Colombian El Eden

Forming one trisect of what is known as the Coffee Triangle (with Pereira and Manizales as the other key conurbations), Quindio sits within the rural Paisa region of Colombia, famous for producing coffee. Although Quindio is the second-smallest department in Colombia, it has a high concentration of coffee producers and is one of the country’s key production areas. El Eden itself is situated in a privileged position among the Cordillera Central, one of the three major ranges of the Andes that run through the country north-to-south. Coffee in Colombia is generally picked by smallholders with their families and neighbours. It is washed and dried on the farm, often at high altitudes on steep slopes, or brought to a nearby beneficiary for processing. This coffee is collated at the dry mill facility managed by local farm owner Hernan Israel Ocendo Usman in Armenia, the capital of Quindio. It is sourced from ten farms within Quindio, all equipped with the technology to focus on the quality of the coffee they grow. This coffee is an even split of Caturra and Castillo varieties, with Caturra bringing citric and floral notes, and Castillo adding fruity layers over nuts and cocoa. Carefully processed and blended, it delivers sweet flavours of candyfloss, marzipan, plum, and strawberry, finishing with dark chocolate.