Raw Sugar, Pomelo and Apple Blossom
Farm: La Divisa
Producer: Oscar Restrepo
Country: Colombia
Region: Risaralda
Elevation: 1,780 masl
Variety: Pink Bourbon
Processing: Natural
Sourced Through: HarvestTown Coffee
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Oscar is a 3rd generation coffee grower who took the management of the family farm several years ago while he was studying agronomy at university.
Oscar has always been passionate about all coffee process and he saw an opportunity to start experimenting unconventional processing methods for his coffee since at that stage most of Colombian coffee was washed and not many farmers were keen to try different methods.
Ever since Oscar has been focusing on the Natural process for selected micro lots of the harvests, achieving cupping scores above 86 points on the SCA (Specialty Coffee Association) scale and producing very complex and exceptional coffees with fruity and winey notes accompanied by medium acidity and body.
Harvest period:
October – January
April - June
Picking:
The hand-picking is done between 6 am and 12 pm to take advantage of the sunlight.
The coffee is hand-picked and we pay some of our pickers a bit higher than normal with the only condition to pick exclusively the ripe cherries.
During the harvest period at La Divisa the picking takes place every 20 days, with this we allow the cherries to ripe properly thus obtaining a coffee with higher sugar levels.
Drying Process:
The picking finishes at 12 pm and if the day is sunny and warm, it is put into water tanks for 2-3 hours in order to remove floaters.
Once floaters have been removed, the batch is put to dry on patios without fermentation.
On the other hand, when the picking finishes but the day is cold and cloudy, the batch is put into fermentation tanks until the next day (24 hours) and after this period of time the coffee is placed onto patios for drying.
The drying process takes normally between 18 and 22 days.
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Customer Reviews
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NB: If you remember Carmela's coffee from previous seasons please be aware this harvest has a substantially different flavour profile. It doesn't posses the intense winey quality of previous years and is much cleaner (but with subdued fruit as well).
Pineapple Kombucha, Apricot, Rum & Raisin.
Farm: Carmelita
Country: Bolivia
Province: Caranavi
Colony: Copacabana
Elevation: 1,600–1,650 masl
Variety: Caturra
Processing: Coco Natural
Producer: Carmela Aduviri
Sourced Through: Melbourne Coffee Merchants
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The inhabitants of Copacabana first began farming coffee around 35 years ago. Farms here are small and traditional. Almost all work is carried out by the farm's owners and their extended families, with a handful of temporary workers taken on to help out during harvest. All of the producers at Copacabana were born into the Aymara, an ancient indigenous group which lived on the Altiplano (a vast plateau of the central Andes that stretches from southern Peru to Bolivia and into northern Chile and Argentina). The region was known for the world’s highest lake, called Titicaca, and when their families moved to Caranavi, they named their ‘colony’, or settlement, Copacabana.
Carmela has worked in coffee for fourty years while raising eight children. Her farm, “Carmelita”, is about 2 hectares in size, and is located at an altitude of 1,400 to 1,550 metres above sea level. Today Carmela manages the farm with her son, and together they have worked incredibly hard on improving and producing the best quality coffee they can. They grow a mix of Caturra and Catuaí variety trees on their farm, which grow in a rich clay soil under the protective shade of native forest trees, whose heavy leaf fall creates a natural mulch fertiliser, and whose canopy provides an important habitat for the many bird and insect species in the area.
The families who live in Copacabana, including the Aduviri family, used to depend on the local market to sell their coffee, meaning low prices and little reliability. Now they selectively pick their coffee cherries and are able to sell their top-grade coffees for substantially higher prices to MCM's partners at Agricafe, which processes specialty lots at its Buena Vista wet mill which is located in Caranavi.
The first of its kind in the country, the Sol de la Manaña program is aimed at sharing knowledge and technical assistance with local producers to create better quality coffees in higher quantities. By doing so Agricafe hopes that coffee production can be a viable and sustainable crop for producers, like Carmela, in the region for many years to come.
After the coffee was delivered, it was placed into a floatation tank and all floaters were removed. The whole cherries were then dried on on raised beds in the sun and turned turned regularly to ensure it dried evenly. The drying was then finished off at a very low temperature in a stationary drier. The coffee was then transported to La Paz where it was rested, and then milled at the Rodriguez family’s brand new dry mill. At the mill, the coffee was carefully screened again by machines and also by hand to remove any defects.
Carmela worked hard to collect and process the cherries for this special micro lot and carefully hand polished all of the cherries before delivering them to the mill! A whole lot of love and hard work has gone into this coffee.. we hope you enjoy it!
Read about the Sol de la Mañana program here and Pedro Rodgriguez here and about Bolivian coffee more generally here.
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We're always experimenting here at Monastery and our identity will always be with our light roasted coffee. However, we can't ignore part of our coffee congregation who find it hard to work with light roast or prefer a darker coffee, so here is our first Monastery Project, a delicious and juicy coffee we have loved as a light roast and now as a medium roast which we've found unlocks a punchier flavour.
Monastery Projects in the future will be anything out of our normal roasting style.
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Espresso - Neapolitan Ice-cream!
Region: Ermera
We are excited to present you the coffees from the suco (village) of Lauana. Coffee here grows in the forests; shaded, untouched, and organic by default.
Cherry is first floated in water, to separate the fruit by density. The higher the density, the higher the quality of the coffee. This leaves the low density, less mature cherries to float to the surface, which are easily removed from the water.
The Raimutin station staff then meticulously hand-sort the freshly picked and sorted cherry, removing all damaged or underripe fruit. The cherry is then transported to raised beds, where they are dried in high sun for three weeks. The staff turn the lots regularly to ensure even airflow and sun contact. When the cherries have reached their perfect drying level, the seeds are removed from the cherry and prepared for export.
The remaining cherry is not discarded, rather, it is saved for redistribution as fertiliser to the farmers who grew them.
Region: Jernih Jaya, Jambi
About the coffee:
The Kerinci Regency, located within the Jambi province on the island of Sumatra in
Indonesia, is an area renowned for its world-class coffee production. Nestled amongst majestic rainforests,with its highest peak Mount Kerinci reaching an impressive 3,800 masl, this region has proven to be highly conducive to successful coffee cultivation. Rich volcanic soils and high altitudes ensure that the smallholder farms of the Kerinci highlands are able to produce some truly remarkable coffees.
The Koerintji Barokah Bersama Cooperative, founded by Triyono, is one of the most successful cooperatives in this region. Established in 2017, the cooperative comprises 380 members who cultivate coffee on over 200 hectares of land across the village of Jernih Jaya and nearby areas. Grown at 1,500 masl, this particular lot is composed of 40% Sigarar Utang, 50% S-795 and 10% Andungsari varieties.
The harvested beans are first soaked in water to remove floaters before undergoing an 8-day fermentation process. During this time, the coffees are stored in plastic bags which are flipped twice a day to ensure even and consistent fermentation. The coffee is then dried on raised beds for 22-25 days before undergoing a two week resting period. The beans then go through hulling and gravity grading, where defective beans are removed to ensure that only the highest quality coffee remains.
This coffee is sorted into different grades according to size and density before being packed first in hermetic plastic bags and then into jute bags ready for export. The cooperative’s commitment to quality led them to win several national-level competitions since their establishment.
In 2021 they achieved a remarkable 6th place in the Cup of Excellence competition - a testament to their skill and hard work. Additionally, to improve farm productivity, cooperative members have incorporated shade trees and an agroforestry system that benefits both the environment and coffee farmers’ incomes.
Green apple, Golden syrup and Star fruit.
Farm: Granja Paraíso 92
Producer: Wilton Benitez
Country: Colombia
Region: Piendamo, Cauca
Elevation: 1,750 masl
Variety: Red Bourbon
Processing: Washed
Sourced Through: Far More
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Wilton Benitez is a highly specialised Colombian coffee producer with a lifetime of experience in the production and processing of exotic coffee, with a plethora of awards for the quality of his coffees. Today Wilton has a processing plant in the Department of Cauca and two small farms (one in Cauca and the other in Risaralda). His farms meet the highest standards of quality and control and social practice. Granja Paraíso 92 is a family farm that has different varieties such as Java, Bourbon Pink, Geisha, Pacamara, Caturra, Tabi, Castillo, Supremo and Colombia. They use highly innovative cultivation systems such as terraces and drip irrigation. It has its own laboratories to calculate all the details from shade to nutrition with scientific efficiency - all aimed at producing incredibly unique and aromatic coffees.
The processes applied to the different coffees start from a strict selection, sterilisation and characterisation of the cherry. Next is the first phase of controlled anaerobic fermentation, where a specific microorganism is added for each process. After that, the coffee is pulped and subjected to a second fermentation phase which is followed by a bean sealing process that is carried out through impacts of hot and cold water to improve the organoleptic conditions of the coffee.
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