La Leona was grown by Luz Helena Salazar at her farm Maracay, just outside of the city of Armenia in the Quindío region of Colombia. Maracay is an 8 hectare farm on which Luz Helena has been producing coffee for the past 20 years. Having heard her husband, Jairo Arcila, talk of his work on coffee farms Luz Helena was inspired to learn more about the production of coffee, eventually moving into farming herself. The transition to a focus on specialty grade coffee has resulted in lots like the one we have secured for this harvest.

A strict ripeness criteria for picking, followed by flotation then hand-sorting removes as many defects as possible and lays the foundation for a more uniform washed fermentation process. This submerged fermentation lasts 30 hours before the cherries are mechanically pulped, gently washed then dried in a controlled environment. This measured and monitored process yields clean and crisp flavours, emphasising the malic, apple-like characteristic.