We taste: red grapes, blackberry, cocoa

Farm: Las Mercedes owned by Alfonso Guerra
Region: Antioquia
Processing: Method: Natural
Elevation: 1,800 msl
Varieties: Caturra

Located near one of the tallest mountains in Antioquia, Finca Las Mercedes has the perfect altitude and climate for producing excellent quality coffee as well as playing host to a diversity of native flora and fauna. In this ideally situated terrain, the Guerra family have dedicated 150 of their 386 hectares to coffee. The rest of the farm lies under native forest – some 236 hectares devoted entirely as nature and a watershed preserve.

In 1960, when Eduardo Guerra Sánchez bought Las Mercedes, the Finca was devoted entirely to dairy production. Don Eduardo’s background was coffee farming, however, and upon gaining control of the farm, he decided to give some small parcels of land over to coffee. Despite the family heritage, the farm continued to produce primarily milk until Don Eduardo’s son, Alfonso Guerra Velez, took control of the farm some 20 years later.

In the first few years alone, Don Alfonso planted 150,000 coffee trees on the farm, and since this time, the principal economic focus of the Guerra family has turned to coffee farming. Don Alfonso’s son, Juan Carlos Guerra, will be the fourth generation in his family to farm coffee and is now actively involved in the activities of the farm. Under his influence, the farm has increasingly focused on quality improvements and speciality coffee production.

When brewed, this naturally processed coffee is fruity with notes of red grapes and blackberries and cranberry along with base notes of chocolate and toffee.as. It’s sweet and creamy on its own but holds up well to milk and sugar.