We absolutely love having some naturally processed Guatemalan coffees on offer, as they often have unbelievable body and chocolate supporting the classic fruity profile of a natural. Our good friends at Primavera coffee brought this coffee in, and Fredy absolutely nailed the processing on it... It has Cherry, Milk Chocolate, and a sweet Syrupy body for days. It won't hang around long, so get it while you can! Definitely the daily drinker in the roastery while it lasts.
Fredy Orantes is a leader among the coffee growers of Santa Rosa, Guatemala, and has worked tirelessly to maintain high standards both in the field and during the harvest to produce the best possible coffees. He is an expert with both larger lots and small microlots, and every aspect of coffee picking and processing is done with care to ensure top quality.
Fredy actively cares for the variety of trees on the farm-- grevillea and cuje are the most numerous, but he also maintains other types of fruit trees and native trees. The soil is carefully nurtured, and soil management includes the application of compost made from fallen leaves and branches as well as coffee pulp. A variety of native animals and birds visit the farm, and Fredy explains that the farm isn’t even fenced in; as in nature, these creatures can come and go as they please.
Fredy’s coffees are processed with utmost care and attention at his mill, which is at 1650 masl-- slightly lower than the farm where the plants grow. This year, with the weather a little cooler than usual, his expertise in properly processing lots was even more critical than usual.
Only the ripest Catuai cherries were selected for this lot, and they were soaked in water to remove any dust or floaters (immature or malformed beans) after picking. Soaking the cherries also serves to lower the microbial count and homogenize the temperature of the cherries. They were then placed on raised beds to dry; since it was a cooler year with more cloudy days, this resulted in a 25-30 day drying period carefully managed by Fredy. When on raised beds, the cherries need to be turned frequently in order to ensure thorough and even drying, so Fredy laid the coffee out at 10 AM and collected it each afternoon at 2 PM to ensure that it dried during the warmest parts of the day. Milling the dried pods was the final step, which occured at the Arcoiris dry mill in Fraijanes under the watchful eye of their experienced mill team. Then, the coffee was sorted, bagged, and prepared for export!
Elevation: 1870 Meters Above Sea Level
Varietal: Catuai
Cup Score: 87.5
Price paid per kilo: 12.20
Process: Natural
