The Strawberry Cream Profile: A Dessert in a Cup

Of Finca La Luisa's three fruit co-ferment lots available at BrewFusion, Strawberry Cream is the most decadent and most immediately accessible. The strawberry juice infusion during the second fermentation phase produces a coffee whose primary aromatic impression is exactly as named — a creamy, warm strawberry character that is reinforced by cinnamon and vanilla ice cream notes, making this one of the most dessert-forward coffees in the Colombian specialty market.

Pirates of Coffee in Australia — who carry it under the name "Soft Serve Espresso" — describe it as roasted Light/Medium for espresso, noting it "reminds us of strawberry soft serve ice cream." That comparison captures the experience perfectly: the strawberry is not sharp or acidic, as fresh fruit can be, but rounded and creamy — the result of the microbial metabolisation of strawberry compounds during the 120-hour carbonic maceration. Cinnamon emerges mid-cup; vanilla softens the finish. It is, by design, a coffee that behaves like dessert.

"Soft Serve Espresso is a creamy, strawberry-forward treat produced by Juan Pablo Velez at Finca La Luisa. Tasting Notes: Strawberry, Cinnamon, Vanilla Ice Cream." — Pirates of Coffee, Australia

The Farm and Producer: La Luisa in Context

Finca La Luisa is a 70-hectare estate in Ciudad Bolívar, southwestern Antioquia. Juan Pablo Vélez began the farm's experimental processing programme approximately four years ago with carbonic maceration in stainless steel tanks and CO₂ injection. His subsequent development of the fruit juice infusion protocol — introduced approximately two years later — transformed the farm from an interesting experimental producer into an internationally recognised source of competition-grade co-fermented lots. The farm grows Caturra primarily, a variety whose clean structural sweetness and neutral aromatic baseline makes it an ideal canvas for flavour-forward processing experiments.

Process: Double Carbonic Maceration with Strawberry

1. Ripe Caturra cherries hand-selected and loaded into sealed stainless steel tanks.
2. CO₂ flushed in to create anoxic (oxygen-free) environment. Cherries ferment for 120 hours (5 days) in this whole-cherry carbonic maceration phase.
3. Cherries removed, depulped. Fermentation leachate (lixiviate) preserved.
4. Second fermentation: depulped coffee returned to tank with preserved leachate PLUS fresh strawberry juice. Fermentation focus is precursor transfer — strawberry aromatic compounds and microbiome integrate into the parchment coffee.
5. Coffee drained and placed to dry on raised African beds at temperatures below 35°C for 12–18 days. Monitored and rotated regularly for even drying.
6. Rest in GrainPro bags before milling and export through Covoya Coffee.

Strawberry Cream vs the La Luisa Family

Roasters Carrying Finca La Luisa Strawberry Lots

Brew Guide