Colombia - Sidra Nano Lot 14 - La Palma Y El Tucan

The Producer:
La Palma & El Tucan is a world-famous coffee estate and eco-tourism destination situated on the eastern side of the Colombian Andes, two hours away from the capital Bogota. It was established when founders Felipe Sardi and Elisa María Madriñan saw the demand for higher-end Colombian specialty coffee in stark contrast with the capability of the coffee growers to meet it.
Between 2011 and 2012, they converted previous cattle farmland into a fully-equipped coffee farm focused on innovation while ensuring the well-being of the environment & the farmers. Their coffees have reaped awards on national and world coffee competition stages since 2016. 2019 was most memorable when Korea's Jooyeon Jeon used their coffee to win 1st Place in the World Barista Championship.
Now in their 10th year, they continue to innovate cultivation practices, processing methods, and business models. They have re-engineered the farm from monoculture to polyculture, introduced Bio-innovation and Bio-Natural techniques, and expanded the geographic scope of their relationship coffee framework called Neighbors & Crops.

The Exporter:
Equation Coffee represents a small group of like-minded Panama and Colombia producers that enact eco-socially conscious choices in their coffee cultivation, processing, and marketing. They are La Palma & El Tucan, Delagua Coffee Paradise, and Creativa Coffee District. Their business model, called Neighbors & Crops, is geared towards invariably innovating and delivering premium specialty coffee while making a lasting, beneficial impact on the community and the environment.
Our long-term relationship with Equation Coffee has allowed us to make internationally sought-after coffees available here in our corner of the world.

Sidra is another exotic varietal planted at the estate when it was established. It is a hybrid from Ecuador that has Red Bourbon’s body and sweetness, and Typica’s bright acidity. Recognizing Sidra’s award-winning potential, thousands more trees were planted across four terroirs at altitudes between 1650 to 1800 MASL in 2015. Not too long after, in 2019, it was this variety produced by La Palma & El Tucan that won the World Barista Championship.

An anaerobic natural process was used to enhance Sidra’s complex profile. Ripe cherries were hand-sorted, placed in sealed tanks to ferment, and then laid out to dry on raised beds for 30 to 45 days. In this drying phase, the cherry has more time to interact with the bean’s mucilage, allowing the favorable attributes of the coffee to develop to the fullest extent possible. This resulted in a cup with winey acidity and a silky body.

La Palma & El Tucan produces natural processed coffees in small batches because of the usually high humidity levels that present a challenge during the critical drying phase. Outside the narrow window in a year when humidity levels are ideal, a mechanical dryer is prudently used for the coffees to reach the required moisture level. The cherries are also shifted about every two hours to ensure even drying and to avoid off flavors from the growth molds or fungus.

This nano-lot belongs to the estate’s Heroes Series, which comprises 90+ coffees and makes up 10% of their total production.