Colombia José Giraldo

Producer: Jose Julian Giraldo

Farm: Finca Las Marias

Processed and Dried: La Clarita Drying Station (Café 1959 Headquarters — El Caimo, Quindío)

Region: Pijao, Quindio, Colombia

Elevation Grown: 1950MASL

Variety: Typica

Process: Washed

Tastes like: Honey Limeade, Cinnamon, Grilled Pineapple

We’ve worked with José Giraldo for years now, but finally making it to Las Marias felt like something different. Like crossing a threshold.

It was early in the morning, and we were already winded. Las Marias sits high in the mountains of Pijao, and the trail down is no joke. As we began descending, José asked us to do something simple: pick the cherries, taste them from tree to tree, and pay attention. What he was showing us wasn’t just a farm. It was a living archive.

Las Marias began over a decade ago as a deeply intentional project. José’s vision was to create a site where variety selection, processing, and climate could come together with absolute precision. A place to grow not just the varieties he loved: Gesha, Wush Wush, Mokka, but also to isolate and test the sub-varieties within them. It’s a place for refinement. For decisions made slowly, over years of tasting fruit in the field and calibrating toward clarity and expression.

One part of the farm that stood out immediately was a dense grove of Typica trees tucked into a forested slope. These trees had been here long before Las Marias. When José and his family acquired the land, they discovered that 8,000 to 9,000 Typica trees had survived the years untended, some likely over 70 years old. Rather than replace them, José saw an opportunity to preserve and restore a nearly forgotten lineage. That restoration became part of the Las Marias mission.

This Typica lot was selectively harvested at 20 Brix, with cherries picked at peak ripeness. The process is traditional but meticulously executed: 12 hours of in-cherry fermentation, followed by 48 hours of dry fermentation after pulping. The coffee is then washed and slow-dried on raised beds for about 25 days, kept under 35°C to preserve vibrancy and structure.

In the cup, it shows. Bright and lifted like honey-limeade, with warming cinnamon through the middle and a finish that lands squarely on grilled pineapple. Juicy, caramelized, and just a little smoky. It’s a quiet kind of complexity, the kind that comes from deep intention and time.

We’re proud to bring it to the menu. And we’re even prouder to know the person behind it.