We were so excited to taste this coffee! It isn't always easy to find Maragogipe these days, a varietal that we really love. This one has the classic flavour profile that we associate with Maragogipe: sweet, melon-y and delicious. We think it tastes like Cantaloupe, Watermelon and Agua Panela.
Finca Noruega is a plot within a larger farm (called Finca Los Naranjos) where the coffee is grown in a shade-managed forest. The farmers refer to this type of farming as "coffee forest", with all coffee grown in well-regulated shade that comes from native species of shade trees-- in particular ingas, many species of which produce giant, sweet, podded beans that look and taste like something between candy floss and vanilla ice cream. Like a lot of beans, ingas are nitrogen-fixing, which is really good for the soil. The bean plants are also good at producing oxygen and capturing carbon. They help facilitate an overall healthy microclimate by absorbing loads of water during the rainy season, which helps stop the coffee from getting overly wet (leading to fungus), and they release moisture during the dryer and hotter parts of the year, reducing soil and plant temperature by as much as 25%. They also act as a windbreak for the farms, which further protects any plants, particularly those with weaker tap roots, that are potentially liable to topple in windy weather.
Maragogipe is a varietal that we especially enjoy, and one that is sadly a little less easily come by than it used to be. Sometimes referred to as Elephant Beans because of its large size, the varietal is low yield and susceptible to many of the common coffee afflictions: nematodes, coffee leaf rust, and coffee berry disease. Farms like Finca Noruega that are super well managed are able to cultivate these fussier crops, and thanks to help from importers like Falcon, receive really good premiums for their efforts. We're extra happy to have this on our list and we hope you enjoy it as much as we do!
Elevation: 1450-1700 Meters above Sea Level
Varietal: Maragogipe
Our cup score: 87
Price paid per kg: £17
Process: 72 hr anaerobic natural
