A daily-driver from a 100-year-old farm

Most coffee writing focuses on the exotic. The microlots, the experiments, the once-in-a-lifetime cups. We do that too. But it would be dishonest to pretend most days don't end with us drinking an unfussy, sweet, chocolatey-apple-and-almond cup of Colombia.

Finca La Esperanza is a 35-hectare farm in Pitalito, in the Huila department of Colombia, at about 1,700 meters. It's been in the Bermúdez family for three generations. They grow Caturra and Castillo varietals on volcanic soil, wet-mill on-site, and dry the parchment coffee on parabolic beds for 14-18 days.

Don Hernan Bermúdez, the second-generation farmer, can tell you the harvest dates of the last 30 years from memory.

This is the coffee we recommend to everyone who's switching from grocery store coffee for the first time. It's forgiving — it tastes good even if you mess up the brew — but it has actual character. Brew it as drip if that's what you have. Brew it as pour-over if you want to hear what it's really capable of.