Sandbox - Los Patios Watermelon Co-Ferment | Colombia

Colombia — Rodrigo Sanchez, Los Patios Castillo (Watermelon Co-Fermented)

Tastes Like — 🍉 Watermelon Candy • 🍈 Melon Juice • 🍇 Red Raspberry

DETAILS

• Producer: Rodrigo Sanchez, Finca Monteblanco (via Los Patios)
• Region: La Plata, Huila, Colombia
• Varietal: Castillo
• Process: Watermelon & Melon Co-Fermented
• Harvest: 2025/2026

INTRO A vibrant co-fermented Castillo from Los Patios, crafted with tropical fruit nectar to bring out prominent watermelon candy notes. Grown on the slopes of Huila, this coffee showcases Colombia's most widely planted variety pushed into unexpected territory. In the cup: watermelon candy, melon juice, and red raspberry.

THE PRODUCER Los Patios is a dedicated coffee processing and research facility operated by The Coffee Quest in La Plata, Huila, established in June 2022 to support smallholder producers by addressing processing challenges, market volatility, and infrastructure gaps. The facility works with local farms averaging around three hectares, sourcing cherry-stage coffee and elevating it through controlled, research-driven processes developed by an in-house R&D team.

Castillo is Colombia's most widely grown coffee variety, developed by Cenicafé and released in 2005 — a cross between Caturra and the Timor Hybrid, bred primarily for strong resistance to coffee leaf rust. Compact and high-yielding, it's practical across diverse altitudes and climates, and when carefully grown and processed can deliver a smooth body, clean sweetness, and a flavour range spanning citrus brightness to rich red fruit depth.

THE PROCESS Co-fermentation is a relatively new, experimental processing approach inspired by winemaking, introducing additional ingredients — often fruits or botanicals — during fermentation to steer flavour development. At Finca Monteblanco, Rodrigo Sanchez is a pioneer of this method. For this lot, he uses a "mother culture" made from tropical fruit nectar — particularly watermelon and melon — to initiate fermentation, rich in natural sugars and beneficial microorganisms like lactobacillus and saccharomyces cerevisiae, creating a stable, flavourful fermentation environment.

This watermelon-and-melon mother culture is the defining step — it's what builds the bright, fruit-forward watermelon candy and melon juice character while retaining Castillo's varietal clarity underneath.

THE CUP Bright and fruit-forward — watermelon candy and melon juice lead the cup, with a red raspberry note adding depth. Juicy acidity and a medium body round out an innovative, boundary-pushing expression of Castillo.

Flavour Notes 🍉 Watermelon Candy 🍈 Melon Juice 🍇 Red Raspberry