COLOMBIA - Vereda
Varietal: Castillo
The context
One of the pillars of the El Fénix wet mill was its use by the neighbouring coffee producing families. By housing a well maintained wet mill, we can lower the running costs of a similar set up for local families.
A producer who processes their harvest at El Fénix is able to take part in the entire processing if they wish; but the costs and labour of processing are removed from their profit equation.
As well as being a rare variety producing farm, El Fénix is also home to a developing community wet mill for producers in the area. The project was crowdfunded to help fund the construction of the mill, which when complete will provide the region’s farmers with greater control over their coffee quality, and control over their income through a fixed price payment system. Investment in this kind of accessible infrastructure is one of the necessary steps to make good on the promise of development through trade.Through purchasing cherries from neighbouring farms rather than parchment, we can ensure quality by controlling processing variables, maximising the potential value of the coffee. A two-payment system helps to stabilise incomes and improve cash flow timing; the first upfront upon delivering cherry (3-6 weeks earlier than first parchment payments), and a second upon export. The first payment is the equivalent of COP 1,000,000/carga parchment, the second payment fund is made upon export, and dependent on the price roasters are willing to pay; if roasters are willing to pay more, that difference/kg flows straight through to the producers in the neighbourhood in the second payment.
Processing
There is a general rule of thumb that is followed for each variety at the farm. Each coffee must be collected with a tolerance of 5% underripe beans. Once the daily harvest is complete, the coffee is floated right away. Each batch is stirred at least 3 times a day to ensure that any underripe beans have a chance to float to the surface and be separated from the high-density coffee.
a pH of 5.5. To begin each processing method, all cherries are fermented under a water seal for 24 hours. This ensures a sealed fermentation from contact with air and organisms, and a controlled temperature that sits between 19 to 21 degrees celsius.
Anoxic Washed
Once cherries are received, they are hand-picked and floated to ensure only those of the best quality continue to the processing stage. These cherries are placed into a deep cleaned fermentation tank. A sheet is then placed over the cherries, which is then submerged with cool water. The seal created by the water pressing onto the sheeting creates a vacuum effect on the coffee below, creating an anoxic environment for fermentation to begin, which lasts for 48 hours.
The water and sheet act as not only a sealant, but a heat exchange, allowing the heat build up to transfer to the water, which evaporates away. A stabilised temperature of around 25 degrees Celsius ensures that the cherry doesn’t over ferment. This temperature is regularly monitored, and if it falls too low for fermentation to continue, hot water is added to the water pillow, to provide warmth to the fermenting coffee underneath.
Once the fermentation is complete, the water is drained, and the sheet is removed. The now fermented coffee is rinsed and drained of all residual liquid. For the washing process to continue, the cherries are pulped, and the exposed beans are washed and graded.
The coffee is then sun dried for between 4 and 8 hours daily, and dried on raised beds for between 2 to 3 weeks.
£10.00
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