Guatemala La Casa de Macario Pacamara
Many of you will be familiar with a coffee we’ve been sourcing from Guatemala for several years: Todos Santos. That coffee has been utilized at every roast level and in our Method Espresso blend. Within Todos Santos exists a functional cooperative called ASODIETT. The president of this coop is Macario Calmo Perez. This particular lot is a single farm coffee directly from Macario’s backyard. This small 2.5 hectare plot is nestled within Huehuetenango at 1700m, and plot consists of 100% Pacamara variety. The coffee is fully washed. An incredibly approachable light roast coffee with notes of caramalized sugar, candied orange, melon, and deep complexity.
El Salvador El Cedro Anaerobic Gesha
Finca El Cedro rests in the La Palma municipality of Chalatenango and is owned and operated by Jose Angelino Landaverde. After a bout with coffee leaf rust in 2012, Jose found a solution by pivoting his focus to high quality coffee which he now sells to the specialty market. Jose grows Gesha, Pacamara, and Pacas varieties on his modest 4 hectare plot of land. This particular lot is an anaerobic natural Gesha. The coffee is fermented in sealed bags for 60 hours after harvesting, and then dried on raised beds.
We’re thrilled with this coffee’s cleanliness, clarity, and sweetness given its anaerobic process. Notes of cotton candy, carnation, lychee, and white chocolate.
Colombia El Mirador Koji Fermented Natural Tabi
Without a doubt one of the most exciting coffee we’ve sourced. We were fortunate enough to visit and meet Elkin this year (pictured above with his wife Diana and me). Elkin partners with Rodrigo Sanchez, the producer of our House Coffee – El Progreso, to form Aromas del Sur.
This coffee is a perfect distillation of Elkin himself. Complex, innovative, risky, and delicious. His farm El Mirador is a sizable 32 hectare farm outside the small town of San Agustín in Huila, Colombia. This particular coffee is 100% Tabi variety, and while that alone makes this coffee unique, what truly sets it apart is its processing method.
This coffee undergoes fermentation alongside a Japanese fungus – aspergillus orzyae. Elkin provides a yeast platform for this fungus to grow in the form of Koji rice. 50 grams of aspergillus to 500 grams rice inside of a rice cooker. This is then dried into powder for steps later in the process.
After harvesting, the coffee is held in an open container to oxidize for 24 hours where moisture is allowed to leave the coffee, increasing the concentration of sugar content in the cherries. The coffee is then placed in open containers for 60 hours of fermentation, but layered with the aspergillus orzyae (Koji) mentioned above. The coffee is then removed and dried over the course of 18-25 days, where more Koji is introduced to reinforce it effect.
The results? A cascade of flavor. We taste notes of red sangria, watermelon jolly rancher, granadilla, and apple.
