El Mirador is a 32-hectare farm located near the town of Pitalito in Huila. Elkin Guzman’s family has a history of over 70 years in the coffee business, 12 of which were dedicated to researching post- harvest processing techniques. 30 Hectares of the farm are dedicated to growing exotic coffee varieties like Catiope, Mokka, Tabi, Geisha, as well as Orange, Striped, and Pink Bourbon. The remaining hectares of land are used to grow a Caturra variety for processing experiments.
Elkin has standardized the workflow and processing procedures used at this farm to ensure consistency and quality control at each step. His innovative approaches to fermentation and immaculate attention to detail have made this farm a benchmark in the industry in terms of its quality. All of Elkin’s research has brought him to utilise multiple processing techniques depending on individual lot of coffee, including Coffee Maceration, Lactic and Acetic Natural process, and Natural Hydro Honey.
The hydra honey processed coffee starts out as a natural, hand sorted and then dried for a day in the cherry. After twenty four hours the coffee is removed from the drying bed and rehydrated in a tank of water for eighteen hours. When rehydration is complete the cherries are then run through the depulper, removing the fruit from around the beans. The coffee then passes through the demuciliginator without removing the honey layer from around the bean. After cleaning away the fruit the coffee is dried with that honey layer intact.
- Origin: Colombia
- Region: Pitalito, Huila
- Farm: Finca El Mirador
- Producer: Elkin Guzman
- Altitude: 1615m
- Cultivar: Tabi
- Processing: Natural Hydro Honey
- Sourcing: Pebble Coffee