The awaited arrival of fresh crop natural process coffee from one of Colombia’s best farms

Cherry Pie, Dark Chocolate, Strawberry

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Tasting Notes

Intense, bright, red fruit flavors dominate the initial impression of cups of this exquisitely processed coffee. Notes of cherry and strawberry are concentrated as in a fruit reduction. Brightness, reminiscent of red grapes, joins the medley in an equally bold manner balancing out the sweetness of the cup. As the more intense flavors subside they become similar to a complex dark chocolate with sweet, bitter, and fruit notes melding into a complex experience to be savored.

About the Producers

Once again, the intricate, labor intensive processing by the team at Finca Chambaku, has resulted in superb cup quality.

The exhaustive harvest involves timing the harvest to encompass the ideal sugar content, or brix measurement, of the coffee fruit. The harvested coffee is floated in tanks to eliminate less dense coffee that corresponds to over and under ripe coffee cherries. The remaining high quality, dense, coffee is moved into tanks to which a starter culture of microbes is added. The microbial addition is prepared from the most successful fermentations of previous harvests. The tanks are sealed to prevent oxygen from entering and allowed to ferment for around 16 hours. After the fermentation, the coffee is transferred to raised beds in a greenhouse where it dries for two days. The coffee is dried and finished in an airing process that lasts an additional two days. Finally the coffee fruit is removed from the now dried and finished coffee.

Anaerobic fermentations continue to be increasingly popular in many parts of the world where rainfall and humidity prevent traditional natural processing. Finca Chambakú is located in one such area. The rainfall and humidity make a traditional natural process difficult to execute well, so instead a more controlled anaerobic fermentation is used. While the infrastructure necessary to successfully carry out an anaerobic fermentation is much more expensive than a traditional natural fermentation, the flavors produced are quite astounding and are the primary driver in this technique’s rapidly growing popularity.

Finca Chambakú is largely run by Juan Felipe Restrepo, a Q Grader and partner of the farm. He is responsible for the design of the protocols and the process that benefit the quality of the coffee produced and processed on the farm, which doubles as a coffee mill and processing facility. The design of the farm started by selecting land that best met temperature and humidity requirements for the cultivation of sugar-rich coffee fruits.

How to Brew

This coffee can produce brighter, more fruit forward cups with lower brew ratios on the order of 1:16. However, more chocolate, fruit jam forward cups are also entirely possible to achieve using a higher brew ratio of around 1:14. Brew water should be between 200-205°F.

Varieties: Castillo

Processing Method: Anaerobic Natural

Altitude: 5900-7200'

Size: 12oz

Roast: Light

New Coffee Releases

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Do you love freshly roasted, unique single-origins?
Join the Black Oak Tasting Club and have them delivered right to your door each month.