HORS CATEGORIE COLLECTION #5 | EDWIN NORENA | DOUBLE CARBONIC AND GALAXY HOP CO-FERMENTED GESHA

Country: Colombia
Region: Circasia Municipality, Quindio department
Farm: Finca Campo Hermoso, Edwin Norena
Varietal: Gesha 
Altitude: 1600 masl
Harvest: October 2023 - November 2023
Kilos Available: 10kgs in 200g jars
Process: Custom fermentation (see below), depulped and dried in the sun

AVAILABLE THURSDAY February 28th @ 10AM

PLEASE ONLY ONE JAR PER CUSTOMER!

About this coffee - 200gram jars

Wowza! Get used to saying this while drinking this incredible offering! There is ALOT to unpack here - a double carbonic processed with Galaxy hops gesha. I am tasting hops and incredible sweetness, akin to what I would describe as jasmine candy, also notes of ginger beer, strawberry, mint, black currant & Roobios tea- this is one wild ride.

Brewing: This is a delicate, gentle coffee, I would highly recommend a V60 our over here, espresso is OK, but you will loose a lot of the subtleness of this particular coffee - go slightly courser on your grind and a higher H2O ratio, my testing had me happiest at 18.5:1 - or 20g coffee to 370g H2O

About the coffee: The Gesha variety needs no introduction in the specialty world, although it’s worth mentioning that despite wide experimentation among Colombian coffee growers, it has yet to achieve the same level of appreciation here as it has elsewhere. This is surprising given the level of experience throughout Colombia’s coffee sector. Gesha does, however, have its moments.

About the grower: Finca Campo Hermoso is a 15-hectare farm outside of Circasia, only a few kilometers north of Quindío’s capital city Armenia. Its owner, Edwin Noreña, is an agroindustrial engineer by trade with graduate-level studies in biotechnology. Edwin is a well-connected and highly aspirational coffee producer who focuses on cultivating very specific varieties paired with very specific processing methods designed to express the most surprising, memorable, and delicious coffees possible within his resources. Finca Campo Hermoso concentrates on growing cultivars distinct from the nationally-distributed hybrids, or traditional Caturra: the farm has in production Pink Bourbon, Yellow Bourbon, Bourbon Sidra, Gesha, and Cenicafe 1, a resistant hybrid developed by Cenicafé, Colombia’s national coffee research institute. The resulting coffees are marketed under “El Alquimista”, Edwin’s personal brand for his microlots, which have been featured in barista competitions and at choosy roasters around the world. 

About the process: Edwin’s process for this particular Gesha is a combination of unique steps. A 72-hour whole-cherry fermentation is followed by a 96-hour depulped fermentation, both with carbon dioxide injection. The second fermentation is inoculated with what Noreña calls mossto, or “must,” the sticky, sugary runoff from the first whole cherry fermentation (a technique known as “back slopping”). Galaxy hops are added to the secondary fermentation as well, and finally the coffee is dried in the sun for 15 to 25 days. 

Oxygen-deprived, or “anaerobic” fermentation environments like the above have gained traction among processing wonks in coffee for the unique flavors and tanginess they can add, as well as creating exaggerated characteristics in the cup compared to what we’re used to. Edwin, by investing in his processing knowhow, can produce a wide variety of cup profiles from a small parcel of land, further expanding cuppers’ expectations of Quindío coffees and evolving the standards of his peers, not to mention boosting the notoriety of Campo Hermoso and the 30 families that contribute work to the farm.