Cesar Buesaquillo farms La Esmeralda in Buenavista, up in the Quindío hills of Colombia, and this lot is the kind of thing that makes the extra work worthwhile. He and his pickers go through the trees taking only the ripest cherries, then hand-sort and float everything back at the farm to pull out anything underripe or low-density before processing even begins.

Chiroso is a variety worth knowing. It first turned up as a natural mutation in Urrao, over in Antioquia, and for years people assumed it was a Caturra offshoot — same compact trees, same light green leaves. Genetic work has since traced it back to Ethiopian landrace varieties, which goes a long way to explaining the cup: floral, bright, and a bit more delicate than you'd expect from Colombia.

For this natural, Cesar runs the cherries through a 45-hour aerobic fermentation in tanks then moves them onto raised parabolic beds. They're spread thin and turned by hand until about 11% moisture content.

The result score in the region of 88 points with intense fruit flavours that include pineapple, plum and a hint of green tea.

Tasting Notes: Pineapple | Plum | Green Tea
Processing Method: 45 hour fermented natural
Varietal: Chiroso
Importer: Cofinet