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About Los Vascos
Los Vascos is grown in the mountainous region of Tolima, Colombia in mineraly, clay-like soil. These coffee trees grow in the shadows of plantain trees on the farms of 100 farmers that are part of the Astobilboa Association, all of whom work to consistently increase the quality of their coffee picking only fully ripe cherries when harvesting.
Many coffee farms have multiple varieties of coffee plants that are grown on the land. Some coffee plants may have been native to the area, while others are planted because of their disease resistance, yield or favorable qualities you’ll find in the final cup. Los Vascos is mostly Caturra and Bourbon varietals with a bit of Castillo and Colombia sprinkled in. Bourbon is one of the matriarchs of coffee varieties being one of the first seeds taken from the forests of Ethiopia and smuggled into Yemen to produce descendants that were scattered throughout the world. Caturra is a natural mutation in the Bourbon lineage. Its genetic makeup produces a shorter, more prolific plant that tends to produce coffee that has complex floral qualities.
The varieties of Los Vascos come together to bring you a chuggable and easy-drinking coffee. We taste a burst of juicy plum complemented by the caramel-like sweetness of brown sugar rounded out by the mild tartness of a fresh pear. This is one that our very own co-creator, Rachel, says she just wants to keep drinking all day.
REGION: Bilbao, Tolima, Colombia
FARM/MILL: Los Vascos
VARIETAL: Caturra, Colombia, Castillo, Bourbon
ALTITUDE: 1,650-1,950 meters
PRODUCER: 100 contributing landholders
PROCESS: Fully washed
Sourced through our partners at Caravela Coffee.
Tastes like
Plum, Brown Sugar, Pear
Brewing Recommendation
We love this coffee brewed almost any way. Try it on the Chemex for the delicate characteristics to shine or on the Kalita for just a bit more sweetness and body.
Brewing Ratio for Chemex or Kalita: 16:1 [i.e. 25g coffee : 400g water]
Brew at home like a pro
View all brewing guidesWe ship almost all orders same or next day, Monday-Friday. We ship via USPS and typically orders take 2-5 days arrive. (But, as you may know, once we drop your package off, shipping times are out of our control.)
The coffee is usually roasted within one business day (Monday-Friday) of shipment. We recommend waiting at least 3-4 days after the roasting date before brewing. (And we think the sweet spot is around 2 weeks!)
All our coffees will be somewhere in the vicinity of a light to medium roast.
The way we approach roasting coffees is called 'profile roasting' meaning that we create a unique roasting profile for each coffee based on the characteristics of each bean (density, size, moisture level within the bean, etc) and how it reacts while roasting so that we can get what we believe to be the best expression possible for each of our coffees!
Lucky for you, any of our coffees can be brewed as espresso!
We aim to roast our coffee so that it tastes great in a variety of brew methods. (Fun fact: espresso is a brew method, not a type of coffee bean!)
If one of our offerings sounds good to you, we bet you’ll like it on espresso too! But, we always like to suggest Tres Banderas as a starting point for espresso.
No, most of our coffees aren’t ‘certified’ organic. But!! That doesn’t necessarily mean they’re not grown using organic processes. For many of the farms/mills that we purchase coffee from, the cost of the certification could put them out of business — new and separate equipment, cost of application process, the time spent going through certification (multiple years), etc. You can read more on the topic in our blog post here.
We are not officially fair trade certified and typically do not purchase Fair Trade certified coffees. We believe the system is a good one, and has helped many farmers and families earn a better living, however, one thing it does not address well is quality of product, and we typically pay much higher prices for higher quality.
Fair trade usually offers farmers a small premium (about $.40) on top of whatever the current market price for coffee is. We either work directly with producers or importers that already pay well above Fair Trade prices for high quality coffees. We pay top prices for great coffees regardless of any certification. Please feel free toreach out to us if you have any other questions regarding our buying practices.
Your enthusiastic satisfaction with your order is our top priority! If you are dissatisfied with your purchase, please contact us to discuss available options.
You have 30 calendar days to return an item from the date the order was placed. To be eligible for a return, your item must be unused and in the same condition that you received it in and must be in the original packaging.
Please note that we cannot accept returns on coffee because it is a perishable item. If we made an error in fulfilling your coffee order, we will, of course, make it right! Just contact us and we’ll get everything sorted.
Visit our full FAQ page or send us a note at hello@crema-coffee.com.