FRIEDHATS - David Dagua | Colombia - Washed - Colombia

The Colombia variety, or variedad Colombia, was introduced and implemented widespread across Colombia as a new disease-resistant varietal to preempt the imminent outbreak of the coffee rust virus in 1982. The disease landed in the Americas in the 1970s, and the fear of the entire coffee agricultural sector collapsing across a given country was very real. Cenicafe developed this caturra x timor hybrid and is largely credited with staving off the spread of the virus for decades. Nearly 30 years later Colombia was largely replaced by the newer Castillo, specifically engineered to be coffee rust resistant, more effective than the generically disease-resistant Colombia that over time proved to be largely rust resistant rather than totally resistant. Brief history lesson aside, some producers have elected to continue producing the Colombia variety to great success, David Dagua being a prime example. A variety largely grown and subsequently replaced out of pragmatism, there’s something heartening about tasting and sharing a particularly nice lot of Colombia being well produced today.