COLOMBIA
Single Origin | Filter

Honey Limeade. Persimmon. Hawthorn.

Santa Barbara Estate is a family-owned company dedicated to the production and export of Colombian estate coffee. The family’s beginnings in the coffee business date from the early 20th century when Don Alejandro Angel (great grandfather to the current generation) became the first major exporter of Colombian coffee. Santa Barbara is located in a small county encroached into the Andean mountains in the state of Antioquia. Other than its picturesque charm, Santa Barbara offered a land with distinctive and crucial qualities, such as microclimates (due to the combination of altitude with warm air from the Cauca river valley), singular volcanic soils, perfect altitude, and a tradition of excellence in the production of coffee. 

Today, Santa Barbara Estate is composed of 5 sister farms (including La Palma, from where this lot hails) that lie within the Santa Barbara region. The family also owns farms in nearby Fredonia and Amagá. La Palma is the only farm in Santa Barbara Estate that is physically separated from the rest of the Santa Barbara farms. Located at the other side of the valley are Agualinda, Lomaverde and La Camelia, but La Palma is completely independent and has its own mill and drying silos. The farm also has a full dormitory for pickers that can serve around 40 people during harvest. 

La Palma’s coffee is selectively hand harvested and then delivered to the farm’s small but perfect wet mill. The Gesha varietal was brought over from a farm in Nariño run by the Lasso family. These seeds originated from Panama, and thanks to the generosity of the Peterson family, were able to be exported to Colombia. Now, the small plot of land at Finca La Palma is successfully producing exceptional quality Gesha. The long-term goal of the Reserve is to make Gesha more accessible to all markets so that more can afford to taste the beautiful varietal.

Santa Barbara began working with our coffee exporter, Mercanta in 2011 from whom we have been sourcing most of our Colombians from. Through this relationship since 2013, we have been supplied with various astounding coffees, such as the ‘La Joyería’ microlot, San Pasqual Naturals and Finca Veracruz.  Finca La Palma Gesha is our first purchase of this experimental lot and we see this being one of the crowd favourite too. Tasting is believing!