Pepe, his wife Monique and their children José and Kassandra are all directly involved in all aspects of the processing of their coffee, from hand selection and disinfection to controlled fermentation and drying.
The ripeness of the coffee is verified by brix which approximates the sugar content of the fruit, and the selected cherries are hand-picked by a by a group of committed women from the community that have supported them since 2010.
Once the cherries are harvested, they then decide which route to take for processing. Pepe tells us that mastering fermentation adds complexity to their coffees, but it is key that they remain clean and that the process doesn’t dominate the cup profile.
They have developed a complex “Wave” process which involves “a biodynamic philosophical approach to express the best of the terroir through fermentation and craft drying. In this process we take the cherry through a set of “environments” with gentle changes not to stress the embryo and achieve a subtle work of art”.
The key to maintaining quality and longevity in processing is undoubtedly drying and Pepe uses controlled slow drying, utilising sensors, dehumidifiers, constant motion and indirect sunlight to accomplish “the magic needed to curate and “seal” all the previous work”.
This lot has spent 5 days in tanks with an added mosto for the last 2, whilst the temperature was controlled between 22 and 28ºC and with the pH dropping to 3.9 by the end. The cherries then spent 40 days drying in a dark room with a technique Pepe calls “intermittence” - moving cherries into GrainPro bags for a week when a particular moisture content has been achieved.