believe it. Elkin, Jairo, and the rest of the Banexport staff erupted into laughs at the look of surprise on our faces. That, however, is how successful and remarkable the process- ing experiments at El Mirador have been. Onward we went, riding for several hours the next morning to Popayán, where we stopped Fanni Guzman, who toured the Café Imports barista group around Finca El Mirador with her son, Elkin, showed off one of the many processing experiments taking place on the farm.