Carmen Montoya produced the first Chiroso that we ever tasted from Urrao a number of years ago. Her coffee sparked our curiosity about this variety and region, and it feels like a full circle to have the opportunity to work with her coffee again. In the cup we find plum, mulberry, and candied lemon.
Chiroso
Urrao, Antioquia
2,000 masl
June 2026
Hand-picked at peak ripeness. Floated to further remove defects. De-pulped on the day of harvest. Fermented underwater for eight days. Washed. Dried on raised beds until moisture content reaches 10.5%.
Carmen Montoya opened our eyes to coffee produced in northern Colombia. Until she won the Cup of Excellence in 2014 with a then-unknown variety called Chiroso, most buyers were focused on other regions such as Huila and Tolima. It is thanks to her that we first began our exploration of Urrao and this variety.
Chiroso is a new variety being grown primarily in the region of Antioquia, Colombia. We only started hearing about its cultivation a couple of years ago, but because of its cup quality potential it is beginning to spread. The variety has been genetically identified as an Ethiopian Landrace, but unfortunately we cannot get any more specific than that at this time. We have been working very hard building a buying program in the region of Urrao specifically around the variety of Chiroso. We still don't know where or how this variety came to be cultivated in this particular region, but its cup quality is extraordinary. We will be working with our exporting partner, The Coffee Quest, to continue developing this project, and hope that we'll be able to bring you more of this special coffee from this special region year after year.
The cost of getting a coffee from cherry to beverage varies enormously depending on its place of origin and the location of its consumption. The inclusion of price transparency is a starting point to inform broader conversation around the true costs of production and the sustainability of specialty coffee as a whole.