Colombia, Finca La Casa - Colombia

Frank and Gabriel come from a family with a rich coffee tradition, with their grandfather, Marco Antonio Torres, being one of the first to cultivate coffee in La Unión over 80 years ago. After inheriting part of La Indonesia farm, Frank oversees all processing and farming practices with the help of his younger brother Gabriel.

A Q grader passionate about coffee since a young age, Frank began his career with Starbucks‘ specialty coffee program and later worked as a green coffee buyer for exporters and importers. This extensive experience has helped him push the limits of coffee processing, making his farm one of the most unique and innovative in Colombia.LA CASA Frank’s ongoing efforts to improve farming practices have allowed him to convert 90% of his farm to organic.

Frank Torres is the main manager of his family’s estate, Finca La Indonesia, where he oversees the entire coffee production across its various plots of land. La Casa is one of them and belongs to Gabriel. Together, they focus on environmental sustainability, maintaining soil health, and managing water resources responsibly. Frank and Gabriel grow coffee alongside a range of fruits and shade trees, aiming to preserve the land for future generations. Their family is also deeply involved in the community— his brother Juan Angel also ssists on the farm and his sister Yorgeny recently launched a specialty cupcake bakery in La Union.

The Colombia coffee variety is a hybrid developed by CENICAFE (the National Coffee Research Center of Colombia) by crossing Caturra and Typica. It was designed to enhance disease resistance, particularly to coffee leaf rust, and improve yield. Well-suited to Nariño's mountainous terrain, it thrives in high altitudes and rich volcanic soils. Known for its excellent cup quality, it offers a balanced flavour profile with mild acidity, medium body, and sweet notes like citrus and caramel. The variety‘s resistance to diseases and its high productivity have made it one of the most widely grown and recognized coffee varieties in Colombia.

For this Colombia lot, only fully ripe cherries, displaying a deep wine-red color and an average Brix level of 22°B, are meticulously harvested. The cherries undergo a flotation process to remove any impurities before entering the fermentation stage, which takes place in a bio-reactor for 48 hours.

After fermentation, the cherries are thoroughly washed to remove any remaining mucilage, ensuring a clean profile, before moving on to the drying stage. 

The drying process occurs on raised beds for about 17 days. Once this period is complete and that the coffee stabilizes, the beans are dried on plastic tarps on a patio to finish the process and reach a moisture level of 10 to 11%. After drying, the parchment is transferred to storage in Latinatech bags and burlap sacks, where it is carefully stacked on pallets before leaving for the dry mill.