Ernedis Rodriguez - EL PARAISO - LOT #2

About This Coffee

Ernedis presented two distinct Caturra lots this year, and after extensive tasting, we found them uniquely different enough to keep fully separated. In the cup we find red fruit, yellow plum, and Key lime. We have worked with Ernedis Rodríguez on and off for several years, and his commitment to quality is truly remarkable. He stands out for his dedication to continuously investing in his farm, El Paraíso. Over the past decade, he has focused exclusively on improving quality, earning higher prices for his coffee year after year. This success has allowed him to expand his workforce—hiring more hands for harvesting and fertilizing—while dedicating much of his time to refining processing and drying. Caturra is a natural mutation of the Bourbon variety. It was discovered on a plantation in the state of Minas Gerais in Brazil sometime between 1915 and 1918. Today, it is one of the most economically important coffees in Central America, to the extent that it is often used as a benchmark against which new cultivars are tested. In Colombia, Caturra was thought to represent nearly half of the country’s production before a government-sponsored program beginning in 2008 incentivized the renovation of over three billion coffee trees with the leaf rust-resistant Castillo variety (which has Caturra parentage).