COLOMBIA Lacia Castillo Natural NX
€16,00Finished and shipped from Sweden with standard or express shipment worldwide. Learn more about production cut-offs and shipping here
"Castillo was designed as an improvement on the Colombia variety.“
World Coffee Research
Non-profit agricultural research organization
SCA SCORE 89.00
FLAVOR ALGORITHM AND DESIGN Ivica Cvetanovski
Roasted light based on conduction and moderate heat application with world class skill and care. Low energy throughout enabling extensive and controlled build. Focus is on preserving the volatile compounds, express fruits and berries with highlighted acidity.
PRACTICAL VISION AND RENDITION OF ROASTING DESIGN AT COFFEA CIRCULOR
There is one word in the Macedonian language (my origin is Macedonia, born and raised in Sweden), and that word is “sok”.
That word has no other reference or synonym in (at least) the English language what I know. It can be explained as:
“Remember when your Mom made juice from picked berries and fruits in the garden?”
That is “sok”, possibly something similar can be “natural, refreshing fruit juice” in the English language. This is what I am making with the coffees and wish that people experience it like so:
"The ideology in my roasting is to highlight natural flowers, fruits and berries while preserving important sweetness and integrating playful acidity creating long lasting memories."
GENESIS
Producer | Botero Family |
Country | Colombia |
Region | Valle del Cauca |
Altitude | 1,500 masl |
Varietal | Castillo |
Process | Natural |
Lot size | 96kg |
Trade | 12.59 USD/kg |
Production | 2024 |
History | Since 2024. |
SENSORY EXPERIENCE
Aroma | Apricot, Coffee cherry |
Flavor | Blackberry, Red currant, Toffee |
Aftertaste | Red grape, Rhubarb, Mid |
Acidity | Raspberry, Malic, Mid |
Body | Juicy, Light |
Balance | Uniform |
Spectra | Yellow, Orange, Bronze |
SYNOPSIS
Castillo is named after the researcher Jamie Castillo, who helped Cenicafe, Colombia’s coffee research centre, develop the varetal in 2005.
The Quindío department is located in the Cordillera Central, which lies to the west of the highest Andes mountain range. Tall volcanic cones stand over lush valleys, and cool, soothing winds blow across them. As part of the Eje Cafetero (coffee axis), this region is well-known for its long history of coffee production. Directly south of Quindío is the municipality of Génova.
Castillo is resistant to leaf rust (roya) and has quickly become the most planted coffee in Colombia. It is high-yield, resistant to leaf rust and other prevalent diseases and its smaller size allows for greater planting density.
FERMENTATION
The coffee cherries are handpicked, collected in sacks and rested under the shade for 24 hours to induce complex compounds to transform into simpler ones. This lot has further passed a traditional drying in cherry. The seed (“pergamino”) is placed in hermetic bags for 30 days to stabilize after finalization of the drying. This is to rest and stop the drying process further enhancing the inherent characteristics of the coffee.
FERMENTATION MORPHEMES
As each picked coffee cherry is destined for specific fermentation formulas, we denote each lot carrying the same name with a morpheme. Below is a listing of most common fermentation practices. Please use this reference to better understand the differences between equally named coffees and their fermentation formulas. For example, read a suffix of "NASDX" such as Natural Anaerobic Slow Drying Fermentation".
AX |
Anaerobic Fermentation |
CX |
Cold Fermentation |
CMX |
Carbonic Maceration |
DX |
Dry Fermentation |
EX |
Extended Fermentation |
FMX |
Fruit Maceration |
RH, WH, BH | Honey Fermentation |
HX | Hypoxia Fermentation |
MX |
Macerated Fermentation |
NX | Natural Fermentation |
SX |
Slow Fermentation |
WX | Washed Fermentation |
YX |
Yeast Fermentation |
EXTRACTION RECOMMENDATIONS
Our World Brewers Cup recipe, One (1:1:1), for Hario V60-01/02 with Hario VCF-01/02 filters:
- Open the sealed coffee bag/container gracefully, let the contents aerate for a few seconds, re-seal the bag one day prior to your first brew. This will enable the coffee beans to adjust to their environment after being in storage/transport.
- Rinse the VCF-filter with 93°C water. Rinse the carafe/server with hot water to expel any unwanted aromatics and flavors from the rinsed filter.Coffee: 20g.
- Water: 300g @ 93-95°C, TDS: 10-50 mg/l.
- 100g of 20 second pours in 3 total pours at 0:00, 1:00 and last pour at 2:00. Finish at 3:00.
- Pour by pulsing in helix formation during 20 seconds, starting from the centre, 5 revolutions per pulse. Ensure no grinds persist on the filter wall in the last pouring pulse.
- At 01:00, 02:00 and 03:00, confirm the filter bed is flat and uniform. Avoid generating cavities and craters.
- Target a TDS reading of 1.40±0.02.
- Adjust only grind size and water temperature.
- Grinding: Target 600-800μm. Example: 28 turns from the finest setting on Comandante.
- If the flow ends past each minute, adjust your grind settings to finer and respectively for slower flow.
- The recipe, technique and formula is singularly linear and time efficient. Learn more about linearly up- and downscaling our recipe here.
WATER RECOMMENDATIONS
Use water with balanced mineral content to optimize flavor and character. Keep Total Dissolved Solids (TDS) between 10-50 ppm or mg/l. We advise a temperature between 93-95°C for the best brewing experience. Target the following values.
Calcium (Ca) | 0.9 mg/l |
Sodium (Na) | 1.7 mg/l |
Silicon Dioxide (SiO2) | 1.4 mg/l |
Potassium (K) | 0.3 mg/l |
Magnesium (Mg) | 0.2 mg/l |
Sulfate (SO4-) | <7.0 mg/l |
Chloride (Cl-) | 2.5 mg/l |
Nitrate (NO3-) | 0.1 mg/l |
Fluoride (F-) | <0.1 mg/l |
pH | 6.2 |
STORAGE RECOMMENDATIONS
Please store in a cool and dry place in order to secure freshness and quality. To ensure best possible experience use within 3 months after roast date and 2 weeks after opening. In various environments and setups, your brewing experience can benefit from opening the bag and closing it. Wait one day to brew. We have invested significant time to research the durability of the coffee by actively refining our roasting algorithms to ensure perpetual quality post 3 months of production. Our flavor-lock packaging technology is based on processing and roasting. This ensures persisting and stable aromas, flavors and pro-experience.
TEMPORALITY RECOMMENDATIONS
Start using at will. Brew immediately or wait several weeks. Prepare for a championship with a strategy. It all depends on your goals.
We recommend using the coffees by first opening the container/bag one day before the first planned brew to enable a natural aeration of the coffees. Use according to the following matrix and remember these are general observations given parameters such as continent, country, region, variety, altitude, process, etc. combined with Coffea Circulor processing and roasting algorithms.
Plan your acquisition according to production schedules (roasting), event attendance (home/championship) and shipping priority (standard/courier).
0-3 days | Focused acidity |
4-7 days | Optimal Coffea Circulor recommended praxis |
8-14 days | Increased floral perception |
15-21 days | Increased sweetness |
22+ days | Increased balance |
1+ month | Intact sweetness, peak intensity |
2+ months | Inherent balance, possible reduced florals turning herbal |
Made by Colombia
Finished in Scandinavia