Colombia Finca Chambaku

Finca Chambakú is located near Manizales, Caldas in the Colombia Central Mountain Range of the Andes. Part of the Colombian Coffee Triangle, it is a high elevation region with striking ridgelines, steep slopes, seismic instability, and fertile volcanic soil.

Chambakú is one of the 17 small farms, or plots, that make up the Restrepo family's Hacienda el Jardín and specializes in unique microlots. El Jardin's founder and owner Elmer Restrepo has been working with coffee for over 40 years and has passed his passion and knowledge on to his son, and now part owner of the farm, Juan Felipe. Their goal is to produce coffee in a sustainable and environmentally friendly way using organic fertilizer and natural water sources while supporting their workers and community. Parts of El Jardin are left uncultivated and designated as natural forest habitats for the local wildlife.

Juan is the architect of the protocols and processes of Chambakú. Adventurous and meticulous, he is constantly experimenting with new, innovative, and unique processing methods. The farm has state of the art facilities including a fermentation lab.

This natural yeast process, also called Lactic-K, starts with careful and selective harvesting. A Brix refractometer, that measures sugar content, is used to sort the coffee and ensure that only perfectly ripe cherries are selected. The cherries are then sealed in an anaerobic bioreactor for 183 hours of controlled fermentation with an added culture of lactic acid bacteria and yeasts called Water Kefir. This biodynamic culture was developed by the Restrepo family and is grown on a substrate of sugar cane juice. It is recirculated through the coffee as a liquid.

After fermentation, the coffee is dried with a unique combined silo-greenhouse technique that takes approximately 14 days. The coffee is raked frequently to ensure even drying and monitored until it reaches the ideal moisture level.