Toffee Apple New Process

Tasting Like: Toffee Pudding, Caramel Apples, Banana, Strawberry, Christmas Crack, Sticky and Sweet Dates

Farm: Finca Milán
Producer: Julio Madrid
Variety: Caturra
Process: Nitro Process
Origin: Risaralda, Colombia
Altitude: 1650masl

Demand for our christmas coffee was so intense we sought out the remaining supply of the green on the market and brought it all home for you. The coffee is the exact same minus the limited edition holiday wrapper but we ensure it's still that stunning coffee you came to enjoy. We're blessed to have this little bit to offer.

Christmas coffees from most roasters suck. Seriously. Cheap blends of hodge podge coffees that didn't sell well during the year then to be marked up with a holiday image background off Canva. BOO. That's lame. (all love to canva though). In all seriousness we're changing the game by offering a quintessential Promethium Coffee actually interesting enthusiast-centric offering. A freshly arrived Nitro Fermentation from the nitro master himself: Julio Madrid. Our coffee from him we're dubbing "Toffee Apple" - she's a holiday forward coffee bursting with life, nuance and extremely engaging flavors that make other coffees look boring-exactly what we're becoming known for at Promethium. When I first cupped this lot, those toffee pudding and caramel apple notes hit immediately, but what kept me coming back was a inherent complexity underneath. This isn't some gimmicky holiday blend this is serious enthusiast coffee that's vibrant and full of life, the kinds of coffee we're becoming known for at Promethium. 

Julio operates as both a craftsman and scientist at his two hundred fifty-hectare family estate, Finca Milán, which has been cultivating coffee for over forty years. Working alongside his processing partner Andres Julio Quiceno, Julio has become legendary in our specialty circles for his nitro fermentation innovations - techniques that recently earned second place at the 2023 World Barista Championships. The nitro process itself reads like something from a coffee lab, ;) , it's first fully ripe cherries undergoing a process called "embryonic stress". Basically the temperature is manipulated up and down to twelve degrees Celsius, activating the seed's metabolic processes. After this takes place the coffee is depulped and the beans enter a sealed bioreactor where they're inoculated with select cultures, fruits and a nitrogen injection. This creates an oxygen-free environment allowing specific microorganisms to work their fermentation magic. Throughout six days the temperature, pH, and sweetness levels are monitored obsessively against Julio's past fermentations to time the development perfectly.
What makes the approach even more fascinating is the scientific backing behind it. His daughter Maria Antonia, a biologist, researches the organoleptic impacts of different microbial cultures, helping refine these processes with actual data rather than just intuition - which is where we get this new "toffee" process.

A bit more about location:
Risaralda sits at the heart of Colombia's UNESCO World Heritage Coffee Triangle, blessed with volcanic soils and the unique advantage of receiving both Pacific and Caribbean breezes that create microclimates found nowhere else in Colombian coffee regions. Located strategically between Quindío and Caldas, Risaralda coffees carry the best characteristics of both neighboring regions while maintaining their own distinct personality, typically showcasing balanced medium body and acidity with pronounced herbal undertones and bright fruity notes. The department's average altitude of fifteen hundred meters, combined with temperature ranges from eighteen to twenty eight degrees Celsius year round, provides ideal conditions for the slow cherry maturation that develops the complex sugars and flavor compounds we taste in exceptional lots like this one. Julio's farm specifically benefits from being positioned in the central Andes where volcanic ash has enriched soils for centuries, creating the perfect foundation for producing coffees that push the boundaries of what's possible through innovative processing. This is exactly the kind of forward thinking approach that defines the coffee of tomorrow and deserves a spot in your stockings. 

Recommended Music to accompany brewing: The Order of Death, by Public Image Ltd.

Includes QR code to applicable Tasting Guide™