Colombia — Jhon Jairo Gomez Tabi (Washed)

Tastes Like — 🍍 Tropical Fruits • 🍊 Orange Marmalade • 🌸 Floral

DETAILS

• Producer: Jhon Jairo Gomez
• Region: El Rosario, San Agustín, Huila, Colombia
• Varietal: Tabi
• Process: Washed
• Altitude: 1,950–2,000 MASL
• Size: 250g

INTRO

A fourth consecutive harvest from Jhon Jairo Gomez — sourced through Semilla and the Monkaaba project in San Agustín, Huila. Vibrant and syrupy, with a warmth and character that speaks of both the extraordinary altitude and the resilience of the producer behind it. In the cup: tropical fruits, orange marmalade, and a delicate florality.

THE PRODUCER

Jhon Jairo Gomez's story is one of quiet, determined transformation. Just a few years ago, the lack of infrastructure on his farm meant selling most of his coffee en verde — depulped but not yet dried, with little control over the final quality or value it could command. Since then, Jhon has built his own beneficio from scratch: a motorised depulper and a solar dryer that have given him full control over his processing for the first time — and the results are clear in the cup.

His plot at El Rosario sits at a genuinely exceptional altitude of 1,950–2,000 MASL — cool enough that cherries develop slowly, yields are lower, and the quality potential is correspondingly high. Growing Tabi at this elevation is no easy feat: the variety demands patience and care, and the slower development that the cool temperatures impose is precisely what bides for exceptional cup quality. Jhon works within the Monkaaba project, supported by Semilla, a network that connects producers in San Agustín with international markets and provides the infrastructure, education, and community that allows producers like Jhon to access the specialty market on their own terms.

Tabi is a variety developed by Cenicafé in Colombia as a cross between Timor Hybrid, Typica, and Bourbon — the name meaning "good" in the Guambiano indigenous language. Designed for disease resistance and quality potential at altitude, it produces a cup of exceptional body, syrupy sweetness, and tropical complexity in the right conditions.

THE PROCESS

The Washed process at Jhon Jairo's farm involves:

🍒 Hand-picking — Tabi cherries collected every three weeks at peak ripeness 🔒 Sealed bag fermentation — Cherries left to ferment in sealed bags for 24 hours before depulping 🔧 Depulping — Outer skin removed the following day using the motorised depulper 🧪 Dry fermentation — Depulped coffee mass dry-fermented in tiled tanks for 36 hours 💧 Rinsing & draining — Seeds rinsed and left to drain in bags for three hours after fermentation ☀️ Solar drying — Dried in Jhon's solar dryer for 15–20 days

The sealed bag pre-fermentation followed by the 36-hour dry fermentation in tiled tanks is the defining step — two distinct fermentation stages that build the syrupy tropical sweetness and vibrant orange marmalade character that define this lot, while the solar dryer — built by Jhon himself — ensures a controlled, even drying result that preserves the florality and structure of the final cup.

THE CUP

A vibrant, syrupy, and deeply satisfying washed Tabi from one of Huila's most resilient and committed smallholder producers — tropical fruit sweetness, orange marmalade richness, and a delicate florality in a cup that tastes of determination, community, and craft in equal measure.

Flavour Notes

🍍 Tropical Fruits 🍊 Orange Marmalade 🌸 Floral