Block Party (2026)

For the third year running Block Party is 100% chiroso, produced by Echavarría Family of Finca Lomaverde and Pergamino.

This magical variety originated near the town of Urrao, some 50 miles northwest of the city of Medellín. As the story goes, a farmer visiting from another town nearby noticed some unusually productive coffee plants with elongated fruits and seeds - curiously different from the caturra and bourbon commonly grown in the area. He brought seeds back to Urrao where the variety gradually became popular among farmers for its tolerance to the cold weather of the Penderisco Valley. Initially thought to be a mutation of caturra, it was nicknamed caturra chiroso (after Colombian slang implying something that is elongated or stretched out). Its flavor profile is outstandingly floral and fruity, especially when processed with a longer, cooler fermentation as is typical in Urrao.

By 2014, coffees from Urrao were performing unusually well in the Cup of Excellence, drawing the attention of many quality-minded buyers. More recently scientific literature has suggested that chiroso is not actually a mutation of caturra, nor is it of any close relation to the bourbon-typica group. Instead, it appears likely that it is an Ethiopian landrace variety that mysteriously arrived in this remote corner of Colombia.

Lomaverde is one of five farms that are collectively known as Santa Bárbara Estate. Located just south of Medellín (and about a four hour drive from Urrao), Santa Bárbara Estate was founded by Pedro Echavarría in the 1970s as a passion project and an escape from the city. In the 1990s Don Pedro acquired Finca Lomaverde and began to focus on increasing the quality and scale of his coffee production. Nearly twenty years later his son, also Pedro, joined the family business and together they began exporting their coffees directly under the brand Pergamino. Today, the operation is fully vertically integrated, with Pergamino also encompassing a dry mill, roastery, and several beautiful cafés.

Lomaverde is the largest and highest in elevation of the five farms. Previously it was mostly planted with variedad Colombia - a rust resistant cultivar commonly planted throughout Colombia - but in recent years the family has replaced much of it with chiroso, hoping to replicate its success in Urrao. Increasingly, we feel that their chiroso production is living up to that incredibly high bar!