Supreme Coffee: Colombia Jairo Arcila - Papayo

Region: Armenia, Quindio
Altitude: 1,400-1,450 m.a.s.l.
Variety: Papayo
Processing: Washed

Tasting Notes: Bursting with tropical fruit, this juicy coffee has notes of passion fruit, dried mango and strawberry with well-integrated natural fruit sweetness and a creamy body.

There are times at the cupping table when a single sip is all you need to know you want to bring this coffee to your customers. This lot of Papayo was that kind of revelation and we knew immediately we wanted to roast it for you as our next 'Supreme' coffee. 

The Papayo variety was named for its distinctive orange papaya-shaped cherries and the explosion of tropical fruit notes that define its profile. We drew parallels between this coffee and a Sauvignon Blanc or Albariño when we were brainstorming tasting notes.

According to Cofinet, the importer who brought us this coffee, the variety is a natural mutation that occurred in San Adolfo, a town in Acevedo, Huila. Other sources tell a slightly different story. Juan Andres Gutierrez, Sucafina’s specialty supply chain coordinator in Colombia, told Perfect Daily Grind there was a rumoured coffee research farm near Acevedo that was cultivating a range of varieties from around the world. “The project was supposedly abandoned, but the plants stayed behind,” he said in PDG’s article. This would help to explain the prevalence of “new” varieties that have appeared on the market from Huila in recent years. Some of them, like Pink Bourbon and Ombligon, are genetically similar to Ethiopian landrace varieties. But the truth of the origins of Papayo remains murky.

Although the plant itself has a compact size, the bean has a similar physical appearance to Pacamara, a variety that produces distinctively large cherries with long thin beans. The cup profile is more reliably sweet than Pacamara and it’s more floral, like a Gesha. Apparently, the fresh cherries taste like chirimoya, a South American fruit known in English as a custard apple. At Cofinet they call Papayo a ‘silver bullet’ because of trees’ small size, tolerance to leaf rust and drought, and their high yield. These qualities, paired with its exceptional cup profile make it an ideal coffee in this time of uncertain climate change related weather patterns.

Jairo Arcila, a pioneering Colombian producer, first made his mark by taking a bold chance on the then obscure Gesha variety, planting 3,000 trees at his Finca Castellón. Since then, Jairo and his wife Luz Helena Salazar have expanded their farms to include varieties like Chiroso, Pink Bourbon, Tabi and this remarkable Papayo — establishing themselves as synonymous with Colombia's finest specialty coffees. Their legacy continues through their sons, Felipe and Carlos, who founded Cofinet, the importing company that brought us this coffee. 

Jairo is a civil engineer and third-generation coffee grower from Armenia, Quindío. When he turned 27, he became a dry mill manager and that’s when he bought his first farm and started growing coffee. Jairo was curious and always looking for ways to improve. He learned how, through pruning, he could increase his coffee production by 25 percent. He also began to understand the critical role of fertilisers in cultivating healthy coffee plants. Today, drawing on years of experience, Jairo meticulously nurtures his coffee trees with a balanced approach, employing inputs and fertilisers that benefit both the trees themselves and the overall health of the soil.

This particular lot of coffee was harvested following strict ripeness criteria then floated and hand-sorted to remove any defects. The cherries were fermented in water for 30 hours, longer than the typical 12 hours, before being pulped to remove the mucilage. The beans were washed a final time then spread out to dry in a temperature-controlled environment.

A note about packaging

Our coffee comes packaged in beautiful and hard wearing tins. It is important to keep those beans away from air and light (see our blog post about coffee storage) and we think tins are the very best way of keeping those guys fresh. 

Tins can of course be easily recycled (with other metals) but the very best and most environmentally conscious thing to do with them is to refill them. Find out how to refill or dispose of your Steampunk packaging HERE.