Colombia — Edgar Gonzalez El Bosque Chiroso (Washed)

Tastes Like — 🍇 Red Currant • 🍒 Dried Cherry • 🌸 Geranium

DETAILS

• Producer: Edgar Gonzalez
• Farm: El Bosque
• Region: Urrao, Antioquia, Colombia
• Varietal: Chiroso
• Process: Washed, Double Fermentation
• Elevation: 2,000 masl
• Harvest: March 2026

INTRO
This cup from Edgar has an understated, well-balanced character — clean and consistent, with body and sweetness hitting a happy medium. However you brew it, it hits with an approachable brightness that finishes clean. Notes include red currant, dried cherry, a firm minerality, subtle citrus, and undertones of garden flowers and cashew butter. In the cup: red currant, dried cherry, and geranium.

THE PRODUCER
Edgar is originally from Betulia, where coffee runs deep in his family tradition. He bought his farm in 2017 and moved to Urrao to pursue his passion for quality, but his story there began much earlier. In 2007, during a training mission teaching local producers proper drying techniques and specialty coffee, Edgar encountered a variety that stood out — others called it a Caturra, but he knew it was different. That variety was Chiroso. He recognised its potential before it even had a name, and his discovery, alongside the work of producer Carmen Cecilia Montoya (Doña Carmen), helped put Urrao and Chiroso on the specialty coffee map. Today, Edgar continues refining his craft with the same curiosity and dedication that first led him to this exceptional variety.

Chiroso has recently impressed and excited the world of coffee, landing at the top of Cup of Excellence and among Flower Child's own top-scoring varieties. It's been identified as an Ethiopian Landrace, though little else is known about how it appeared in Urrao — still difficult to acquire, making a coffee at this level a rare treat.

THE PROCESS
Edgar's washed process begins with selective harvesting, with the help of women from the vereda. Cherries are floated and undergo a double fermentation: first in baskets overnight, then after depulping, a second fermentation in open stainless steel tanks for 70 hours. The parchment is then washed in channels and laid to dry in marquesinas for approximately 20-25 days, depending on the weather.

The overnight basket fermentation followed by 70 hours in open steel tanks is the defining step — it's what builds the red currant and dried cherry character behind this cup, while keeping the profile clean and approachable rather than heavily fermented.

THE CUP
Understated and well-balanced — approachable brightness finishes clean, with red currant and dried cherry at the core, a firm minerality, subtle citrus, and undertones of garden flowers and cashew butter.

Flavour Notes
🍇 Red Currant 🍒 Dried Cherry 🌸 Geranium