La Loma, Washed Filter - Colombia

High in the mountains above La Plata in Colombia’s Huila region sits La Loma, a two-hectare farm with some 10,000 trees, tended by Javier Golondrino. 

On small farms like Javier's, two days of pickings are often combined, with day one pulped and fermented 24 hours before day two is added, raising pH and allowing a further 12 hours of controlled fermentation. The parchment is then dried slowly on parabolic beds.

The result is complex, floral and bright, passionfruit and nectarine up front, citric lift through the middle, and a butterscotch-like sweetness that rounds the finish. It is a clean expression of both place and constraint. A micro-farm solving scale with technique, and a producer whose path from schoolyard picker to independent grower shows how discipline and collective learning can change what small lots can be. Above all, it is delicious, generous, layered, and quietly confident.

• Region: Huila
• Country: Colombia
• Elevation; 1,900 masl
• Variety: Caturra, Colombia
• Process: Washed