How to Brew Colombia Santuario Finca El Placer Yellow Typica Pour-Over Coffee - Why Is My Pour-Over Coffee Bitter?

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The Visionary Behind Finca Santuario

For many years, Finca Santuario has been a leader in technical expertise and cultivation methods among Colombia's specialty coffee farms. The soul of this farm is its owner, Camilo Merizalde. Born in Valle de Cauca, Colombia, Camilo often visited nearby coffee farms as a child, watching adults process coffee. After graduating high school, he decided to study in the United States. After graduation, he worked as a manager for a Colombian food and beverage company and frequently returned to his hometown to purchase green coffee beans. During this time, Camilo began to wonder why Colombian coffee often couldn't compare in quality to coffee from Africa and Central America, and why people didn't consider Colombia among the specialty coffee-producing countries. During this period, Camilo began researching and reading books about coffee cultivation in the United States, hoping to grow specialty coffee that would amaze the world. Simultaneously, he continued searching for farms with excellent microclimate conditions in Colombia. Finally, in 2000, he found what he considered the most excellent agricultural land in Colombia's Cauca province. At this point, Camilo immediately began various large and small transformations on the farm, preparing to realize his ideal coffee farm concept in what he named Finca Santuario.

Farm Development and Innovation

Camilo's first step was to improve the soil quality on the farm. He planted large quantities of Inga species plants to provide rich, natural nitrogen to the soil, while also preserving many native plants and fruit trees to provide diverse nutrient sources for the soil. Next, Camilo analyzed the farm's terrain and divided it into 266 different micro-zones, making it easier for the farm owner to track and manage the growth of coffee and microclimate changes within the farm. The second step was selecting coffee varieties to plant. From the beginning, Camilo decided to choose low-yield, high-quality original varieties. In November 2002, he planted the first Typica coffee tree. Today, Finca Santuario has gradually expanded to include many varieties with excellent cupping performances, such as Typica, Geisha, Bourbon, and Laurina. With an altitude ranging from 1,950 to 2,050 meters, significant day-night temperature differences, and widespread volcanic ash soil, the farm is particularly suitable for cultivating these delicate varieties. The third step was building his own washed processing plant and sun-drying rooms. The drying rooms are particularly equipped with many advanced facilities within Colombia. Camilo first installed large exhaust fans on both sides of the drying room, using their principle to accelerate air circulation, which not only prevents over-fermentation of green beans but also maintains stable temperature control in the drying room. Camilo, with his experimental spirit, also improved the washing equipment in the washed processing plant based on his collaboration with 2015 WBC champion Sasa Sestic, using stainless steel tanks and rounded corner designs to significantly enhance quality stability and sweetness perception.

Recognition and Success

Through years of effort, Camilo's first batch of Finca Santuario green beans was officially exported in 2005. Today, it has become the preferred partner for many competition participants. Besides WBC champion Sasa Sestic, 2013 Australian Barista Champion Matt Perger also praised Finca Santuario's green beans highly. By combining with the EK43 grinder, he achieved second place in the WBC world competition that year. Through continuous collaboration with these competitors, Camilo continuously tries and experiments with many new methods to improve coffee quality. Every year's cupping always reveals the farm's rich flavor expressions and unique varieties.

Colombia Finca SANTUARIO Yellow Typica

Farm: Finca SANTUARIO
Variety: Red Typica
Processing: Washed, partially sun-dried
Altitude: (1890 - 2010) 2050 meters
Farm Area: 135.4 hectares
Coffee Planting Area: 62.9 hectares
Owner: Camilo Merizalde
City: Cali
Region: Cauca
Country: Colombia
Flavor Description: Plum, chocolate, jasmine

How to Brew Colombia Coffee [Finca Santuario Yellow Typica]?

FrontStreet Coffee Pour-over Reference: Weigh 15g of [Finca Santuario Yellow Typica] coffee powder, pour into a grinder for medium grinding. The ground particles should be slightly coarser than table salt. We use BG grinder setting 5R (standard sieve pass rate 60%), water temperature 89°C, extracted with V60 dripper, recommended powder-to-water ratio around 1:15.

With the hot water in the pour-over kettle, draw circles clockwise with the center of the filter as the center point. Start timing when brewing begins. In 15 seconds, brew the coffee to 30g, then stop pouring water. When the time reaches 1 minute, perform the second pour. During the second pour, as before, draw circles clockwise with the center of the filter as the center point. Don't let the water flow hit the area where coffee powder meets the filter paper to avoid channel effects.

When the coffee powder reaches the outermost circle, leave a circle, then brew back to the center circle by circle. At 2 minutes and 20 seconds, brew the coffee to 220g. The coffee brewing is complete.

Japanese-style Ice Pour-over [Finca Santuario Yellow Typica]

FrontStreet Coffee Ice Pour-over [Finca Santuario Yellow Typica] Reference:

Colombia coffee [Finca Santuario Yellow Typica], light-medium roast, BG grinder setting 5M (standard sieve pass rate 67%)

20g powder, 150g ice cubes, 150g hot water. Water temperature should be 1°C higher than the normal pour-over recommendation of 90°C. Normal grinding uses Fuji 3.5 setting, while ice pour-over uses slightly finer by half a setting - Fuji 3 setting. Recommended powder-to-(water+ice) ratio is 1:15.

Bloom water amount 40g, bloom time 30 seconds.

Segmented pouring: first segment 60g water, second segment 40g water. Used a relatively fine but high water column for pouring, stirring vigorously to make the coffee powder roll completely. However, pay attention not to let the liquid level get too high and avoid hitting the filter paper at the edges.

The entire extraction time is also approximately 2.5 minutes (similar to the normal extraction time for 20g powder).

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