Jhoan Vergara best known from the farm, Las Flores.
We spent three days at the farm, following the coffee through every step of the process. What became clear is that their approach to fermentation has more in common with our approach to roasting than with traditional processing methods. We call it Profile Fermenting.
Processing Jhoan Java
Duo Cherry Velvet is the name of this process since it’s a mix of fermented and semi-dried cherries and fresh cherries pulped together.
Harvest is done by five highly trained and experienced pickers on rain-free days to ensure high sugar content and minimal water content. The cherries are disinfected with water with 5% alcohol.
They have five special steps in their post-harvest process:
Thermoshock in 50°C hot water for 30 minutes to initiate the fermentation. This opens pores and activates sugars and oils.
Anaerobic fermentation in sealed containers for 60 hours. This develops fruity and floral aromas.
Oxidation in open tanks for 12 hours, developing chocolate flavours and acidity.
Submerged fermentation in water with Mosto (juices from previous fermentations) with the same variety at 30–32°C for 24 hours. This develops body, but if too long, it can lower the flavours developed in the former steps.
This step is done in a Biomaster, a sealed stainless steel tank where they can control temperature, pressure and circulation of the Mosto.
They can read all these parameters on the machine, including the pH, which should not go below 3.5 to avoid too much acetic acid and thereby vinegar flavour. They can also measure the conductivity.
Finally, they can add inert gases like CO₂ or nitrogen to create fully anaerobic conditions.
Dehumidifying in hermetically sealed machines instead of drying, down to 18%, a semi-dried stage. The air with the fragile aromas stays with the coffee, while the air is continuously dehumidified so it can take up more humidity from the coffees.
These semi-dried cherries are then mixed 1:1 with freshly picked cherries of the same variety to be depulped together. After depulping, the coffee beans are dried in hermetically sealed dehumidifiers down to 11.5% moisture and 0.6 water activity.
