Colombia — Jhonatan Gasca Zarza Coffee Pacamara (Anaerobic Natural)

Tastes Like — 🍬 Blue Raspberry Cotton Candy • 🥂 Chardonnay • 🍫 Cacao Nib

DETAILS

• Producer: Jhonatan Gasca, Zarza Coffee
• Region: Bruselas-Pitalito, Huila, Colombia
• Varietal: Pacamara
• Process: Anaerobic Natural
• Elevation: 1,550–1,800 masl

INTRO The coffee that first got so many people excited about Zarza Coffee is back — an anaerobic natural Pacamara that's one of the most memorable coffees in recent memory, and this latest lot captures that same unmistakable character. Blue raspberry cotton candy fills the aroma and carries into the cup, shifting into an effervescent Chardonnay-like character with a rich, buttery body, rounded out by a subtle cacao nib bitterness. In the cup: blue raspberry cotton candy, Chardonnay, and cacao nib.

THE PRODUCER This coffee comes from Jhonatan Gasca of Zarza Coffee, in Bruselas-Pitalito, Huila — a project known for producing some of the most distinctive, unmistakable processing profiles around, this Pacamara chief among them.

THE PROCESS This lot begins with flotation sorting of ripe cherries in 200L open-air tanks. After the first sort, the water is drained and cherries are meticulously inspected and hand-picked for consistency and ripeness. The cherries then rest in open bags for 48 hours to stabilise at room temperature, before the bags are closed for a 120-to-150-hour anaerobic fermentation. The coffee then undergoes a thermal shock with hot and cold water, before drying for two weeks on African beds, closely monitored for water activity and humidity throughout.

The extended 120-to-150-hour anaerobic fermentation combined with the hot-and-cold thermal shock is the defining step — together they build the unmistakable blue raspberry cotton candy sweetness and effervescent Chardonnay character that define this cup.

THE CUP Impossible-to-miss sweetness — blue raspberry cotton candy fills the aroma and carries all the way into the cup. As it opens, that sweetness shifts into an effervescent, Chardonnay-like character with a rich, buttery body, rounded out by a subtle cacao nib bitterness that adds depth to an otherwise remarkably sweet cup.

Flavour Notes 🍬 Blue Raspberry Cotton Candy 🥂 Chardonnay 🍫 Cacao Nib