Releasing 4/7 10am EST

Tasting Like: Green Apple Hi-Chews, Green Apple Sour Straws Candy, Malin+Goetz Mojito Candle, Violet Flowers

Farm: Campo Hermoso
Producers: Edwin Noreña
Variety: Caturra
Process: Carbonic Macerated + Dehydrated Green Apples Co-Ferment
Origin: Quindío, Colombia
Altitude: 1650masl

I had last year's harvest of this coffee from Dak, whom we find ourselves constantly compared to-being often dubbed "the dak of america" haha. I'm humbled by this and I guess it's fitting as we clearly enjoy a lot of the same coffees and share a lot of principles. And while we're likely a kiss lighter than they are in roast preferences, and definitely not fiscally as successful as they are yet, we will be to an even greater degree I believe and I selfishly prefer our roast profile of this same coffee. I found this coffee incredibly fitting for our most recent installment of our roasters choice subscription-as we share a lot of the same customers as Dak. I love this coffee and it's childishly fun as most of Edwin's coffees are-and I've intentionally been aiming to familiarize his work to our subscribers during the first quarter of the year. This is the second of three coffees we'll be sharing with our subscribers and likely the most vibrant. Green sour candy straws (yum) forward with more nuance than other roasts where we find ourselves reminiscent of Malin+Goetz's Mojito candle, their best one ever they just discontinued. If you ever see one for sale, BUY it-it's the most unique and lovely aroma. Or, alternatively, just grab a box of this and you'll understand what we're talking about.

Let's break down the process on this coffee: Edwin Noreña doesn't do anything halfway, which you likely can tell by now. This green apple co-ferment is basically a wild experiment that would make most cost-conscious producers nervous. This is a multi-stage fermentation process that's part science, part artistry, and mostly just bonkers. Even with all of the craziness, Edwin doesn't ever "throw some things in the tank and see what happens"-the best producers never do despite what the old guard of our industry do their best to convince you of. Edwin's a high grade chemist who by now has this process dialed in to the point where he could probably teach chemistry at university level while being blindfolded. The whole process starts with meticulously hand-sorted cherries going through not one, not two, but essentially three distinct fermentation phases. First up is a twenty-four hour anaerobic fermentation in sealed tanks, which gets the natural yeast activity started and begins breaking down the cherries' sugars. Then comes the carbonic maceration phase: forty-eight hours in CO2, which is where things really begin to happen. This slow, pressure-built environment changes how the fruit flavors develop inside the bean's cellular walls itself. It's also important to share with you that Edwin, during these first two fermentations, is collecting the "mossto" of the tanks. For those unfamiliar, mossto is essentially the concentrated, sugary liquid that leaches out of the fermenting cherries, kind of like grape must in winemaking but way more intense and bacterially rich. After the first two fermentations wrap up, Edwin depulps the cherries and takes that collected mossto into fermentation round three. He ferments the mossto separately with added glucose (pure sugar solution) and dehydrated green apple pieces that rehydrate and infuse their natural essence, if you would, into this already concentrated fruity liquid. This mix sits fermenting for seventy-two hours where the coffee beans are literally marinating microbiologically. From our past conversations with producers we've learned that the ratios matter most in this type of fermentation. Edwin likes his more intense co-ferments like this to be about 30% mossto mixture to 70% cherries. Too much and you risk overwhelming the coffee's natural character, too little and you've done it all for nothing. Finally the tanks are emptied and the coffee goes straight to mechanical dryers to rest before being sent out to us. Pretty much as close to tank-to-roaster as it gets. Insane.

Includes QR code to applicable Tasting Guide™
Recommended Music to accompany brewing: Pulsewidth by Aphex Twin