El Pincel

Finca El Pincel is a 33-hectare family farm located in Urrao, Antioquia. It’s divided into parcels of land that are managed by third-generation grower José Yenser Urán alongside his eight siblings.

Urrao sits on the valley floor of the Penderisco River valley in the Andes of southwestern Antioquia, Colombia. It is here that the Caturra Chiroso variety first appeared after a local producer submitted this previously unknown variety to the 2014 Cup of Excellence and took first place.

Even after the Caturra Chiroso took out the top spot in the COE competition, it didn’t immediately become popular. Farmers initially dubbed it "Caturra Chiroso" because of its compact dwarf tree size (similar to Caturra) and its elongated, narrow fruit ("chiroso" is local slang for slightly long or stretched objects). But DNA fingerprinting and genetic studies conducted by coffee researchers revealed that Chiroso is completely unrelated to the Bourbon-Caturra lineage. It is actually an Ethiopian landrace variety—likely a dwarf mutation of wild Ethiopian Arabica—that somehow made its way to Colombia. Because of its Ethiopian heritage, Chiroso delivers complex floral, sweet, and tea-like cup profiles similar to Geisha or Wush Wush.

Yenser grows around 6,000 trees of Caturra Chiroso on his parcel at El Pincel. His processing begins with depulping, followed by a 48‑hour fermentation, then washing and an additional 24‑hour soak in clean water. The coffee is finally dried in a greenhouse for 8 to 12 days.

The resulting cup is delicate and tea-like but with a grounding honey sweetness. We taste a lot of floral qualities like elderflower and bergamot. This is a great example of the Caturra Chiroso and how it reflects both its Ethiopian heritage and the terroir of Urrao.

Producer → José Yenser Urán
Farm → Finca El Pincel
Location → Urrao, Antioquia, Colombia
Varieties → Caturra Chiroso
Altitude → 1,850 masl
Process → Washed