World Heritage Coffee - Finca El Eden

This coffee celebrates the Lake District's status as a UNESCO World Heritage site.

This limited edition single origin Arabica is from Finca El Eden, Colombia within another UNESCO World Heritage site.

More about this coffee

We're recognising The Lake District's status as a UNESCO World Heritage site with a limited edition 100% Arabica roast from Finca El Eden, Colombia.

Grown in another UNESCO World Heritage Site (the Coffee Cultural Landscape of Colombia). This coffee is found in the high Andean forests. It endures difficult conditions and must be painstakingly handpicked. We’ve selected the finest beans and roasted them in our artisan facility in the English Lake District. This combination of cultural heritages has led to our first World Heritage Coffee.

An ideal drinking coffee, we recommend you enjoy World Heritage Coffee black or with a splash of milk.

Region: Armenia, Quindio, Colombia
Altitude: 1458 metres above sea level
Varieties: Castillo, Caturra
Harvest: September-November 2018
Process: Washed
Producer: Racafe & CIA. S.C.A.
SCA score: 83.50

Finca El Eden, Single Origin Colombian Coffee

Forming one trisect of what is known as the Coffee Triangle (with Pereira and Manizales as the other key conurbations) Quindio sits within the rural Paisa region of Colombia, famous for producing coffee. The second smallest department in Colombia there is a high concentration of coffee producers in the area, and it is one of the key production areas in the country. El Eden itself is situated in a privileged position amongst the Cordillera Central, one of three veins of the Andes as they run through the country north to south.

Coffee in Colombia is generally picked by smallholders with their families and neighbours and washed and dried on the farm, often at high altitudes on steep slopes, or brought to a nearby beneficiary for processing.

This coffee is collated at the dry mill facility managed by local farm owner Hernan Israel Ocendo Usman in Armenia. It is sourced from a group of 10 farms within the Quindio department, all from more technically advanced farms that focus a large amount on the quality of the coffee they grow.

Castillo & Caturra Coffee Varieties

Castillo and Caturra are two very common varietals in Colombia;

Caturra originated as a single gene mutation of Bourbon leading to dwarfism, increasing yield due to greater planting density and was though to represent nearly half of the country’s production up until 2008.

Castillo was introduced en masse to combat the ever-increasing reach of the Basidiomycota Hemileia vastatrix, otherwise known as Roya, or Rust. The fungus appeared in Colombia in the early 1980’s, just after the release of the Colombia varietal by Cenicafe, the national coffee research centre in Colombia.

Continuing their work on improving Caturra and cross breeding with Timor, the polygenic robusta/arabica cultivar, Castillo was released in 2005, the culmination of their research at the time. Three years later a large outbreak of the disease lead to the mass replanting of Caturra and other traditional varietals with Castillo.

Research was done in 2015 addressing the subsequent arguments of superiority and speciality that showed the two varietals as similar point scoring overall, though crucially having different attributes to get there. Caturra more citric and floral, Castillo more fruity over nuts and cocoa.

World Heritage Coffee is an even split between the two varieties.

coffee roasted in the english lake district

The Two UNESCO World Heritage Sites

Coffee Cultural Landscape of Colombia

An exceptional example of a sustainable and productive cultural landscape that is unique and representative of a tradition that is a strong symbol for coffee growing areas worldwide - encompasses six farming landscapes, which include 18 urban centres on the foothills of the western and central ranges of the Cordillera de los Andes in the west of the country. It reflects a centennial tradition of coffee growing in small plots in the high forest and the way farmers have adapted cultivation to difficult mountain conditions.

The declared Colombian region encompasses an area that comprises 47 municipalities in the departments of Caldas, Quindío, Risaralda and Valle del Cauca. 24.000 coffee farms are located there, in which nearly 80.000 people live.

The English Lake District

This is a land which has supported continuous human settlement from the end of the last Ice Age. For the last 1,000 years a distinctive form of agro-pastoral agriculture has shaped the present-day English Lake District. It continues to do so, creating and sustaining a landscape of great and harmonious beauty.

The mountains, lakes and valleys continue to support a vibrant agro-pastoral farming culture, practised by a local community with strong social and cultural traditions, which has adapted to economic pressures and new environmental concerns. Small market towns still play an important role in the agricultural and tourism economies. Villas and landscape gardens continue to provide highlights of picturesque interest within the surrounding farming backdrop.

Artists and writers still find inspiration here and visitors continue to seek and find spiritual refreshment. Its concordant beauty is enjoyed by more than 15 million tourists each year, with increasing numbers from overseas.