Rodrigo Sánchez Tropical Co-Ferment Colombia

Why we Love this Coffee:

Rodrigo Sánchez has become known for the incredible work at his farm Monteblanco in the co-fermentation space. This coffee is co-fermented with pineapple, cholupa, gulupa, and passion fruit to create a vibrant tropical fruit punch profile that we couldn't pass on. It's a lovely summer coffee and for such a wild coffee it has a ton of versatility and balance. 

More About this Coffee

Finca Monteblanco, located high along the winding mountain roads of Vereda La Tocora in the San Adolfo municipality above Pitalito, is a family farm managed by Rodrigo Sanchez Valencia in the tradition of coffee cultivation that began with his grandfather. Monteblanco’s 18 hectares sit on the crest of a hill, with the wetmill and drying facilities at the top of the farm and slopes of coffee planted below. 

In 2002 Rodrigo participated in a local program teaching local children of coffee producers to cup. Before that, he and his family had never considered coffee in terms of cup profile. By learning to differentiate profiles, he and his father and grandfather were able to make the connections between the farming techniques they applied and coffee’s resulting attributes in the cup. 

At this time, Rodrigo also began to learn about cupping competitions that evaluate the best lots from farms in a region. He noticed that farms would win one year and then never again, so he decided to investigate how to produce quality coffee consistently. This led him to explore the trees planted on Monteblanco, where he discovered various varieties his grandfather had planted in the 1980’s. One of these varieties is Purple Caturra, a type of Caturra whose cherries ripen to a deep purple color. 

Rodrigo is proud that he, his wife Claudia Samboni, farm manager Don Gerardo, and the team that works in the fields and at the mill have reached the goal of achieving consistent quality. Finca Monteblanco produces microlots with each harvest that serve as competition coffees around the world, but the farm also consistently produces containers of delicious coffees that appear year-round on café menus and retail shelves. By applying an ethic of rigorous monitoring, planning, and management at each stage of production and processing, all coffees from Monteblanco showcase their full potential. 

Harvesting and processing on Monteblanco have had to evolve with the times, adapting to a changing climate that yields harvest times dispersed through ten months of the year rather than in a concentrated peak. Coffees from Monteblanco are milled and prepared for export at the new, state-of-the-art Aromas del Sur drymill in Pitalito. 

This lot showcases a highly controlled, multi-stage co-fermentation process developed through years of experimentation.

The process begins with the isolation and cultivation of specific microorganisms, primarily Lactobacillus and Saccharomyces cerevisiae. These are grown separately and then combined into a “mother culture,” which is progressively enriched with tropical fruits - pineapple, cholupa, gulupa, and passion fruit - as well as natural sugars such as molasses and cane sugar. Over approximately 8 days (190 hours), this culture ferments and develops, building complexity while reaching carefully monitored pH and Brix levels.

Once the culture is ready, freshly harvested cherries are sorted, floated to remove defects. The coffee is then transferred into sealed fermentation tanks, where the prepared fruit culture is added directly to the coffee mass.

A second fermentation follows, lasting roughly 150 hours, during which strict controls are maintained. The team ensures Brix levels remain stable and acidity does not become excessive, preserving balance while encouraging expressive fruit development.

The intention throughout is precision—not intensity for its own sake. By carefully managing microbial activity and nutrient inputs, the process integrates tropical fruit characteristics without overwhelming the inherent profile of the coffee.

After fermentation, the coffee is dried slowly using a combination of parabolic dryers and raised beds, stabilizing the seed and preserving the nuanced aromatics developed during fermentation.

Geography: Colombia 

Region: Huila

Elevation: 1730 m

Producer: Rodrigo Sánchez Valencia

Variety: Purple Caturra

Process: Tropical Co-fermented Washed