Colombia Quindio Tierra Linda Tabi
Captain's Gold top 3! This coffee is our first from the Quindio department as well as our first offering of the Tabi variety. From the first sip it's evident that farmer Alfredo Gutierrez took great care to represent both with pride! It's got soft key lime acidity in harmonious balance with creamy dulce de leche and honey sweetness. We also noted just a hint of coriander and an undertone of florality throughout. A truly exceptional and unique cup!
This coffee represents two firsts for TCC – it’s our first from the Quindio department of Colombia and it’s our first Tabi! Let’s start there: Tabi is a hybrid variety developed by the Colombian Coffee Research Center (Cenicafe) in the 1950s. The goal was to combine Typica and Bourbon, revered for their amazing cup qualities, with just a dash of Timor which is renowned for its disease resistance.
Next up, let’s talk about the often overlooked department of Quindio. When you look at a map of Colombia, it’s easy to see why it’s so often overlooked – it’s completely dwarfed by its neighbors Tolima and Valle del Cauca. In fact, it’s the smallest of Colombia’s 32 departments! But just like it’s neighbors, it’s smack in the middle of the Andes mountains making for prime coffee growing terroir. And they pack a ton of coffee farms in this tiny department with 207 of it’s 267 villages focused on coffee growing.
But we didn’t just pick up this coffee to spout cool facts about geography and coffee cultivars, it’s also delicious! Farmer Alfredo Gutierrez has clearly taken great care to represent his home and a locally cultivated coffee variety with this offering. The cup is crystal clean with absolutely harmonious balance. We noted a soft key lime acidity along with creamy dulce de leche sweetness followed by sweet honey and a hint of coriander seed. There’s an undercurrent of florality throughout that really makes this coffee shine. Give it a try and enjoy a cup that really stands out from the crowd!
Reminder! This coffee is raw, you must roast it before brewing
Arrival Date: April 4th, 2025. Harvest season: 2024-2025, Packed in GrainPro
Acidity & Brightness: Gently bright and slightly sweet.
Balance & Finish: Very balanced with a clean, crisp finish.
Body & Texture: Full bodied with a silky texture
Flavors: Dulce de leche, key line, honey & coriander seed.
Grade: Excelso, 14/16 screen size, Grown at 1,900 masl, SHB
Processing: Fully washed. Shade dried.
Grower: Alfredo Gutierrez | Tierra Linda
Region: Salento, Quindio, Colombia.
Varieties: Tabi
Recommended Roast Range: City+ to Full City+ (Light-medium to Medium-Dark)
We like this coffee best right at Full City (full medium) or in between 1st and 2nd crack. This roast gave us a really nice balance of acidity and florals along with rounded sweetness and body. If you want to focus on the florals and acidity, end your roast as first crack is trailing off for more of a light-medium roast. If you prefer a more conventional cup with classic chocolate/caramel focus, push the roast right up to 2nd crack and cool immediately for a medium-dark roast. You can certainly roast this coffee further into 2nd crack, but you’ll lose any of the floral notes that make this coffee so tasty.
Belco Coffee - "Tierra Linda, a legacy of our ancestors that we want to keep alive. The estate is located 15 km from Armenia. It is accessed via a secondary road (unpaved) in fair condition, starting at an altitude of 1500 meters (Armenia) and reaching 1900 meters above sea level (Vereda Canaán). Along this short journey, one experiences a transition from a warm climate to a cool and sometimes cold climate. The route offers the opportunity to enjoy beautiful natural landscapes surrounded by crops typical of the region, and to observe birds of various plumages and songs, as well as several water sources. The trip becomes a pleasant and unforgettable adventure. Visitors are amazed to encounter this topography with gentle slopes, resembling a plateau, offering an excellent 360° view. His father (Don Alfredo) acquired this estate in April 1986, after selling another coffee farm he owned in the municipality of Montenegro, Quindío. Upon his father's passing in 2003, his brother Hoover and him inheritedthe estate, with each of us receiving half of the property, approximately 50 cuadras or fanegadas, equivalent to about 30 hectares. At that time, they were a dairy farm on the estate. Years later, Alfredo decided to plant coffee on part of the estate, using shade trees, fruit trees, native species, banana and plantain plants, crops that are harvested and contribute to maintaining food security for his workers, and they even reach some small production in the local market.
When his father acquired the estate, it was named La Linda; locals in the region said that one of its first owners had named it this way because neighbors claimed it was the most beautiful estate in the entire territory. After his father's passing and the subsequent partition, his brother Hoover inherited a portion, including the main house, and that part continued to be called La Linda. Alfredo decided to name my portion Tierra Linda to preserve the original name of the estate, and also because the land he inherited from his parents is simply beautiful.”
Alfredo Gutierrez - "My beginnings with coffee were in the cradle where I was born. From my father, I inherited his passion, his love for the land, his gratitude to the Creator, and of course, his love for coffee. He taught me a lot, and today, even though he's no longer with us, I believe he must feel very proud, wherever he is, because we haven't abandoned coffee cultivation, nor have we sold the land. Additionally, I have taken courses at SENA on various processes of the coffee production chain, completed a 500-hour Diploma with Tecnicafé, attended numerous field days with the Coffee Growers Committee of Quindío, and I will continue to educate myself because coffee will always be a part of my life. My desire is to improve processes to ensure excellent quality in the final product".
