Santa Monica

Meet SANTA MONICA, a 1,400 - 1,550 masl washed processed, Bourbon Rayado from Jairo Arcila in Quindio, Colombia

Expect to taste: red apple, caramel, pear, milk chocolae, raspberry, red grape, green apple

TL;DR: from one of the famliy farms from our friends at Cofinet. This coffee is a testament to the hard work, and incredible skill of the family, and we are honoured to get to share it with you.

Jairo Arcila is a third-generation coffee grower from Quindio, Colombia. He is married to Luz Helena Salazar and they have two children together, Carlos and Felipe Arcila, who are the co- founders of Cofinet. Jairo’s first job was at Colombia’s second-largest exporter, working as their Mill Manager for over 40 years until his retirement in 2019. Jairo bought his first coffee farm, Finca La Esmeralda, in 1987 and this is where he planted his first Caturra lot. He was fortunate enough to earn money by producing coffee on his farm in addition to working full time.

Using his savings, Jairo slowly managed to purchase five additional farms. After Esmeralda came Villarazo, Mazatlan, Santa Monica, Maracay and then Buenos Aires. During the harvest period, Jairo is able to provide a number of jobs to locals which has a significant economic impact on their community.

Jairo has received great advice and guidance from his sons who are now experts in producing Specialty Coffee. With their help, Jairo has greatly improved the picking, sorting, and processing of his coffees. His sons have also guided Jairo in the production of exotic varieties. He now grows varieties like Pink Bourbon, Java, Papayo ,and Gesha growing across all his farms. The guidance from his sons has empowered Jairo and given him the tools needed to produce fantastic coffees with amazing flavour profiles.

Besides coffee, Jairo also grows other agricultural products on his farms such as mandarin, orange, plantain, and banana. Jairo enjoys starting the day with a really good breakfast! But most importantly, he enjoys spending time with his family.

This has turned out to be a super tricky coffee to roast, and a really fun challenge for Michael. If you’re a roaster reading this, who might have sampled this coffee - I feel you! This required HUGE amounts of energy that we don’t normally apply to a coffee to get it cooked right. But the result, syrupy sweet, expressive, and worth the literal months of effort.