By definition specialty coffee is a term applied to beans of the highest taste standard arriving from a single origin or single estate. If we were to trying to define specialty coffee in taste rather than words, Oso farms coffee from the rainforests of Costa Rica would be the best interpretation we could come up with. The farms are a family owned business headed by Jenny and her husband Eric. She is a 4th generation coffee farmer and the founder and manager of the farms. Oso farms own their micro mill and this allows the family to have full control of the process. The coffee never scores below mid 80’s at cupping for quality making them specialty grade standard. Their practices are 100% environmentally conscious to the mountain and the rain forest where they are grown. The mountain provides perfect drainage, Banana trees are planted among the coffee trees to mostly help enrich the plants. The fertilizer used is made from harvested soil from the grounds of the neighbouring rainforest and fermented separately to add nourishment to the coffee trees. Coffee is grown at 1,250 m.a.s.l. to allow for a slow and steady growth of the coffee cherries while being watered by the mountain rains. The farm encourages the local Chiquiri tribe to help harvest the cherries from October to December by offering up to 50% higher pay standards, more than if they worked at other local farms. The Chquiri in return engage in the same quality output commitment and only the red and ripe cherries are hand picked. The cherries are stripped from their outer skin the very same day they were picked and only the sweets fruit pulp is left to ferment on top of the coffee beans, what is known as a honey process. Let me explain you a bit more about the honey process if you permit me.
The process appeared out of necessity, really. In 2005 after the devastation of hurricane Paulina throughout Central America coffee farmers were caught in the middle of the wet processing season (the most used process in Central American coffees). The government of Costa Rica passed a decree that water for non-essential use was forbidden. So farmers were forced to figure ways to save the years harvest and one of the results was the honey process. It consists of leaving the fruit pulp to ferment on top of the coffee beans rather than washing it off. There are three levels of fermentation: Yellow, Brown and Black depending on how long the pulp is left on the beans it will oxidize, like bananas do and change its colour hue. As the fermentation is taking place the sugars in the pulp caramelize and start transforming to a molasses state, resulting in the term “honey”. As we well know necessity sometimes is the mother of invention and in this case gave way to hybrid process between wet and dry with a prolonged fruit fermentation that enhances the final sugar content in the beans. The results of this really shine when the coffee is roasted, the sugars make the coffee sweeter and more aromatic, with other notes that would not be evident in the cup otherwise.
So back to Oso farms processes, the coffee is put on raised African beds after the fruit pulp is exposed and left to dry on the beans until yellow the first stage of honey. The process is carefully monitored until it reaches about 40% moisture content then the leftover pulp is washed of and the coffee is dried again until it finally gets to about 12% moisture content at this point is ready to go to us roasters. Running a farm in this way requires huge efforts and work, but this is the very definition of quality and standard that really defines a specialty grade coffee. “Oso” in Spanish translates to bear, but I guess that in coffee terms it translates to huge undertakings to achieve great results. Lucky for us and you dear friends and customers of Las Fincas we have these beans available in our pressurized can version and the availability is limited. I really recommend this coffee for all of you fans of the pour-over it is nothing more than pure honey sweetness…
It never stops to amaze me when I open a bag of green coffee and see thousands of rock like, emerald, translucent green seeds. In such state they really don’t possess much more than a vegetable smell that ranges from fruity to spices depending on their process and where they came from. As you may know the soil where coffee beans were grown and their varietal will influence their flavor character and aromas. Of course, the real magic happens when coffee beans are finally roasted and they bring out all their organoleptic characteristics which can vary from chocolate like to savory, fruity, etc., you get the idea. As coffee is roasted there are many physical and chemical changes that perhaps you already know about. These changes allow coffee to deliver somewhere around 800 flavor compounds in the form of taste and aromas. Imagine, just to compare, wine is considered a very complex beverage with its 300 about flavor compounds. So all of this is really incredible, how can a simple lifeless seed produce such a complex and delicious nectar of pure joy. While coffee is in its green form flavor deterioration is really slow compared to when it has been roasted. A well stored green coffee will lose its freshness in quite some time. While a freshly roasted coffee really depending on how it is stored and how it was roasted loses its flavor peak very quickly, surely within 45 days.
Ingenious as we humans are, we discover amazing things (like coffee) and invent ways to process them to make the best use out of them. While at the same time creating new conundrums that keep us mind-boggling about solutions. Yes… materials are invented as protective barriers and putting a one way valve is proposed to release the CO2 build up produced at roasting. However, the solution allows us to extend the shelf life of our precious roasted coffee, but not for much longer. I apologize, you have been reading already way to many words and I don’t want to bore you much longer with all the technicalities of materials and processes. You have probably heard it all by now, and you are rushing through this words to get to my point. Ok, well I will try to be short and explain you the theory behind our pressurized aluminum coffee cans.
So, what if instead of releasing all the CO2 contained in freshly roasted coffee beans we where to use it to our advantage? Oxygen is coffee’s ultimate enemy along with the moisture in the environment. CO2 gas also needs to be released from the coffee beans to make our beverage stable in flavor. The release of the gas contained in the roasted coffee will drag out some essential aromas and lipids that are important for a flavorful cup. Also the pressure that the gas exerts in the internal wall of each coffee bean pushes these fatty and tasty oils to its exterior surface. Perhaps, you have noticed on some medium roast coffees that at times they inhibit droplets of oil like a drop of water on their surface. When coffee gets crushed during grinding, these oily substances will end up in some particles but not evenly distributed in the crushed coffee bean. With our unique controlled packing method we are using the CO2 that is usually forced out of coffee and containing it inside the can. This keeps oxygen out of contact with the roasted coffee, while the aluminum container makes a complete anti-moisture barrier protecting the coffee aromas from deterioration. Best of all, the lipids and aromatic compounds are distributed evenly within all the internal walls of the roasted coffee. There is no external exposure of them and this will make for a more structured and defined flavor in the final stage, your cup. Finally, we are capable of extending the shelf life for up to a year from the roasting and packing date. Basically, we create a complete protective negative pressure vault that helps age coffee if the term could apply, resulting in a more intense and unique cup of coffee. An added bonus to our coffee cans is that you still get to enjoy the coffee within the next 45 days from opening, even if that would be a year later from its original roasting date.
