Colombia LAS PERLITAS from the Czech roaster Nordbeans is a juicy, sweet, and floral filter coffee that opens up beautifully in the cup as the temperature drops. The flavor profile features notes of orange, currant, and peach, which create a fresh, fruity base with a higher but pleasantly lively acidity. A delicate floral note adds to the aroma, lending the coffee lightness and elegance. The body is medium, and the overall profile comes across as clean, lively, and harmonious. It’s exactly the kind of filter coffee that has plenty of juiciness and character, yet is easy to drink without any unnecessary heaviness.
The coffee comes from the village of Santa Maria in the northwest of Colombia’s Huila region. It is a collective lot from small-scale farmers who each produce only a small amount of coffee; for this reason, their harvests are blended into a single lot based on their flavor profiles. Alberto Vaquiro oversees the processing and training of the farmers. The coffee trees grow at an elevation of around 1,850 meters above sea level, and the high altitude, combined with the volcanic soil, helps create a bright and clean flavor profile. Santa Maria was virtually cut off from the world for approximately 60 years due to the conflict with the FARC. After the conflict ended, a new coffee project began to take shape here, and The Coffee Quest helped local growers combine their small harvests and bring them to market.
This lot consists of the Pink Bourbon variety and is processed using the washed method. In this process, after harvest, the skin and most of the pulp are removed from the coffee cherries; the beans are then fermented and thoroughly washed with water. As a result, heavy fermentation notes are less prominent in the cup, allowing the variety’s and origin’s inherent character to shine through. It is precisely this clean processing style that allows the fruity and floral notes of this coffee to shine through without the individual flavors getting lost in one another. The result is a distinct combination of currant, peach, and orange freshness in the cup, complemented by a light floral note and higher acidity.