The gate to Finca Villa Lucia, the farm that Andrés Cardona manages in Colombia.

Very few things have made coffee drinkers say “coffee can taste like this?” more than a wonderful naturally-processed coffee. And this is an absolutely wonderful naturally-processed coffee. It tastes like the kind of perfect ripe strawberries you dream of finding at the farmer’s market in the summer. It tastes like a sweet cherry in a cocktail. And there’s a backbone of milk chocolate sweetness smoothing everything out.

Meet the producer: Andrés Cardona

Andrés Cardona has been working with coffee all his life and he’s part of a new generation of coffee producers helping preserve traditions while pushing the industry forward. With more and more young people leaving coffee farms for other opportunities, supporting producers like Andrés is supporting the future of specialty coffee.

Andrés and fellow coffee producer Jaime Lopez. Check out Methodical's coffee with Jaime here.

Our friends at Methodical sourced this lot with help from Colombia’s Unblended Coffee, who are committed to helping these young farmers build relationships with awesome roasters like Methodical. Unblended connected Andrés with a mentor, coffee producer Felipe Trujillo, who helped him learn how to process this coffee for maximum flavor. The coffee, grown on Andrés’ uncle’s farm, is fermented for 96, a step not all natural coffees take, before drying for a further 108 hours. The results speak for themselves.

Coffee being turned to promote even drying.

More from Methodical

“Andrés is the owner and operator of his own farm where he is tirelessly working to improve his operations by incorporating modern machinery. He's also begun to purchase cherries from his neighbors to increase his production. Andres also assists with his mentor, Felipe Trujillo's farm as well as supervising his family's farm. You simply won't find another farmer more driven than Andrés.”

Buy the coffee here