JOURNEY TO COLOMBIA: A CURATED COFFEE EXPERIENCE
As you sip on the new Rising Tide Collection, why not dive deeper into the world of Colombian coffee? We’ve put together a great mix of podcasts, articles, and videos to pair with your cup, specifically curated for the two coffees in the first drop of Rising Tide: The Nestor Lasso Anaerobic Natural and the Luz Helena Salazar Ají Bourbon.
Listen to the inspiring stories of Colombian women coffee farmers, explore unique coffee processing methods, and soak up the rich coffee culture of Colombia. It’s like a mini-escape with every sip. Enjoy the journey!
LISTEN IN
Boss Barista podcast: Lucia Bawot Redefines the Protagonist of the Story
Creator, photographer and author Lucia Bawot has given us a rare and insightful look into the lives of women coffee growers and coffee pickers with her book, We Belong: An Anthology of Colombian Women Coffee Farmers. Lucia shares that this book started off as just a photography book, but as she met with more and more women and learned about their lives, she realized that she needed to add their stories to the book, and redefine who gets to be a protagonist in the story of coffee production.
To complement this, she has also curated a Spotify playlist featuring favorite tunes from Colombian women coffee farmers: We Belong: Fave Tunes from Colombian Women Coffee Farmers.
Two podcasts from Lucia Solis: Anaerobic Fermentation & Terroir
Lucia (yes, another Lucia!) studied Viticulture and Enology at UC Davis and trained as a winemaker in the Napa Valley. Today, she is a fermentation and coffee processing specialist with years of experience working with coffee producers throughout Latin America. She has many amazing podcasts, but we narrowed it down to these two for their connection with this Rising Tide drop:
- Anaerobic fermentation: Building Our Coffee Vocabulary:
Lucia peels off the layers of anecdotal definitions of anaerobic fermentation and dives into a scientific description.
- Terroir for busy people: Speaking of processing, how much of Nestor Lasso’s or Luz Helena Salazar’s flavor profiles are a result of their unique processing methods? And to what extent does the fact that these coffees were grown in Colombia affect their flavor, if at all? Lucia investigates what it means for a coffee to challenge the idea of an origin flavor: “The challenge producers are facing throughout the world is that they are being asked to provide a sense of place, a taste of place, that is accomplished with traditional methods and traditional varieties while at the same time living in a world where we desperately need innovation and cutting edge practices.”
WATCH AND DISCOVER
Exploring Colombia’s Coffee Regions
This is a great intro to a Colombia coffee growing region. Marek travels to Zona Cafetera, the coffee zone (also known as the coffee triangle), stopping in various coffee towns including Jerico, Jardin, Salamina, Pijao, and Filandia.
Ofrenda Abunna: Protecting Arhuaco Ancestral Territory in Colombia
The indigenous Seykún community in Colombia’s Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta came down the mountain from isolation in 2016 to find the mountain had been burned to graze cattle. This is the story of their rebuilding of ancestral land as they buy it back, piece by piece. They also just started growing coffee under the name AsoSeykún.
anaerobic fermentation, from importer cafe imports
Though much of the processing experimentation and innovation we’re seeing is coming out of Colombia these days, anaerobic fermentation was actually pioneered in Costa Rica. This is a great basic overview of what anaerobic processing means in the context of the rest of what happens in coffee fermentation, by following a Costa Rican farmer through the steps of processing.
READ IN
The Story of Chiroso: An Exquisite Ethiopian Coffee Variety, in Colombia
Juan Cañas
This quick read from our importer partner The Coffee Quest’s blog gives a brief history of the chiroso varietal, when it was discovered, and by whom!
Coffee genetics and varieties
RD2
After José Salazar won 6th place using what was entered as the “Ají (chili) Bourbon” varietal in the 2021 Cup of Excellence, the international Specialty Coffee Association asked genetics research company RD2 to look into it - they revealed that this winning plant was actually an Ethiopian Landrace varietal and not a Bourbon at all! Check out this resource to learn why coffee genetics are important, and how coffee varieties are related.
Should you brew experimentally processed coffee differently?
Perfect Daily Grind
Perfect Daily Grind collects tips on how best to approach brewing an anaerobic processed coffee.
Fun with Ferment
Kenneth Davids
In this article, Kenneth Davids talks through his first experience in grading anaerobic-processed coffees: “We avoided asking ourselves, “is this a fine coffee in the way we already understand coffee?” Rather, we asked ourselves: “Is this an exciting and inherently pleasing variation on the sensory possibilities of coffee?”