Reminds us of -- sweet & wild tropical fruits (THIS IS A WILD COFFEE)
12 ounces & 5 lb. bulk bags available.
Finca Russilandia // Villarrica, Tolima, Colombia
Anoxic dry processed Castillo varietal // 1550+ masl
We got to hang with Heyler Guerra, the owner of Finca Russilandia, late last year in Colombia, and meeting Heyler face-to-face confirmed one thing to be true - he is a fermentation maniac, just like his coffees. If you've been drinking QC coffee for a minute you'll remember past iterations of Heyler's coffees for their intense fruit-bomb profiles. This season we pre-financed Heyler's coffee (meaning we paid him before the coffee was ready for export) in order to lock down the goods. And this season's lot is as crazy as past years, bursting with sweet & wild tropical fruits and rustic fermentation notes.
Like previous lots we've bought from Heyler, he processed this one using a controlled natural method that he calls anoxic pre-fermentation, which is more commonly referred to as carbonic maceration. In this method, the cherries are thoroughly floated, selecting only the densest cherries for this lot. After being floated, the selected cherries are placed in a sealed container and are fermented without oxygen for 72 hours. This is the ideal environment for the growth of lactobacillus, which use the sugars in the cherries to produce lactic acid. This lactic acid, as well as various other esters, alcohols, and phenols produced by the lactobacillus and wild yeasts present on the skin of the fruit, are what add to the complex flavor profile of the coffee. After 72 hours in this anoxic environment, the cherries are spread out on a drying bed and dried in husk till the appropriate moisture level is reached for the coffee to be dehulled. Heyler and the LaREB crew (our primary Colombian coffee hook-up) also have a theory that keeping the cherry attached during all of this processing keeps vital enzymes present in the cherry that stops the seed from germinating, which keeps the seed alive and create a cleaner cup.
In the words of the madman himself, "Enjoyyyyyyyy."
