First coffee - Sumava

Planting thousands of trees

As if that wasn’t enough to keep him occupied, Francisco decided to distill all of the knowledge he had gained from working with these talented producers into his own project, and in November 2014, he took control of the Sumava de Lourdes micro-mill and its two attached farms. With help from a Czech investor, he took over the farm, which had not been cared for properly in many years. The investor brought the name, Sumava is a national park that straddles the border between Czechia, Austria and Germany. Francisco is a big proponent of young plant tissue and of new varietals, so he set about planting many thousands of trees, and repairing the soils. Francisco and his team took many soil readings to determine what was lacking, before using mountain micro-organisms to create organic fertilisers, minimising the use of artificial inputs on the farm. Francisco says that what has been most interesting for him has been working together with the weather conditions in order to create the best possible raw material; remaining agile, knowing what his plants need and the precise moment to harvest in accordance with the slightly unpredictable weather conditions high in the mountains of the West Valley region. The conditions on the farm are influenced by both the Pacific and Atlantic Oceans, creating this instability, but also an abundance of cool winds, especially during the cherry maturation phase from December to February. The plants have adapted to these difficult conditions, concentrating sugars into the cherries and adding to intensity of flavour in the final cup. The farm is planted mainly with Villa Sarchi and Caturra, but is also home to 12 different exotic varietal plots, which is part of what makes Francisco so excited for the future of Sumava. He mentioned during a recent phone call that his favourite coffee from the farm recently has been a double washed SL28, crisp, fresh and clean. With all of this knowledge and dedication on the farm, Francisco went onto win the 2016 Costa Rica Cup of Excellence, only 18 months after taking ownership of Sumava. The winning coffee was a Caturra lot, processed using an innovative ‘sweet sugar’ process. The water left behind after washing mucilage from coffee seeds during the washed process is often referred to as ‘honey water’ as it is so full of natural sugars from the coffee fruit. To accomplish the ‘sweet sugar’ process, the depulped seeds were first soaked in this honey water before being left to dry with mucilage still attached. This led to one of the highest scores ever given in the competition, a 93.4.

Second coffee - Ethiopia

Guji Kercha
A rich natural from Guji

Blueberry, Butterscotch and Grape
(250g / 8.8oz)

We have been purchasing Ethiopian coffees through Moplaco for three years now, and have grown to trust their buying practices and the quality that they are able to offer, both in coffees they produce themselves, and those they purchase and export from neighbouring mills. This lot is an example of the latter. This lot was purchased by Moplaco from the Hasen Sormolo station in the Kercha Woreda. Kercha is located in the Oromia region, which is part of the Guji zone, but located slightly further south than the famous coffee producing spine of Yirgacheffe, Chelelectu and Gedeb. Hasen Sormolo is a privately owned washing station, and gathers coffee from approximately 2000 smallholder producers over a harvest season. This small lot was processed using a careful natural process, with extensive sorting and turning, especially during the first few days of drying. This has helped to create a soft and rich cup, with perfumed aromas followed by notes of ripe fruits and a creamy caramelised sweetness.

The Natural Process

For this month’s subscription, we are focussing on a single method of post-harvest processing, one which has rather different applications and connotations in different parts of the world. The basic premise of a natural process involves drying the coffee seed all the way to an exportable moisture content while still inside the cherry. The cherry and parchment layer surrounding the seed are then removed at the dry mill before export. As fermentation is occurring throughout the entire drying process, often open to the elements, controlling the process carefully can lead to very different profiles in the cup.

A new era of Natural

To create very high quality naturals requires a different level of care than simply leaving cherries to dry in the sun. The two main challenges are controlling the level and evenness of the fermentation, and sorting. As cherries are fermenting throughout the long drying process, with a great deal of oxygen, sugar and moisture available, the chance of over-fermentation or mould formation is high, bringing acetic taints and off-flavours into the cup. This can be avoided by turning cherry often to aid even and timely drying, or even by using mechanical drying, where cherries are effectively placed in a giant tumble dryer. The effect of rain and excess moisture can also be catastrophic, so drying beds are often covered with a tarp during rain showers and cool damp nights. Another disadvantage of traditional natural processing is the lack of steps where sorting can take place compared to a washed process. Often quality-focussed producers will reintroduce these steps, such as by floating cherries in clean water in order to remove any foreign material and low density cherries. It is very difficult to spot defects once the cherries start to dry and darken in colour, so extensive sorting is vital during the first few days of drying. All of these steps together can lead to clean and transparent naturally processed coffees, without the risks of poor sorting, or over-fermentation.

We always aim to tell a story

One of the best ways to appreciate the effect of these factors is to taste coffees side by side. Our most popular option allows you to experience two coffees every month, maybe different varietals or processes from the same farm or region, or maybe two parallel lots from producers at opposite ends of the coffee belt. We always aim to tell a story with our coffee choice, focusing on a different aspect of what we’re finding exciting in coffee right now. Sharing these experiences each month allows us to expand our coffee horizons together, and develop a shared vocabulary within both taste and preference in coffee.

We’re always happy to continue our conversation with you through our webshop portal, whether it be purely practical, or discussions about this month’s coffees. We see our role as simply a middleman between you and some of the best coffees in the world, and the people who produce them. These people inspire us, and we do our utmost to share both their coffees and their stories with the people who appreciate them most.