Juan's Profile

  Juan Saldarriaga is the producer of our first ever geisha lot at Macondo, he has two farms which produce countless varieties and drying processes under his management. Not only passionate about coffee Juan studied History, Politics and Philosophy in Germany before returning to Colombia in 2012 to take over from his father on the family farms. Before the move in 2012 Juan noticed the European coffee scene changing, people looking for rare unique cups, quality focused and looking to access farmers directly. Cup profiles emerging with much high clarity and more ‘interesting’ descriptors than the classic regional profiles his family produced. Juan brought this to his father Luis Fernando and they began taking steps to increase quality.

After drying was identified as a problem for cup clarity Juan set out to explore new methods for the farms, with 200 square metres of shelves (that can be moved from sun to shade) and basically anything other than traditional mechanical silos. The innovation he has become best known for is his Cold Dryer - for this he has basically installed a giant fridge on the side on a hill, originally designed for drying fruits with cold air. With this Juan and the team can control not only drying but other important parameters and customise the natural drying process to create a cleaner and more consistent cup, with more experimentation the flavour profiles might develop to something unlike anything else in the region.
	Beyond the amazing innovation in processing and well nurtured traditional varietals like Castillo Colombia and the highly sought after Geisha, we’ve also heard rumour of some pretty tasty varietals hidden in El Encanto. While Geisha often gains most attention and produces high cup scores, we’re most looking forward to future purchases like Caturra Chiroso, the natural Caturra regression with narrow elongated cherries and sweet fruit forward profiles, a heirloom Colombian varietal and cold dried Tabi. Our recommendation would be to try and find the rest of Juan’s varietals (SL-28, Maragogype and Bourbon) with other roasters - Assembly featured some La Claudina lots recently!
Try Juan's coffee here while it's still available. This Geisha distinctive, bright and round notes characteristics of geisha, well structured with long ripe citric acidity and hibiscus.