The Timaná Community,is a collective of smallholder families located in the southern hills of Huila, Colombia. Timaná is one of Colombia’s oldest towns, and coffee cultivation is deeply tied to community life there. These farmers cultivate coffee in diverse agroforestry systems, surrounded by native trees that help preserve the area’s biodiversity. Their farms sit between 1,500 and 1,800 metres above sea level, providing an ideal climate for cherry ripening. Through their partnership with Cata Export, the community combines long standing farming traditions with quality support, accessing sustainable global markets.

This Washed Castillo lot processing method balances heritage and precision. The process begins with selective hand-picking of the cherries, followed by pulping. Next, the coffee undergoes 48 hours of controlled oxidation to enhance clarity and complexity in the final cup. The beans are then slowly dried on raised beds. This slow drying continues until the coffee reaches 11% moisture content, ensuring stability and structure.

The Castillo varietal was developed by CENICAFE, the Colombian coffee research institute, and was released for production in 2005. It was named after researcher Jamie Castillo. Its creation was a direct response to the threat of Coffee Leaf Rust, also known as La Roya, which attacks coffee plant leaves. Castillo is a hybrid developed from a cross-fertilisation of Caturra and the Timor Hybrid. The Timor Hybrid was chosen because its thick leaves enable it to withstand La Roya, making Castillo a disease-resistant variety. This resilience helped make it the most common coffee variety grown in Colombia.

We were drawn to this coffee for its seasonal flavour notes of caramel, toffee, orange, and walnut. We wanted to create a roast profile that would show case these notes as a filter or espresso. We applied an omni roast profile, characterised by a higher charge temperature to create more momentum at the start of the roast. We then 'applied the breaks' just before first crack and found a sweet spot in terms of development time for preserving the bright citrus notes, this was a little longer than a typical washed filter profile but well short of our usual espresso profile.