Artist Reserve: Colombia Oscar Osorio - Citrus Co-Ferment

Description

ARTIST RESERVE: Courtney Gayer COLOMBIA OSCAR OSORIO - CITRUS CO-FERMENT TART LIME, CITRUS PEEL, SPRITE, ORANGE MILKSHAKE   We've been really excited about the idea of producers using fruits and plants already growing on their farms to create co-ferments that actually speak to where the coffee comes from. Oscar grows mandarin lime trees alongside his coffee high in the mountains of Sonsón. Working with Lucas, he developed a fermentation using the mandarin lime leaves and peels from those trees.  The cup is bright and zesty, with tart lime, fresh citrus peel, Sprite-like sweetness, and this creamy orange milkshake thing as it cools. For a five-day co-ferment, we're especially impressed by how clear and balanced everything remains. Exciting yet drinkable! Label design by Courtney Gayer:  https://www.instagram.com/courtneycgayer/ BEAN DETAILS: ORIGIN: Sonsón, Antioquia, Colombia PRODUCER: Oscar Osorio ELEVATION: 1,850 masl PROCESS: Mandarin lime leaves, water & molasses; mandarin peel added after 24 hours; 5 additional days of fermentation VARIETY: Castillo TASTING NOTES: tart lime, citrus peel, orange milkshake, sprite ROAST TYPE: Light Farm Level About Oscar Osorio Oscar's farm sits high in the mountains of Sonsón, Antioquia, at approximately 1,850 meters above sea level. The 12-hectare farm grows Colombia, Castillo, and Caturra, with cooler mountain temperatures slowing cherry maturation and helping develop naturally sweet, expressive coffees. From the beginning, Oscar has shown a real intention to move beyond the traditional volume-focused coffee model common in Sonsón and explore what his farm is capable of through quality, fermentation, and differentiated lots. This project is one of his biggest steps in that direction. Oscar and Lucas developed the recipe together as an experiment: could they make an exceptional co-ferment using ingredients already available on the farm? It ended up becoming one of the best coffees Oscar has produced. The Process This one gets pretty interesting. After harvest, cherries are carefully sorted before being depulped. The coffee is then placed into sealed fermentation tanks with blended leaves from Oscar's mandarin lime trees, water, and molasses. The molasses provides additional sugars to stimulate microbial activity while compounds from the fresh citrus leaves begin interacting with the fermenting coffee. After 24 hours, mandarin peel is added directly to the tanks. The coffee then continues fermenting for another five days, developing the intense—but remarkably clear—citrus character we taste in the finished cup. Finally, the coffee is moved to sun-bed dryers and slowly dried for three to four weeks until reaching approximately 11% moisture. It's an innovative process anywhere, but particularly in Sonsón, where coffee has historically been grown and sold for volume rather than differentiated by variety, processing, or flavor. More importantly, it feels connected to Oscar's actual farm. The citrus isn't an ingredient shipped in from somewhere else to create a flavor. It's growing right there beside the coffee. We love that. Bean Details ORIGIN: Sonsón, Antioquia, Colombia PRODUCER: Oscar Osorio ELEVATION: 1,850 masl FARM SIZE: 12 hectares VARIETY: Castillo PROCESS: Citrus Co-Ferment FERMENTATION: Mandarin lime leaves, water & molasses; mandarin peel added after 24 hours; 5 additional days of fermentation DRYING: Sun-bed dryers, 3–4 weeks HARVEST: May 2026 ROAST TYPE: Light Tasting Notes Tart Lime • Citrus Peel • Sprite • Orange Milkshake