Colombia La Cristalina natural

La Cristalina was so popular last year that we had to bring it back to our menu. The Asociación Palestina group was founded in 2015 in the southern part of the Huila region, in the department of Palestina. The idea stemmed from a community initiative to improve the quality of life for coffee growers in the area. The group consists of eight partners and 50 modest coffee-growing families, cultivating coffee on a total of 200 hectares of land. During the harvest season, approximately 70 workers are hired to perform the best selection of ripe cherries. Most of these growers come from coffee-growing families and inherited their farms through their family lineage. Some also received them through a government restitution program aimed at preserving the coffee tradition in the region. Classic varieties like Colombia, Caturra, and Castillo are predominantly grown here. Additionally, some growers are open to experimenting with exotic varieties such as Tabi, Pink Bourbon, and Gesha.

While some group members rely on traditional washed processing methods, others innovate by adopting extended fermentation, anaerobic, and natural processing techniques, supported by InConexus. The group collaborates with InConexus to enhance their knowledge through training, water management, and infrastructure improvements, all contributing to the quality of their coffee. La Cristalina is part of a natural processing program in the Huila region, where InConexus strives for modernization and innovations to reduce water consumption without compromising coffee quality.

La Cristalina underwent natural anaerobic fermentation processing. It began with whole coffee cherries being placed in sealed plastic bags after harvesting and left to ferment for 48 hours in a dry, dark place. Subsequently, the coffee was moved to special hermetically sealed containers with a valve, submerged in water, where it fermented for an additional 90 hours. After fermentation, the cherries were spread out in thin layers on shaded and ventilated African beds, where they dried for 21-26 days with repeated turning and monitoring. The result is a full-bodied yet very clean fruity cup of coffee.