Las Murgas
Caramel body with lifted complex acidity and notes of blackcurrant, red tea, walnut and an Earl Grey finish.
Las Murgas is a small 2.5 hectare farm located in the Nariño region, which lies deep in the southwest of Colombia, bordering Ecuador along the high peaks of the Andes.
The farm is owned by Fredy Lopez, a young, ambitious and driven farmer, who has been surrounded by coffee his entire life. Eight years ago, Fredy began to farm his own land, and has achieved great results thanks to great natural conditions and a lot of hard work to produce exceptional coffee.
Las Murgas is located in the municipality of Tablon de Gomez near the village of Medina Espejo, in the northeast of Narino. There are many small estates in the region, and, like Las Murgas, many are also relatively young farms (around 4–8 years old).
Las Murgas sits at a very high elevation of 2,180m above sea level, making it one of the highest producing coffee farms in the world. Typically, it is very difficult to produce coffee at such high altitudes (as many plants suffer from ‘die back’) however Narino’s proximity to the equatorial line and steep hills around the volcanoes provide a great angle for sun exposure (which is relatively constant and powerful year-round),which creates the right micro climate for coffee plants to thrive. Warm air rises from the deep canyons at night and acts like a protective blanket for the coffee plants perched on the mountain tops. These unique conditions, combined with the high elevation, allows for slow cherry maturation periods, giving time for concentrated sugars to develop in the fruit and resulting in coffees that are lusciously floral, with intense candied sweetness and complex ripe fruit.
HOW THIS COFFEE WAS PROCESSED
Unlike other regions in Colombia there is only one harvest in Narino – this typically runs from May to August.
This coffee was carefully handpicked by Fredy, manually pulped at his farms ‘beneficio’, then immediately placed in a concrete fermentation tank for around 12–24 hours, and then dried in Fredy’s courtyard for 7–14 days.
WHAT’S IN A NAME
The farm name represents a customary celebration distinct to the region; the word “Murgas” refers to a traditional musical performance that occurs as part of the “Carnaval de Negros y Blancos” festival in the nearby town of Pasto.
