Why We Love This Coffee

It’s hard to believe how different the coffee landscape is now compared to when we were first introduced to this coffee in 2019. Today, there are frankly too many anaerobics and experimentally-processed coffees on the market, many of which are done haphazardly and are full of off-putting flavors. The good ones are few and far between - but this is one of the very finest examples we have ever come across.

Diego Samuel Bermudez has been on a mission to transform what can be done with coffee since 2008, despite not coming from a family with a long history of coffee farming. In 2015, Finca El Paraíso won first place in a regional competition and really made the dream start to become a reality. At that point, the family founded the company INDESTEC, with the purpose of researching and optimizing coffee processes. 

This particular coffee starts with the selection of intentionally over-ripe coffee cherries (similar to the late harvest/ice wine type of grape harvesting in the winemaking industry). This added contact time between the fruit pulp and the seeds significantly adds to the fruit-forward character of this coffee. 12 hours of anaerobic fermentation (longer is not needed since it already had extended contact prior to the harvest), with the seeds still in cherry, in sealed tanks comes next, followed by pulping. A liquid pulp extract is generated from the pulp, which is then added back to the fermentation tanks with the seeds for 48 hours of additional fermentation. Finally, a thermal shock wash process is carried out to fix a greater amount of precursors and seal the coffee for a good drying process. Throughout the process, temperature, pH, pressure, and other environmental factors are closely monitored.

Drying is done with a dehumidifier to stop the metabolic processes to avoid over-fermentation, prevent staling, and preserve the delicate flavors and aromas. Finally the coffee is stabilized and stored in a cool environment.

And what does all this processing wizardry do to the famed Gesha variety? Put simply, it produces a truly amazing coffee. We taste grape soda and something like a lemon candy as it’s so sweet. There’s a beautiful lavender tea note, and the floral character is exceptionally soft. Florals can sometimes come across as bitter but that is absolutely not the case here. This one really makes your mouth water and the aftertaste lasts for days. 

Water Recommendation: 

For those of you who want to get every last drop of excellence out of this coffee, our preferred brewing water (at least for cupping) is full strength Third Wave Water (130ppm GH, 40ppm KH), though Rao/Perger water (90ppm GH, 42ppm KH) is not far behind.

Full-strength Third Wave Water gives the sweetest cup, with the grape candy note really dominating.

Half-strength Third Wave Water (65ppm GH, 20ppm KH), which is nearly identical to Lance Hedrick’s Light & Bright water (60ppm GH, 25ppm KH), gives a much more acid-driven cup profile that is really mouth-watering but a bit lacking in sweetness and complexity. It’s a bit more lemon-y and less grape-y.

Rao/Perger water gives an excellent flavor profile which we actually might like better than Full strength Third Wave Water, but we honestly can’t make up our minds on that. It’s a little less sweet, but the acidity is more multifaceted, with hints of blackberry and pomegranate to go along with the grape and lemon notes.

Philadelphia water (Baxter water supply) filtered with a three-stage carbon system with a little softening (somewhat similar to what a Brita pitcher would do) also gives an excellent cup profile, most similar to full strength Third Wave Water, though there is a bit more generic brown “coffee-like” flavor to it and perhaps a bit of savoriness.

If this is all very confusing—check out our blog post on water for coffee!