Jairo Arcila began growing coffee more than 35 years ago when his father fell very ill and could no longer work. He started out at Racafe, Colombia’s second-largest coffee exporter. After a few years, he earned enough to buy his first farm, Finca La Esmeralda, where he has been growing coffee ever since.

In 2004, he took a hiatus from coffee to plant avocadoes because of a price collapse in the Arabica industry. However, thanks to the rise of third-wave specialty coffee around the world, he is now back on his beloved coffee lots, helped by his wife Helena and his son, Filipe.

This micro-lot of Tabi beans comes from Jairo’s Finca Villarazo, in the Quindio region. They undergo a special type of processing invented by Jairo, called White Wine Extended Fermentation (WWEF) The beans are exposed to dry anaerobic fermentation for 30 hours, dried on raised beds, naturally fermented again, before undergoing one last round of drying until they reach exactly 10.5% moisture.

Tabi is a new varietal developed by “Federacion Nacional de Cafeteros”. This unique varietal is a cross between Timor hybrid, Bourbon and Typica. The word Tabi means good in the Guambiano dialect.

The result is a medium, juicy cup with distinct notes of berries, vanilla, cola and kiwi.