Argote Juan Pablo Super Special

€19.00 – €68.40

Colombia – Double extended ferment Castillo. Bright aromas like lime zest and jasmine. Intense sweetness like raspberry candy. Mellow body like maple syrup.

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Argote Juan Pablo Super Special

Shokunin exclusive

This is what happens when you give an excited producer total freedom to apply his newfound knowledge of fermentation.

Region: Nariño, Colombia
Altitude: 1,950 – 2,000 m.a.s.l.
Variety: Castillo
Processing: 8 days lactic cherry fermentation, then 15 days depulped alcoholic fermentation.

Read more about our partnership
Additional information
Weight N/A
Region

Génova, Nariño, Colombia
Altitude

1,950 – 2,000 m.a.s.l.
Variety

90% Castillo, 10% Caturra
Processing

Natural, dried on raised beds.
Flavour

Flavour: Heavy, bittersweet aromas like rum. Creamy sweetness like strawberry and raisin. Smooth body like toffee and dark chocolate.

Jelle's Notes

My collaboration with Argote is the most important and long-standing of all the producer relationships. It started through This Side Up, when I was introduced to Efraín, Juan Pablo’s father. Back then, they were only producing washed coffees, but with the quality and consistency stood out, I saw room to do more.

I had to convince Efraín to try experimenting with new processing methods, but by building trust through offering guaranteed purchase and explaining why I believed it could work, we started. The first trials were successful, and over time we were able to expand the range.

Juan Pablo has since become a true expert in processing. He experiments constantly, learns from each batch, and finds new ways to steer flavor through fermentation. That mindset has made his coffees more diverse and expressive, and it shows in the cup.

This way of working has also inspired the community around him. He shares his knowledge, helps neighboring farmers improve their techniques, and lifts up the region as a whole. Because of the demand and the quality, Shokunin now works exclusively with Argote’s coffees. That gives us more direct feedback, more control, and more room for innovation.

With the same volume of cherries, Juan Pablo now earns significantly more. The Super Special is a clear example of what’s possible when processing is done with care and intention. It’s not just about variety or altitude anymore. It’s about knowing how to bring out the best in each lot.

Key Achievements

2016

June: Dutch coffee specialists visited the Argote farm through the Field Barista Project by This Side Up to get to know each other and exchange knowledge. One of these was Aukje van Rossum, sister of Shokunin’s founder Jelle. Started working on cascara as a viable export product.

December: Juan Pablo Argote visited the Netherlands to experience his coffee as an end product and to meet roasters and baristas.

2017

June: Second Field Barista Project. First organic fertilizer trials.

June: Fermentation experiment with Shokunin, to analyse the effect of fermentation times on the flavour of this coffee. We did two 18 hour lots (dried on patio and beds, respectively), 42 hours and 66 hours.

August: Cupped coffees from Argote’s pickers’ own productions; rewarded best (Iveth Muñoz) with $1/kg premium.

2018

June: Third Field Barista Project. I went to Colombia to work on the new harvest. New experiments, the Cherry Fermentation and the Kenyan Wash, were discussed and executed with Juan Pablo. Organized meetings and cuppings to extend the specialty network in Nariño and Cauca.

June: Reserved the entire La Vega lot for Shokunin with a $1/kg quality premium for the quality of the picked cherries after looking at this with the pickers. This premium was divided: 35cts went to the pickers, resulting in a 40% pay increase. The other 65cts went to Efrain, owner of the farm, who used it to increase his drying beds’ capacity.

July: Met Juan Pablo at World of Coffee in Amsterdam and served his coffee at the Colombian Coffee Federation booth. Gave him seeds of two new varieties (Red Bourbon from Rwanda and SL28/34 from Kenya) to plant on a new piece of land.

October: Paid the total quality premium of $1.5/kg in advance (shipment ETA december) to fund current projects. Built a nursery for new, exotic varieties. Reserved rest of Efrain Argote’s harvest, meaning all of Efrain and Juan Pablo’s coffee will be Shokunin’s, allowing for more quality control and future projects.

2019

May: Made the entire investment for new drying beds on which their entire production could be dried. Previous comparisons showed us this dramatically increases shelf life. With This Side Up’s quality premium, they also built a second tank above the depulper, to be used for sorting out floaters or fermenting larger batches of the Cherry Ferment microlot.

June: Paid another visit to the farm to check on last year’s improvements and to make plans for the new harvest. Developed six different microlots for this crop.

2020

March: Juan Pablo visited the Netherlands to go on a European producer-to-roaster sales tour. We met up and tasted his microlots together, but then the trip had to be canceled short due to the Corona outbreak.

2021

June: Juan Pablo did his own experiments with extended anaerobic fermentation, based on pH measurements. This led to the first Juan Pablo Super Special which was fermented for 23 days in total. All the experiments and investments into fermentation and processing came to fruitition in these microlots!

2022

We found the Alcoholic Anaerobic microlot to be a little too high in body and too low in acidity last year, so we asked Juan Pablo to ferment it a little longer for this harvest. He fermented it to a pH value 0.1 lower than before, and this harvest was exactly the way we want it!

2024

Juan Pablo came to visit us in the Netherlands. We tasted all his processing methods together to decide on how to continue. The Lactic Anaerobic turned out a lot better than the previous years; JP explained that he used 3% salt instead of 2%. We decided to make the next harvests with 3% as well.

2025

Made a prefinancing investment of €2,600 to Juan Pablo at La Vega so he can plant new coffee varieties on his farm La Vega. This investment will mature over the next years as the plants grow, creating future opportunities for new flavors and variety.

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