Food Tours · Tour
Same Beans, Same Water, Different Method: a Private Finca
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MedellínTwenty minutes south of Medellin, towards Sabaneta, there is a small family coffee farm with tropical fruit growing between the rows and the Andes behind it. This tour goes there, privately, with your own guide and vehicle. Private is the operating principle. The group is yours, the pace is yours, and the itinerary bends to what you want to know, which on a subject this technical matters more than usual. What you get is the complete chain, all seven stages, and none of them skipped. Picking, and why only the deep red cherries. Depulping, which strips the skin and flesh off the bean. Fermenting, where enzymes in the remaining pulp break down the mucilage and build the flavour, which is closer to marinating than to anything else. Washing. Drying, spread thin on patios until the moisture goes and the flavour arrives. Threshing, to remove the parchment. And roasting, which is where the green bean turns brown and gives up everything it has. Then the part that stays with you. The same beans and the same amount of water, brewed several different ways, so you taste what the method alone does. Most people have never had that demonstrated, and it changes how you make coffee at home. Three hours, with private transport, a local bilingual guide, snacks and coffee. Pick-up from your hotel or Airbnb.
What's included
- Private transportation
- Snacks
- Coffee and/or Tea
Itinerary
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El Poblado, Medellin
1) After picking you up at the Airbnb/Hotel on a…
After we collect you from your hotel or Airbnb in a comfortable private vehicle, we head south of Medellin into the countryside, twenty minutes out, where the city looks like something else entirely. Soon we reach a small family coffee farm surrounded by a mix of crops, and there the coffee experience runs from the plant to the cup. With the Antioquian landscape around you, you get a proper sense of the craft and the science of it: picking the cherries, roasting the beans, and the complexity and sheer work behind an ordinary cup.
3) You'll learn everything about the wonderful world of…
In Colombia coffee is not simply a drink; it is heritage and a point of pride. We take you through its journey from the picking to the cup. We also try several preparation methods, using the same amount of water and the same beans each time, to show how the flavours and the notes change with the method alone. The process, stage by stage: Picking. It begins with pickers selecting only the ripest cherries, the deep rich red ones that are ready. Depulping. The picked cherries go into a machine that removes the outer skin and flesh, leaving the beans.
FERMENTING
Fermenting. After depulping, the beans go through fermentation, which is what brings out the flavour. Still coated in some of the fruit pulp, they sit in tanks or barrels while enzymes naturally present in that pulp break down the remaining mucilage and add complexity. It is a kind of marinating, and it is where the beans develop their own character. Washing. Once fermentation has run its course, the beans still carry sticky mucilage, so they are washed thoroughly with water to clean them for what comes next.
DRYING: Now it's time for the coffee beans to dry out
Drying. The beans are spread in thin layers on large patios or raised beds in the sun. As the moisture leaves them, the flavours develop. Threshing. Dry beans are threshed to remove the outer parchment layer, by machine or by traditional methods. Roasting. The last stage and the best one. Green beans are roasted with careful temperature control, and this is where the transformation happens: green to brown, and the aromas and flavours released. How far you take the roast decides what you end up with.
And there you have it! From the moment the coffee cherries…
From the picking of the cherries to the fragrant beans at the end, the journey is all care and craft. Next time you drink a Colombian coffee, you will know what went into it.
El Poblado, Medellin
Good to know
- Infants and small children can ride in a pram or stroller
- Service animals allowed
- Infants are required to sit on an adult’s lap
- Suitable for all physical fitness levels
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- Up to 15 travelers per booking.
- Mobile or paper ticket accepted
- Guiding available in: en, es.
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