LOT Roastery BANANA! doesn’t hold back with its name—the banana is definitely here and certainly isn’t trying to hide. The aroma evokes ripe banana, cocoa, and vanilla ice cream, while the flavor features sweet vanilla, juicy peach, and a subtle floral note. A moderate citrus acidity provides the necessary contrast, while the syrupy body holds this somewhat extravagant profile together. It’s sweet, creamy, and intense—and it might just shake up your idea of what a Colombian Castillo variety can taste like for a moment.
Behind this banana-inspired experiment is Juan David and the Sens Coffee project. The coffee comes from Finca La Sirena in Quindío, Colombia, near the city of Armenia. After years of working with farmers and exporters, Juan David began experimenting with his own processing methods, and in 2021, he found a way to create distinctive yet consistent flavor profiles. It was from these experiments that Sens Coffee later emerged—a project focused on Colombian coffees that don’t strictly adhere to traditional flavor boundaries.
Now, let’s talk about where that banana flavor actually comes from. After being hand-picked, the ripe cherries are first fermented for 16 hours. Once the pulp is removed, the beans undergo another 24 hours of anaerobic fermentation alongside bananas and a banana-vanilla syrup, during which osmotic dehydration also takes place. This phase shifts the resulting profile toward banana and vanilla without completely overshadowing the character of the coffee itself. The result is a co-ferment that doesn’t quite play by the rules of a classic, but rather resembles the moment when a filter coffee decides it wants to be a dessert for a few minutes.
- Farm: Finca La Sirena
- Elevation: 1,420 m above sea level
- Producer: Sens Coffee / Juan David