Purple Caturra
Passionfruit Co‑ferment Washed
Finca Monteblanco

Tastes Like: Passionfruit, Milk Chocolate, Orange Jelly

Origin: Finca Monteblanco, Huila, Colombia

Variety: Purple Caturra

Producer: Rodrigo Sanchez

Elevation: 1730 masl

Process:  Passion Fruit Co-fermented Washed

Farm and Producer

Rodrigo Sánchez Valencia manages Finca Monteblanco in Vereda La Tocora, near San Adolfo, Huila. The 18-hectare family farm occupies a hilltop, with its wet mill and drying areas above the planted slopes. Rodrigo works with Claudia Samboni, farm manager Don Gerardo and the farm team; learning to cup in 2002 helped him connect cultivation and processing choices with coffee quality.

Variety

Purple Caturra is the name used at Monteblanco for a Caturra selection whose cherries mature to a deep purple color. Caturra itself is a compact mutation of Bourbon. Rodrigo selected this material for its high cherry sugar content and its suitability for the farm’s fermentation experiments.

Processing

A culture containing yeasts and lactic acid bacteria is first fed with passion fruit, cholupa and a sweetener such as panela or molasses. This preparation takes approximately 190 hours before it is combined with the coffee.

After flotation and depulping, the coffee ferments with the prepared culture in sealed tanks for 150 hours. The team monitors sugar content and pH throughout. Drying begins with two to three days in direct sun, followed by 15 to 18 days under shade until the coffee reaches 10–11% moisture.