Typica
Honey
Hacienda El Obraje, Pablo Guerrero

Tastes Like:  Raspberry Leaf, Clementine, Concorde Pear

Origin:  Hacienda El Obraje, Nariño, Colombia

Variety: Typica

Producer:  Pablo Andrés Guerrero

Elevation:  2,200 masl

Process:   Honey

Cup Profile

This Typica honey lot from Hacienda El Obraje presents a clean, fruit-driven cup with raspberry leaf, clementine, and Concorde pear. The profile leans into citrus brightness, pear-like sweetness, and a soft herbal accent, with the honey process adding fruit depth and texture while preserving the clarity expected from high-elevation Nariño coffee.

About Hacienda El Obraje

Hacienda El Obraje is located in Tangua, in southern Nariño, Colombia, at an average elevation of 2,200 meters above sea level. The farm sits in a cold Andean climate where slower plant development can extend the maturation cycle, and the estate dedicates 55% of its area to environmental reserve while cultivating approximately 39 hectares of coffee, including Typica, Geisha, Caturra, Castillo, Maracaturra, Yellow Bourbon, Pink Bourbon, Moka, and SL28.

Pablo Andrés Guerrero is an architect from Pasto who came to coffee after working in cereal and fruit agriculture. El Obraje is recognized for differentiated lots and careful variety separation, including a first-place 2021 Colombia Cup of Excellence result with a washed Gesha lot. For this Typica honey selection, the farm’s high elevation and deliberate processing create a structured, fruit-forward expression with clarity and a defined finish.

Variety

Typica is one of the foundational Arabica varieties and belongs to the Bourbon-Typica lineage. It is generally valued more for cup quality than productivity, with lower yields and higher disease susceptibility than many modern cultivars. In this coffee, Typica provides a clear structural frame for the honey process: the cup remains articulate and composed while carrying layered fruit, citrus, and pear-like sweetness.

Processing

This coffee is processed as a honey lot, meaning the cherry is pulped and dried with mucilage remaining on the seed rather than being fully washed clean. At El Obraje, ripe cherries are hand-picked, sorted by color, washed, and separated by density through flotation before fermentation.

The Typica honey process includes two fermentation stages: first, whole cherries ferment for 36 hours in 200-liter plastic tanks without oxygen or light; then the coffee is pulped without water and fermented again for 24 hours in dry mucilage under the same oxygen-free and light-free conditions. The coffee is then dried for 20 days on solar drying panels. This approach can build sweetness, fruit concentration, and tactile body while maintaining more clarity than a fully natural process.

Why Hydrangea Chose This Coffee

We selected this coffee during our February visit to PROCAAL in Nariño. On the cupping table, this lot stood out for its purple-fruit expression, which brought a distinct point of contrast within the lineup. That fruit depth, paired with the clean structure of high-elevation Typica from El Obraje, made it a strong fit for the Hydrangea menu.