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About Colombia Finca La Fortuna Chiroso

Just arrived, April 2025. This is our third time offering La Fortuna, each time selecting from a blind cupping with numerous other small Colombia lots. This speaks to the coffee's quality and consistency. Pricing is a bit higher this year due to market conditions, but that is true for most green coffee.

Maximiliano Vargas is a farmer living in the Antioquia region who has been dedicated to coffee farming since 2000. He credits coffee for allowing him to provide for his four children and his late wife, Maria Estela, who passed away in 2020. At his farm, La Fortuna, Maximiliano cultivates around 3,500 Chiroso trees. In 2021, he participated in a local coffee competition and placed in the top 10. This was a huge feat, and something he is very proud of.

Chiroso is a variety that is beginning to attract a lot of attention and gain fans globally. Most recently, in Panama at the 2024 Best of Panama, first place in the “varietals” category, which encompasses all varieties other than Geisha, a Chiroso received a score of 94.13 (of 100), beating the second place coffee by more than two full points! It was the only Chiroso in the competition.

The Chiroso variety was first cultivated in the Penderisco Valley, located in the municipality of Urrao, Antioquia in Colombia, the same area where Finca La Fortuna is located. This picturesque area, situated at an elevation of 2000 meters in Colombia's western mountain range, is where the varietal originated. Although its exact origin remains unknown and formal research is scarce, local coffee farmers share an intriguing story. In the 1980s, a farmer in the region established a coffee nursery, believing he was planting the Caturra variety. As the plants grew, he observed that some had distinctive leaves, which he called "hoja chirosa," meaning ragged leaves. During the late 1980s and early 1990s, the region faced a leaf rust outbreak that devastated coffee trees. The farmer noticed that the unique trees were more resistant to the disease, leading to the Chiroso varietal's popularity among local farmers. In 2014, Carmen Cecilia Montoya, a regional farmer, won the Cup of Excellence with her Chiroso coffee, boosting its reputation for high-quality flavor.

Maximiliano Vargas, producer

Maximiliano prides himself on his meticulous coffee processing methods. He picks the coffee cherries, depulps them 24 hours later, ferments the coffee for 72 hours, and then washes it. He plans to enhance his farm by improving the drying facilities and "wet beneficio", believing these upgrades will further elevate the quality of his coffee. In coffee processing, the term "wet beneficio" refers to the wet processing method, also known as the washed process. This method involves removing the coffee cherry's outer skin and pulp before the beans are dried.

Country: Colombia
Farm: La Fortuna
Producer: Maximiliano Vargas
Region: Antioquia
Municipality: Urrao
Altitude: 2100 Meters
Varietal: Chiroso
Process: Washed, sun dried
Harvest Season: 2024/25

Cup Characteristics: Mild floral notes and aromas. Raspberry, stone fruit, peach and pear flavors. Very juicy and succulent with guava and papaya on the palate. Very sweet with a hint of spiciness.

Roasting Notes: Due to the high altitude that this coffee is grown at the beans are small and dense. To showcase the flavor profile we recommend pulling before second crack, but the bean is durable enough to withstand a darker roast if desired.