Colombian Huila – Manos Juntas Micromill – Striped Red Bourbon – Anaerobic Natural

Description

Although growing coffee includes lot of science by default. Coffees like this are taking it to the next level.

This is a controlled fermentation natural processed coffee, done is sealed tanks – as opposed to just drying the cherries slowly outside, letting them ferment naturally. This allows farmers and processors to really dial in the natural processing.

This is a cool top lot put together by our buddies @ Cafe Imports on a single strain Striped Red Bourbon lot. Unique and highly rated. A fun lot for home roasters to play with, cutting edge new wave coffee and processing without crazily breaking the bank. Panama takes the cake for tanked coffee in our opinon, but the lots often sell for $30+/lb, crazy money but mighty fine coffee.  This lot is proof Colombia is not super far behind though. A labor of love on the producing end with all the extra equipment and time it takes to produce.

Tasting Notes:
Fuller bodied and a bit higher acidity (more buzzy than citric), this is a great medium roast coffee. Tasty from light to dark but smack in the middle was our favorite. Although semi-fruity, this is not like an open air natural, its a bit more subtle, more grape skin like than traditional red-fruit. Pulls some balance with a sweet classic Colombian nutty/chocolate darker tone with some exotic spice accents, reminiscent of bergamot tea (which is usually an Ethiopian descriptor). On the sweeter side, one can get a little hit of caramel between the sweet nutty, chocolaty and fruit like tones. Lighter roasts are a little thinner with lots of floral/fruit tones, A nice medium roast pulled great balance between fruity and chocolate spice, buzzy acidity and a sweet edge. Dark roast themselves were good, but burn out most of the jazz, much more similar to a traditional Colombian. 

Roasting Notes:
A little more of a challenge to roast, high chaff and a bit uneven. Best to bring up to temp a little slower with a small reduction in batch size. Around a medium roast all the beans should be through first crack. If you are shooting for lighter, you might see a couple still golden enough to want to flick out, but worth the extra effort, a very cool jazzy cup. 

Coffee Bio:
Manos Juntas is a micromill in Sotara area of Colombia’s Cauca region, operated and managed by Banexport. The entire concept of this micromill is based on simplifying tasks and responsibilities, for both producers and Banexport.

This particular offering was first purchased in its cherry form when delivered by local producers on the day of harvest in Huila. Upon arrival, the Brix and pH were recorded, and the cherries are placed in large hermetic tanks for a five-day-long anaerobic fermentation and transferred to Cauca: Each tank is labeled with the name of the producer, to retain traceability. During this period, nitrogen gas is introduced into the tanks in order to stimulate the yeast. Brix and pH are measured constantly through this process and are used to determine the stopping point for fermentation; the coffee is then subjected to 20°C temperatures in order to cease fermentation and remove the yeast and other microorganisms.

Once dried, the coffee is cupped and the lots created.

Banexport believes that when it comes to a breakdown in factors that contribute to quality:

• 50% is determined by crop production (fertilization, pruning, and proper harvest of cherries)
• 50% is determined by post-harvest processing (fermentation, pulping, drying, and storage)

Based on this understanding, Banexport decided to establish Manos Juntas Micromill, in which they purchase cherries from producers and manage the processing, drying, and storage themselves. This model allows producers to focus on healthy production of specialty coffee, while the meticulous work of sorting, processing, drying, and storing is managed by Banexport’s team.

Key takeaways about this program:

1. Producers deliver and sell coffee in cherry form to Banexport, by total weight. The riper the cherry, the heavier it is. This encourages better harvest practice that directly correlates to higher quality.
2. Producers get paid upfront for their coffee, typically producers have to wait 35 to 40 days for coffee to dry before selling it.
3. Banexport guarantees to pay producers a fixed price well above the market value for these cherries.
4. Producers involved are from surrounding farms. This means they need only to travel a short distance to deliver coffee, as opposed to driving many kilometers into town.
5. Coffee infrastructure, like drying beds, fermentation tanks, and depulpers, can be very expensive to purchase and maintain. With this model, farmers can forgo all of this hassle and focus on maintaining healthy trees.