Serving People Serving Coffee Since 2005
Issue link: http://baristamagazine.epubxp.com/i/609699
34 barista magazine Naranjos and Primavera groups produce 90+ coffees, as well. Some are working to keep their lots above 86—their incentive is a per-carga cost increase for coffees at 86 and above. (One carga is 125 kilograms of parchment coffee.) Our group cupped coffee with Fairfield's master cuppers and Alejandro extensively over two days, and though the coffees were fresh, they were impressive, even if, for some of the baris- tas, they were strange and new. The reason for this? Many in our group had never tasted the much-talked-about, often vilified, but largely misunderstood Colombian variety Castillo. Castillo is perhaps the most famous—or infamous—of the varieties of coffee developed by the Colombian National Coffee Federation (FNC)'s Cenicafe research and development facility in an effort to build a stronger, more resilient, higher-producing variety than the traditional coffees grown throughout the coun- try. Purists—famously including a panel of Cup of Excellence judges who simply refused to believe that one of their highest-scoring cups was Castillo—are militant in their denun- ciation of the man-made variety. There are others, however, who are looking at Castillo from another perspective, one that is having positive, radical results in the Colombian cof- fee industry's efforts to produce a high-scoring coffee that is both coffee-leaf-rust–resistant and abundant. Elkin Guzman, and the company for whom he works as an agronomist, Banexport SA, are perhaps two of the most prolific pio- neers in this field. On our fourth morning in Colombia, we bid Alejandro and the Fairfield team farewell and headed east to meet up with Elkin for a tour of his family's farm, El Mirador, which is renowned for its success with experimental processing. We peered from the windows of our trusty bus as it teetered along roads cresting mountainsides at upwards of 1,680 meters. This was after we switched from our larger bus, where we had thoroughly spread out for our long drives, to a much smaller lorry which would supposedly do fine on the rocky, narrow, precipitous roads to El Mirador in Pitalito, Huila. We survived, and it was worth it—it couldn't have been more worth it. The day we spent at the Guzman farm was like something out of a dream. Not only are Elkin and his mother taking on any and every experiment in dry and wet processing, varietal development, ele- vation combined with fixed climate combined with air flow during drying—you name it, they either have already tried it or are about to—but they're succeeding at it, and making history in the process. While the majority of coffee grown at this majestically beautiful farm is Caturra, Red Bourbon, and Yellow The baristas disappeared into the fi elds at Finca El Mirador outside of Pitalito in Huila with Elkin Guzman, the prolifi c, prodigal son who is the chief operator of this family-owned farm. El Mirador is also where Banexport's team conducts its agricultural research under the leadership of Jairo Ruiz.