Origin: Colombia
Farm: Finca El Paraiso
Varietal: Castillo
Altitude: 1700 MASL
Certification: Micro-Lot
Process: Multi-Stage Fermentation W/ Cardamom
Cup Score: 87
Pistachio & Cardamom Brioche
We’re so lucky to have a small amount of another AMAZING multi-stage Castillo from El Paraiso, a multi-award winning and one of the world's most celebrated farms for its exceptional and distinctive coffees.
This incredible 2024 Multi-Stage w/ Cardamom (K01) Castillo demonstrates why Diego and the El Paraiso team continue to be world leading.
Without being as unrefined in profile as some of the fruit infused coffees that have emerged in recent years, this Castillo is almost a dessert in the cup and like nothing we’ve showcased before, the Vanilla, Pistachio, Honey and Cardamom notes make this coffee truly special.
Processing:
KO1 Process
The process begins with the proper harvesting of the coffee cherries, at the optimum point of ripeness. Then the coffee cherries are disinfected with ozone, and they are transferred to the cherry fermentation tanks, in which an anaerobic fermentation process is carried out for 12 hours submerged in water with Saccharomyces cerevisiae culture medium. Then the coffee is pulped, and cardamom seeds (with yeasts) are added to produce the precursors of aromas and characteristic flavours of the profile and it is carried recirculation in a rotative fermenter.
Then a thermal shock wash process is carried out to fix a greater amount of precursors and seal the coffee for a good drying process. The coffee is then dried in a dehumidifier to remove humidity, preserving the soft notes of the coffee and avoiding the over-oxidation of the coffee seed and stopping the metabolic processes to avoid over-fermentation.
Producer:
For us, Diego Bermudez is potentially the most important coffee producer of the last decade.
Best known for his outstanding Thermal Shock lots, Diego has become something of a Colombian coffee superstar with his novel and scientific approach to all aspects of processing including rinsing off the ambient microbes with ozonated water, mini bioreactors for inoculating with his own bacterial cultures and a programmable humidifier for designing drying profiles for individual coffees.
As one of the world's most innovative producers, Diego continues to push the boundaries of post cultivation processing through his controlled, extended and infused fermentations and experiments in drying techniques.
He built a laboratory at the farm, in the first instance to learn about cupping and roasting, facilitating real-time feedback on the success of his experiments, and has since gone on to develop fermentation practices that have seen the farm go from strength to strength, producing some of the world's most exceptional and distinctive coffees, and winning multiple awards.
Farm:
This exceptional coffee also comes from the renowned Finca El Paraiso in the Cauca region of Colombia.
Finca El Paraíso has one of the most innovative and technologically advanced facilities for the processing and drying of specialty coffees, with a complete water treatment plant, physical and sensory analysis, microbiological and technical laboratories to minimize the environmental impact and ensure the highest level of consistency and quality of the coffees.
Varietal:
This lot is 100% Castillo.
In 1968 Café de Colombia’s research centre Cenicafé, which is dedicated to studying and improving coffee farming, began a genetic improvement programme to create rust-resistant varieties.
After 23 years of research and development Castillo was released for production in 2005. 12 years later, it is still resistant to both leaf rust and coffee berry disease.