Jardines del Eden

Java

It was initially thought that Java was descended from Typica, given the similar cup characteristics and lengthened seed, but genetic sequencing found that it was closer to another Ethiopian heirloom strain known as Absynia. Typica, Geisha and Java are all of the ‘Ethiopian Long Berry’ classification, and tend to produce floral and delicate cups. Java itself is Ethiopian heirloom strain introduced to the Indonesian island of Java by the Dutch in the early 19th Century. Since then, it has been grown in several countries, but the current varietal was introduced to Costa Rica in 1991 after selection by a breeder in Cameroon during the 1980’s. This was mainly due to the varietal’s tolerance of coffee berry disease, but it was soon found to perform well and produce very high quality, mainly in Central American coffee lands. The Java grown at Jardines del Eden is closer in profile to the Typica, but if anything yet more lively, with clear tropical fruit notes.

Four varietals, one process

This pack focusses on four varietals grown at Jardines del Eden. Each is fermented using the same protocol, so the differences here are due to the varietal. Cherries are first fermented in an open tank for 24 hours, before being sealed in plastic ‘Grain-pro’ bags for 50 hours, with the temperature controlled so that the fermentation mass doesn’t exceed 22°. This leads to a rich and definitely ‘process-forward’ expression, while maintaining a great deal of clean varietal character in the final cup. This means each of the 4 varietals are able to showcase their characteristics in a very rich and sweet process forward expression. The story of how each varietal ended up growing in the fields of Colombia spans centuries, and involves early agriculture, smuggling, and colonialism, before moving into more modern methods of breeding and selection.

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