A detailed introduction of Santu Ali Manor, a leader in coffee growing technology in Colombia.

Professional barista communication, please pay attention to coffee workshop (Weixin Official Accounts cafe_style)

Colombia Coffee Santo Ario Estate has always been a leader in technology and planting methods in the industry, among which the soul is Camilo, the owner of the estate. Camilo Merizalde was born in Valle del Cauca, Colombia.(Valle de Cauca), from childhood, often ran to the coffee garden near his home and watched adults process coffee, until he decided to go to the United States to study after high school. After graduation, he worked as the manager of Columbia Food and Beverage Factory in the United States and often had the opportunity to return to his hometown Colombia to purchase coffee beans. At that time, Camilo began to wonder why Colombian coffee often failed to compare with Africa and Central America in quality. Colombia coffee is often thought not to be among the best coffee producing countries.

During this period, Camilo began to study and read relevant knowledge and books on coffee cultivation in the United States, hoping to grow fine coffee that would surprise the world. At the same time, Camilo kept looking for a manor with a high quality microclimate environment in Colombia until 2000, when he finally found the most excellent farmland in the department of Cauca, Colombia. At this time, Camilo immediately began to carry out large and small transformation matters in the manor. The ideal coffee farm concept is ready to be realized in this estate named Finca Santuario.

Camilo first decided to improve the soil quality of the estate by planting a large number of ash plants to provide the earth with abundant and natural nitrogen, while retaining many native plants and fruit trees to provide a diversified source of nutrients. Camilo then began to analyze the terrain of the estate and divided it into 266 different micro-blocks, so that the owner of the estate could easily track the growth of coffee and microclimate changes in the estate.

Camilo decided from the beginning to choose the low-yield, high-quality native varieties, and finally planted the first tibeka coffee tree in November 2002, until today in Santo Ario farm has been expanded with many excellent cup test varieties, such as tibeka, geisha, bourbon, pointed bourbon, etc. Due to the high altitude of 1950-2050 meters, the temperature difference between day and night and the volcanic ash soil, it is especially suitable for breeding these delicate varieties.

The third step is to build its own washing treatment plant and exposure drying room, from its drying room is in Colombia has a lot of very advanced equipment, Camilo first for the drying room on both sides of the installation of large fans, using the principle of fans to accelerate the flow of air, in addition to avoiding excessive fermentation of raw beans can also stabilize the temperature of the exposure room.

Camilo, who is full of experimental spirit, has improved the washing equipment in the washing treatment plant through the experience of cooperating with 2015WBC champion Sasa Sestic, and greatly improved the quality stability and sweetness by using the stainless steel bucket and rounded corners.

Camilo's first batch of Santo Ario beans was officially exported in 2005 and has become the preferred partner of many competitors until today. In addition to WBC champion Sasa Sestic, Matt Perger, the 2013 Australia barista champion, praised Santo Ario's beans and won the second place in the WBC World Series by combining them with EK43 bean grinders.

Camilo is constantly experimenting with new ways to improve the quality of his coffee in collaboration with these players, and from the annual cup tests more flavor presentations and unique varieties are always found.