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Racafé Excelso
Pecan, caramel, sweet mandarin and lime essence
$17.40 - $46.20
Expression
Tasting Notes
Pecan, caramel, sweet mandarin and lime essence
Acidity
Mellow Bright
Sweetness
Subtle Pronounced
Body
Light Full
Origin
Country
Colombia
Region
Multi-region (Huila, Cauca, Eje Cafetero, Tolima, Santander, Antioquia, Cundinamarca)
Producer
Racafe (Rafael Espinosa Hermanos & CIA S.C.A.)
Farm
5,000+ smallholder farmers
Craft
Variety
Castillo, Caturra, Colombia
Process
Fully washed
Elevation
1,100-1,900 meters
Roast Level
Lighter Darker
Expression
Origin
Craft
Tasting Notes
Pecan, caramel, sweet mandarin and lime essence
Acidity
Mellow Bright
Sweetness
Subtle Pronounced
Body
Light Full
Country
Colombia
Region
Multi-region (Huila, Cauca, Eje Cafetero, Tolima, Santander, Antioquia, Cundinamarca)
Producer
Racafe (Rafael Espinosa Hermanos & CIA S.C.A.)
Farm
5,000+ smallholder farmers
Variety
Castillo, Caturra, Colombia
Process
Fully washed
Elevation
1,100-1,900 meters
Roast Level
Lighter Darker
Seven growing regions, one reliable profile
We get pecan and caramel up front, with sweet mandarin brightness that carries into a light lime essence as the cup cools. The fully washed processing keeps the profile clean and defined. Sourcing across Huila, Cauca, the Coffee Triangle, Santander, and other departments smooths single-region spikes into something consistently balanced and repeatable.
Medium body carries the sweetness through a clean finish. The acidity stays integrated and rounded, a characteristic of Colombia’s washed coffees from mixed elevation bands. This coffee performs across drip, pour-over, French press, and espresso, and we’ve found it forgiving across grind adjustments. Daily rotation coffee with enough character to hold your attention.
From bicycle rentals to Colombia’s second-largest coffee exporter
Racafe traces back to the Espinosa brothers, who started renting bicycles in Cundinamarca in 1929. By 1953, they’d formally established Rafael Espinosa Hermanos & CIA S.C.A. as a green coffee exporter. The company’s still family-owned after 70+ years and now operates seven parchment coffee mills across Colombia’s growing regions, with 14 certified Q Graders evaluating quality at every facility.
This Excelso lot draws from Racafe’s network of 5,000+ individual farmers and 45 organized producer groups. It’s deliberately a blended regional lot, aggregating coffee from small and medium farms across multiple departments. Farmers deliver parchment to the nearest Racafe mill, where it’s dry-milled, screened, density-sorted, and hand-sorted to European Preparation specifications before export through Buenaventura, Cartagena, or Santa Marta.
What European Preparation actually means for your cup
The “EP10” in this coffee’s name refers to a specific preparation standard that directly affects cup quality. European Preparation means hand-sorting to remove defective seeds and foreign material, with maximum defect counts around 8 per 300 grams. That’s stricter than American Preparation, and it’s a big part of why washed Colombian coffees have such clean, consistent profiles. Every lot gets cupped at Racafe’s regional labs by certified Q Graders before it ships.
The “10%” indicates screen size tolerance: up to 10% of seeds can fall below the screen 15 threshold. Tighter than standard commercial grades, slightly more permissive than EP5%. Consistent screen sizing means more even extraction in your grinder and more predictable results in the cup. It’s a production detail that doesn’t show up on most bags but directly affects how the coffee performs at home.
Brewing Guides
Brew Racafé Excelso like we do - here’s how.
Highlights clarity and acidity; best with precise grind, flow control, and flat or conical brewers.
| Brew Ratio | 1:15.5 (e.g., 20g coffee to 310g water) |
| Grind | Medium (like table salt) |
| Water Temp | 93°C / 199°F |
| Total Brew Time | 2:45 – 3:15 min |
| Yield | 300–320g |
Use a flat-bottom dripper to bring forward the caramel and pecan side of the cup. Steady pours keep the sweet mandarin brightness clear.
Full immersion with coarse grind; great for body, sweetness, and lower-acidity profiles.
| Brew Ratio | 1:15 (e.g., 30g coffee to 450g water) |
| Grind | Coarse (like sea salt) |
| Water Temp | 93°C / 199°F |
| Total Brew Time | 4:30 – 5:00 min |
| Yield | 400–450g |
Stir gently halfway through steeping. This pulls the cup toward deeper caramel sweetness and a rounder pecan finish.
Pressure extraction with fine grind; isolates intensity, structure, and balance.
| Brew Ratio | 1:2 (e.g., 18g coffee to 36g espresso) |
| Grind | Fine (like powdered sugar) |
| Water Temp | 93°C / 199°F |
| Total Brew Time | 25 – 30 sec |
| Yield | 36–40g |
Dial in for a caramel-forward, low-acid shot with a clean citrus edge. Full body pairs well with milk or stands on its own as a single shot.
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We get pecan, caramel, sweet mandarin, and lime essence. It’s a balanced, medium-bodied cup with rounded sweetness, gentle citrus, and a clean finish. The fully washed processing and multi-region sourcing produce a consistent profile that works well across brew methods.
It’s sourced from 5,000+ smallholder farmers across seven Colombian departments: Huila, Cauca, the Eje Cafetero (Caldas, Risaralda, Quindío), Tolima, Santander, Antioquia, and Cundinamarca. Racafe, a family-owned exporter since 1953, aggregates these lots through their network of seven parchment coffee mills positioned across the growing regions.
It’s a traditional fully washed Colombian coffee. Producers depulp cherries after harvest, ferment to remove the mucilage layer, wash, and dry to 10-12% moisture. At Racafe’s mills, the parchment is removed, screened for size consistency, density-sorted, and hand-sorted to European Preparation (EP10%) specifications.
We recommend a 1:15.5 ratio with a medium grind at 93°C for drip or pour-over. The rounded sweetness and gentle citrus make it versatile across methods. It’s forgiving across grind adjustments, which makes it a reliable daily rotation coffee.
We roast it at a level 4 on our scale, a solid medium. This develops the pecan and caramel sweetness while keeping the sweet mandarin and lime essence clear. The washed Castillo, Caturra, and Colombia varieties respond well to this roast level.
