Brazil

Jací

Anaerobic Aramosa

A returning favourite from our innovative Brazilian partners at Daterra, with delicate florals and rich soft berries.

Unique Aramosa hybrid cultivar, still unreleased by the Agricultural Institute of Campinas.

Available for e-mail and coffee subscribers:
Thursday June 1st at 16.00 (CEST)
Producer
Daterra

Regular price: $22.00
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Sale price: $22.00
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Unique Aramosa hybrid

Daterra initially dubbed this innovative Aramosa varietal lot ‘Jací’ for the Brazilian goddess of the moon, whose tears were said to have fed the Amazon river.

Aramosa is a cross between two species of coffee, the well known Arabica, and the incredibly rare Racemosa. Racemosa is a wild growing coffee species, native only to a small stretch of the East African coast around Mozambique.

Unique Aramosa hybrid

Daterra

Jací

We are excited to share a returning favourite from our friends at Daterra in Brazil.

Aramosa is a cross between two species of coffee, the well known Arabica, and the incredibly rare Racemosa. Racemosa is a wild growing coffee species, native only to a small stretch of the East African coast around Mozambique. There are no known commercial plantations of Racemosa, as it has a very low yield and produces very small beans; about six Racemosa trees would produce the same as a single Arabica tree. However, the species is very hardy, having great disease and drought resistance, and importantly has a caffeine content of only 0.38%, compared to 1.2-1.8% in Arabica, meaning it qualifies as caffeine free. It was these technical qualities that led the Agricultural Institute of Campinas to create the cross between the two species, and trial the varietal at Daterra.

Daterra’s team of agronomists gave excellent technical feedback, but the quality team found wild and exciting cup characteristics, with floral aromatics and incredible sweetness alongside the low caffeine content. We were able to witness this technical and professional approach on our most recent visit to Daterra in late 2022. Their methods of creating consistent quality on such a large scale was truly impressive, relying on a well-oiled team of talented coffee professionals across many areas of the business.

Anaerobic Fermentation

Daterra now grow a few plots of Aramosa, and have found it lends itself well to various processing methods, creating varying and exciting cups. This lot was processed using an Anaerobic fermentation, where full cherries are placed into sealed stainless steel tanks equipped with one-way valves. This means that when the coffee starts to ferment and CO2 is produced, the lighter oxygen is pushed out from the top of the tank, creating an anaerobic environment. This leads to a dominant enzymatic and lacto-bacterial fermentation in place of a yeast-driven fermentation. This process was previously dubbed Semi-Carbonic Maceration after the winemaking technique that inspired it, but through their years of experience, Daterra have now concluded that minimal maceration takes place. The small, hard coffee cherries are much more difficult to crush than grapes, so the prime factor in shaping the cup profile is in fact the low oxygen environment.

This leads to the lactic character in the cup, with a creamy, almost dairy-like feel. Together with the sweetness and ripe fruit from the Aramosa, this creates a rich and berry yoghurt-like character, while maintaining the floral aromatics.

Technical Data

Producer
Daterra
Region
Cerrado Mineiro
Altitude
1200 masl
Varietal
Aramosa
Process
Anaerobic
Harvest
September 2022

Anaerobic Process

The coffee is first pulped mechanically, removing most of the fruit, as with a white honey process. The parchment coffee and almost gel-like mucilage are then packed tightly into a small fermentation tank, and sealed with almost no oxygen present. As the fermentation starts to occur, carbon dioxide is produced, creating a completely anaerobic environment, and also high pressure within the tank. This affects coffee flavour in two ways.

An anaerobic environment favours a very different set of fermenting bacteria and yeast, leading to a dominant lacto-fermentation. The pressure also forces coffee juices into the seed itself, adding more fermentable sugars to continue the process. The coffee is then dried with the mucilage still attached, as with a honey processed coffee. All of this adds layers of complexity to the final cup.