Finca Berlin - Venezuela 

Region: Táchira

Process: Anaerobic Honey

Varietal: Monte Claro

Elevation: 1100 MASL

Notes: Plum, Chocolate, Ginger Candy

Tilled for over two hundred years, the farmland of Finca Berlin has sustained coffee producing families for generations. Originally owned by German plantation owners, Finca Berlin was abandoned, deemed more trouble than it was worth to rise to specialty coffee quality, but now Finca Berlin tops coffee competitions across Venezuela. 

Venezuela is a country that gets little attention in specialty coffee which traditionally prizes sparkling acidity, glass-like clarity, and regal elegance. Seated at lower elevations than its alpine neighbors and less developed as a coffee producing country, Venezuela’s coffee has been either minimally produced, or never guided into the strata of quality we look for. Thankfully that is changing, and we can celebrate the efforts of local producers.

More reminiscent of Brazilian coffee than those of Colombia, Finca Berlin’s crop is round and nutty. Full-bodied and sweet. Where the coffee may lack natural acidity, the producers make up for that by undertaking an anaerobic honey fermentation. The increased sweetness and fruit character from the process delightfully balances the flavor profile.