Colombia - Spring Co-Ferment - Elkin Guzman (8oz)

Elkin Guzman's Spring Co-Ferment bursts with bright flavors and transports you to a sunny field full of blooming flowers and buzzing bees. Elkin Guzman is a skilled coffee artist, and this unique co-ferment marks a new level of creativity that we are thrilled to share with you. Coffee is an art form in every stage, and this offering perfectly showcases Elkin's passion for imaginative processing. **Please note this is an 8oz bag**

Tasting notes: Blood Orange, Kiwi, Rainer Cherry, Strawberry

Details: 

• Process: Spring Coferment (a blend of fruits and herbs)
• Varietal: Catiope
• MASL: 1550-1700

More about Elkin Guzman: 

Located in the village of El Portal in Huila, Colombia, El Mirador is a 31-hectare farm planted with several varieties. Elkin Guzman, the owner of El Mirador, has been surrounded by coffee since he was born. His family has always been involved in coffee cultivation, trading, or retail. Collectively, his family has celebrated over 70 years in coffee now, with 12 years of research devoted to post-harvest processing techniques.

All of this research and experience has brought Elkin to utilize multiple processing techniques depending on the individual lot of coffee, including Coffee Maceration, Lactic and Acetic Natural processes, and Natural Hydro Honey. The processing methods used by Elkin embody his pioneering spirit, combining different approaches to fermentation and drying techniques to complement each coffee’s inherent characteristics.

About this Co-Ferment (via Ally Coffee): 

Coffee cherries are fermented with the mother culture for 190 hours, ensuring Brix levels stay above 6 and pH remains above 4 to highlight fruit notes without altering the coffee’s base flavor. 

To develop the co-fermentation process, a coffee with fruits that highlight the desired attributes is used. A 40-liter mass of this mother culture, containing added fruits and aromatic herbs, is prepared in a 200-liter can. This mother culture reaches its optimal state in 4 days, exhibiting rapid fermentation activity. During fermentation, an energy source, such as brown sugar, is incorporated, and the pH of the mass is monitored to ensure it is ideal for application to the coffee cherries being processed. 

The selected coffee cherries are placed in plastic tanks to initiate fermentation. Approximately 150 kg of cherries are used and sealed for an initial period of 60 hours, allowing for preliminary fermentation, activation of microorganisms, and release of CO2. After this period, the mother culture is added to the cherries at a ratio of 10 liters per tank, starting the co-fermentation process, which lasts for 270 hours. This process has a total fermentation time of 330 hours. After this, the coffee is removed from the tanks and transferred to the drying area. The coffee is initially left in thin layers without movement for the first 3 days, and then moved every 3 hours until it reaches the correct humidity level of 10.5% to 11%.