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 Finca El Paraíso 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 them!
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 harvest of intentionally overripe coffee cherries, which, due to their longer contact time with the coffee seeds, manage to impregnate more fruit flavors from the pulp.
The coffee cherries are then immediately disinfected with ozone to reduce the unwanted microbiological load in the process. The whole cherries are then anaerobically fermented in sealed barrels under pressure along with a specific strain of yeast for 72 hours in order to fix the precursors of aromas and flavors.
The whole cherries are then dried in a dehumidifier - removing moisture helps preserve the soft notes of the coffee, avoid over-oxidation, and stop the metabolic processes to avoid over-fermentation. Throughout the process, temperature, pH, pressure, and other environmental factors are closely monitored. Finally the coffee is stabilized and stored in a cool environment.
And the results speak for themselves! This coffee tastes like strawberry yogurt, along with plum and some hints of tropical fruits as well.
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 juiciest, sweetest cup with the most ripe strawberry sweetness.
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 somewhat lacks sweetness - it tastes more like underripe strawberry.
Rao/Perger water gives an excellent flavor profile that is just a little less sweet and less fruit-forward than full strength Third Wave Water. This water does offer the most nuance and complexity though.
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, but the finish fades faster.
If this is all very confusing—check out our blog post on water for coffee!
