Juice Box - Colombia

Colombia — Las Perlitas Group Urrao Chiroso Field Blend (Washed)

Tastes Like — 🍊 Blood Orange • 🌱 Rhubarb • 🍯 Honey

DETAILS

• Producer: Las Perlitas Group — Multiple Producers
• Region: Urrao, Antioquia, Colombia
• Varietal: Chiroso Field Blend
• Process: Washed (Cochadas)
• Altitude: 2,000 MASL
• Size: 250g

INTRO

A washed Chiroso from a group of producers in Urrao — one of the washed coffees DAK have come back to most this year. Processed in cochadas, it drinks closer to a washed Ethiopian than to most Colombians: honey, blood orange, and rhubarb running clean and bright throughout. Previously called Honeymoon — renamed Juice Box once Honey Burst joined the lineup, in the interests of the packing floor's sanity.

THE PRODUCER

Las Perlitas brings together a group of producers in the Urrao region of Antioquia — one of Colombia's most exciting emerging specialty areas, where Chiroso has become the defining variety of a new wave of extraordinary lots. At 2,000 MASL, the cool temperatures and slow cherry development typical of the area concentrate aromatic compounds and build the vivid, clean profile that makes this lot so compelling. The cochadas processing method — a rolling fermentation in which new pickings are added to previous days' coffee every four to seven days before washing together — reflects the practical reality of small-volume harvesting, and produces results that are cleaner and more consistent than the name might suggest.

Chiroso is a variety grown primarily in Antioquia, genetically identified as Ethiopian Landrace. It has only been on the specialty radar for a few years, but its potential for vivid, Ethiopian-leaning cup profiles at altitude is becoming widely recognised — and lots like this one, from a group of producers at 2,000 MASL in Urrao, are the reason why.

THE PROCESS

The Washed Cochadas process at Las Perlitas involves:

🍒 Hand-picking — Chiroso cherries selectively harvested every 4–7 days 🔄 Rolling depulping — Each new picking depulped and added onto the previous days' coffee, homogenising the lots progressively over the picking cycle 💧 Water fermentation — Most of the lot ferments submerged in water throughout, keeping the profile clean and free of excess fermentation character 💧 Washing — All coffee washed together on the final day of the cycle ☀️ Drying — Dried to optimal moisture content after washing

The cochadas method is the defining step — by adding new pickings to previous days' coffee progressively and fermenting primarily in water throughout, Las Perlitas builds a clean, homogenous fermentation environment that produces the bright, precise blood orange and rhubarb acidity and honey sweetness that define this lot, without the excess funk that other methods can introduce.

THE CUP

A clean, vivid, and deeply satisfying washed Chiroso from one of Urrao's most collaborative producer groups — blood orange brightness, rhubarb tartness, and a warm honey sweetness in a cup that drinks far closer to a washed Ethiopian than to most Colombians. One of DAK's most-returned-to washed coffees of the year, and well worth the rename.

Flavour Notes

🍊 Blood Orange 🌱 Rhubarb 🍯 Honey