Colombia Peach Co-Ferment

This coffee from Edwin Noreña at Finca Campo Hermoso in Quindío, Colombia is a high-intervention carbonic honey process co-fermented with peaches. The cup is unapologetically peachy, with intense gummy-candy sweetness, floral aromatics, and layered stone-fruit flavours of peach, apricot, and nectarine.

Edwin Noreña is one of Colombia’s most experimental coffee producers. Known among friends as El Alquimista(the alchemist), he has developed an extensive range of fermentation profiles, often layering multiple fermentations to shape a specific flavor expression.

This particular microlot was produced using two carefully controlled whole-cherry fermentations. The second fermentation is enriched with a solution derived from the first fermentation and infused with dehydrated fruit. The result is an expressive and layered cup with jasmine-like florals and vibrant sweetness reminiscent of fruit gummies, watermelon jelly, maple syrup, and pink lemonade, playful, complex, and far more refined than those descriptors might suggest.

Finca Campo Hermoso, Quindío

Quindío is one of Colombia’s smallest departments, yet it sits directly along the central range of the Andes and has long been part of the country’s coffee heartland. Nearly the entire region lies above 1000 meters in elevation, with mountainous terrain and a landscape densely planted with coffee farms.

Finca Campo Hermoso is a 15-hectare farm located near the town of Circasia, just outside the regional capital of Armenia. The farm is run by Edwin Noreña, an agro-industrial engineer with graduate studies in biotechnology. His work focuses on pairing specific coffee varieties with highly intentional processing methods designed to create distinctive and memorable flavor profiles.

The farm cultivates a wide range of coffee genetics, including Pink Bourbon, Yellow Bourbon, Yellow Caturra, Bourbon Sidra, Gesha, and Cenicafé 1, a disease-resistant hybrid developed by Colombia’s national coffee research institute.

For Edwin, fermentation has always been the most fascinating stage of coffee processing because of its ability to transform raw seeds into a complex sensory experience. One of his key breakthroughs came from recognizing that the sugary liquid produced during fruit fermentation, similar to the “must” used in winemaking, could be reused in subsequent fermentations. This liquid contains natural sugars and microorganisms that can influence flavor development.

Over time, he began experimenting with co-fermentation using ingredients such as chili, ginger, brewing hops, and dehydrated fruit to create distinctive flavor profiles in small microlots.

Processing

The processing for this lot involves two separate whole-cherry fermentations.

Freshly harvested cherries are first carefully sorted for ripeness, washed, and placed into sealed fermentation tanks with limited oxygen for approximately 24 hours. During this stage the cherries soften and sugars begin to break down, producing a thick, sugary liquid known as mossto or fermentation must.

After this initial fermentation, the cherries are separated from the mossto. The mossto is then fermented independently with yeast and dehydrated fruit to build additional sugars and aromatic compounds.

The flavored mossto is later reintroduced to the coffee cherries in small quantities and sealed in tanks for a second fermentation lasting approximately 72 hours.

Following fermentation, the cherries are lightly depulped—leaving most of the sticky mucilage intact, similar to a dark honey process, and transferred to raised drying beds in a greenhouse where they dry for about ten days.

Once fully dried, the coffee is rested to allow moisture levels to stabilize before being stored and evaluated.

Although the coffee uses Caturra—a classic Colombian variety that has been widely grown for decades, the distinctiveness of the cup comes not from the genetics alone, but from the meticulous farming, harvesting, and carefully designed fermentation approach.

Some experimental coffees shout their process in the cup. The most successful ones integrate those techniques seamlessly, creating flavors that feel surprisingly natural despite the extraordinary amount of work behind them.