Day 8 | Colombia Purple Honey

This coffee was grown by Edwin Noreña in Acevedo, Huila, Colombia and processed at his farm Finca Campo Hermoso in Circasia, Quindío, Colombia. Edwin is a coffee farmer, a trained agronomist, an instructor, a coffee consultant, a Q-grader, and a judge for the Colombian Cup of Excellence. His unique coffees are the result of his life-long pursuit of flavor based on knowledge, experience, and experimentation.

This Purple Honey process starts with hand picked perfectly ripe cherries. Cherries are only harvested when they reach a certain brix level (sucrose concentration). First they are floated and sorted per density. The selected cherries are soaked in water for 5 hours before being moved to fermentation tanks for 96 hours of carbonic maceration. Carbonic maceration is a winemaking technique that uses carbon dioxide to remove the oxygen from a sealed container, thus creating an anaerobic environment to boost fermentation.

The coffee is removed from the containers and depulped, leaving 45% of the mucilage in tact, before being sealed in an anerobic environment a second time. This fermentation process takes 48 hours. The cherry mossto, natural liquid run off that is a by-product of the coffee's fermentation, is recirculated through the containers every 24 hours. The mossto contains natural bacteria and yeasts that boost sweet and fruity notes and add complexity to the cup. The coffee is moved to African beds and spread out to dry in the sun for 24 days or until its humidity is 10.5%. It is moved into the warehouse for final humidity stabilization for 8 days, before being stored in grain pro bags.

The cup is sweet and floral. Candied ginger dominates with additional notes of Froot Loops, turmeric, and Damson plum.