Coffee Hunting around Fredonia – Antioquia
Early in the morning of a beautiful Thursday of November 2021, my wife (Marcia Miles) and I were on our way to pick up Miguel Echeverri, Hatillo Coffee’s co-founder and Chief Quality Officer (CQO), at his apartment in the neighborhood of “El Poblado.” With Miguel on board, we left the city of the eternal spring (aka. Medellin) headed for Fredonia. The drive usually takes around 2 hours, but this time it took a little longer since we needed to make a quick stop to meet with the owner of “La Melisa” farm, Luis Guillermo, and his son-in-law, Felipe, before arriving at “La Melisa” farm near Fredonia.
The Majestic “Cerro Bravo”
As soon as we made it to “La Melisa,” we were happily surprised to see how close we were to “Cerro Bravo,” a majestic mountain covered with native vegetation.
“La Melisa” sits at 1,900 meters MSL (6,234 ft) and has around 50,000 coffee trees, most of which were recently renovated with Castillo variety. Unfortunately, a couple of days before our visit, a powerful hail storm wreaked havoc on most of the trees’ leaves.
Thanks to Adolfo, “La Melisa‘s” coffee specialist, for showing us around the farm.
“El Socorro,” A Beautiful Eden
After “Las Melisa,” we headed to “El Socorro,” a neighboring farm also owned by Luis Guillermo.
We couldn’t believe our eyes when we arrived at the main house. A beautiful home built in the early 20th century and masterly renovated by Luis Guillermo.
“El Socorro” has around 25,000 coffee trees of Ceniface 1 variety. The trees were also recently renovated and are expected to start producing in the next couple of years.
“La Chapolera” farm, Specialty Coffee Specialists
After having a delicious lunch, we headed to “La Chapolera” farm. Also in Fredonia, this farm is one of a kind since they not only grow and process the coffee beans using advanced methods (e.g., honey, natural, black honey, and anaerobic) but also hull and roast their beans.
Andres Jimenez is the farmer in chief at “La Chapolera.” He knows every little detail there is to know about specialty coffee, from the way to take of the coffee trees to harvesting, processing, hulling, and even roasting.
The Stimulating Fragrance of Freshly Roasted Coffee
After hulling the parchment coffee beans, we proceeded to roast them.
Once roasted, Andres and Miguel started to remove the Quakers (unripe beans that couldn’t be filtered out before roasting. Quakers appear lighter in color than the rest of the roasted beans). These defective beans taste bad.
Leaving is Always the Hardest Part
After thanking Andres for his time and for showing us around the farm’s processes, it was time for us to head back to Medellin.
It was a beautiful day for coffee hunting, but the people we met along the way were even more remarkable.