We're excited to introduce a very special coffee from a special growing region in Colombia. It's our first co-branded coffee collaboration; an exquisite, hand-sorted, natural-processed microlot that we've imported and are roasting exclusively for Neighborhood, our café partners here in Los Angeles.
The talented barista crew at Neighborhood loves playing with and showcasing natural-processed coffees that bring fun and interesting flavor notes to the cup. Having built a special relationship with Neighborhood—one that predates the shop itself—we were excited to source a fun, premium-quality coffee for them to serve and retail exclusively.
With notes of blue raspberry and apple cider, this coffee is a really fun and relatively wild treat to enjoy! The team at Neighborhood has been dialing it in at the shop, where it's available to enjoy on batch brew and espresso.
About the Producers
This coffee was grown by farmer Marco Antonio Navarro Guerrero and his wife, Rosa Estrella. Their teamwork being apparent, we decided to name the coffee after the couple, honoring their mutual devotion to the growth, harvesting and processing of this incredible coffee. Marco and Rosa are also helped by their eight children—the three boys help with hand-picking the cherries when they're ripe and ready for harvest, the five girls help with housekeeping and feeding the family along with their grandmother—so it's truly a family operation!
The Delagua Coffee Collective
Marco and Rosa are part of the Delagua Coffee collective, an amazing group that operates in the the Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta in Colombia. This area boasts the highest mountain in closest proximity to the ocean, making for a unique and diverse climate incredibly rich in its flora and fauna biodiversity.
The region is fed by several springs with pristine water, and the Delagua group and its farmers consider the conservation and protection of this water and the environment as their shared common cause and purpose.
Processing
The Marco y Rosa is a natural-processed coffee. Upon arrival at the processing station (shortly after being harvested), these cherries went through a 24 pre-fermentation stage — more or less resting. They were then moved into the drying stage, wherein they were placed in raised African-style beds for twenty-five days, and raked and rotated every four hours. Quite a labor of love! Finally, the coffees were passed through a drymill to remove pulp and be ready for export.
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We're honored to get to roast this coffee, both to honor the superb quality of Marco, Rosa and their family's work, and for it to be showcased by our friends at Neighborhood. If you're in Los Angeles, stop by Neighborhood to try it out on drip and espresso, and pick up a retail bag.
