September (Ottawa)
Colombia - El Paraiso Koji Geisha & Pink Bourbon 200g
Impressions: Rose Water, Strawberry, Fruit Candy, Wine
Process: Koji Supernatural
Producer: Diego Bermudez
Variety: Geisha + Pink Bourbon
Altitude: 1930 MASL
Region: Cauca
Country: Colombia
Farm: El Paraiso
The Koji process is a relatively new processing method developed by Kaapo Paavolainen, Christopher Feran, & Forest Coffee.
With the Koji process, you sprinkle Koji spores, which are filamentous fungi traditionally used to ferment soybeans into miso or soy sauce, onto the ripe coffee cherries. The Koji unlocks sugars unavailable during fermentation with traditional yeast or bacteria.
It produces glutamate in the coffee & breaks starches into fermentable sugar, which leads to enhanced complexity, structure, aroma, & sweetness.
Diego is an absolute genius when it comes to methodology in coffee processing. Rather than using standard anaerobic fermentation tanks he uses precise bio reactors to ferment the product measuring everything from time, temp, ph, sugar content and microbial load. These coffees are nothing like you've experienced before.
We're excited to feature Diego's Koji Supernatural Geisha Pink Bourbon. Koji processing made popular by coffee educator Christopher Feran and can read more about
HERE, is a large advancement in processing producing incredible flavours.
His continuous efforts to advance his post-harvest techniques are evident in the outstanding clarity and sweetness of this year's harvest.
Harvested cherries are measured for their sugar content, ensuring a reading of 22 degrees Brix is reached before picking. Selected ripe cherries are floated in water to remove defects before being washed in a mixture of water and alcohol. The cherries are then put into food-grade plastic tanks, where they undergo a period of fermentation for 100–120 hours. Afterwards, the cherries are rinsed with clean water and alcohol and dried for approximately 20 days on covered patios until the humidity level reaches 10-11%.
We wouldn't classify this as a typical Anaerobic Natural as that would imply that it's fermentation with void of oxygen. In talking with Jeff at Apex we have learnt that Frank leaves the lids of the plastic tanks removed, and this creates a coffee that is different than a traditional Natural process but not quite as funky as a traditional Anaerobic. We love it for its complexity, sparkling acidity and juicy sweetness. Reminding us of our favourite party punch, with impressions of lemon-lime and cranberries.
