Rigby - Colombia, Quindío, Galaxy Hops - 6oz
$22.00
Description
Source Analysis by Chris Kornman with Charlie Habegger :
Co-fermentation in coffee is highly experimental and wildly controversial, and it's worth investigating what exactly this coffee is, how it's been processed, and who is responsible.
Edwin Noreña is the farmer and inheritor of Finca Campo Hermoso, following three prior generations. Edwin's contribution to the family legacy would be to convert the farm into a specialty coffee powerhouse, with a specific focus on fermentation technique and cultivar selection. Noreña is an agroindustrial engineer by trade with graduate-level studies in biotechnology and is well-connected and highly aspirational coffee producer who focuses on cultivating carefully curated varieties paired with precise processing methods, designed to express the most surprising, memorable, and delicious coffees possible within his resources. Finca Campo Hermoso concentrates on growing cultivars far apart from the nationally-distributed hybrids of Castillo or Colombia, or the traditional Caturra. Instead the farm has in production Pink and Yellow Bourbon, Sidra, Gesha, and Cenicafe 1, a relatively new resistant hybrid developed Colombia's national coffee research institute of the same name.
Noreña explained his methods and philosophy recently ni an interview. His audacious-sounding coffee could be taken as evidence of the producer's (figurative) intoxication with fermentation's power. However, for Noreña, his application of these processes is intended to be in service of the coffee's inherent flavors, emerging out of respect. "It was a development that we adapted from the world of wine to enhance the flavors of coffee, always trying to intensify each coffee process using the original coffee flavors."
This is evidenced by Noreña's reliance on the coffee's mossto as a primary additive. He's literally just adding extra coffee juice and selected microbes from a previous fermentation batch of the same cultivar. "Mossto is a catalyst that helps to accelerate, control and enhance chemical reactions during coffee fermentation," he explains.
Ok, so what exactly is happening with this Carbonic Galaxy Hop process? Let's break it down:
Noreña picked this coffee from Gesha trees, using a brix meter to selectively harvest, after which the cherries soak underwater for about an hour. Primary fermentation takes 72 hours and occurs in whole cherry, in a sealed tank. The coffee is then pulped and set for secondary fermentation for 96 hours, infused with the mossto from the first fermentation (Mossto, or "must," is used here to indicate the runoff of a prior fermentation batch). This mossto is infused with Galaxy Hops, and is recirculated every twenty-four hours for a total of four days in secondary maceration. This heavily fermented "honey" coffee is then taken to raised beds to dry for 22 days, followed by a controlled warehouse humidity stabilization for an additional 8 days.
The result is a highly amplified flavor profile, with extreme floral notes, bombastic dark fruit tones, and an incredible sweetness.
Co-fermentation in coffee is highly experimental and wildly controversial, and it's worth investigating what exactly this coffee is, how it's been processed, and who is responsible.
Edwin Noreña is the farmer and inheritor of Finca Campo Hermoso, following three prior generations. Edwin's contribution to the family legacy would be to convert the farm into a specialty coffee powerhouse, with a specific focus on fermentation technique and cultivar selection. Noreña is an agroindustrial engineer by trade with graduate-level studies in biotechnology and is well-connected and highly aspirational coffee producer who focuses on cultivating carefully curated varieties paired with precise processing methods, designed to express the most surprising, memorable, and delicious coffees possible within his resources. Finca Campo Hermoso concentrates on growing cultivars far apart from the nationally-distributed hybrids of Castillo or Colombia, or the traditional Caturra. Instead the farm has in production Pink and Yellow Bourbon, Sidra, Gesha, and Cenicafe 1, a relatively new resistant hybrid developed Colombia's national coffee research institute of the same name.
Noreña explained his methods and philosophy recently ni an interview. His audacious-sounding coffee could be taken as evidence of the producer's (figurative) intoxication with fermentation's power. However, for Noreña, his application of these processes is intended to be in service of the coffee's inherent flavors, emerging out of respect. "It was a development that we adapted from the world of wine to enhance the flavors of coffee, always trying to intensify each coffee process using the original coffee flavors."
This is evidenced by Noreña's reliance on the coffee's mossto as a primary additive. He's literally just adding extra coffee juice and selected microbes from a previous fermentation batch of the same cultivar. "Mossto is a catalyst that helps to accelerate, control and enhance chemical reactions during coffee fermentation," he explains.
Ok, so what exactly is happening with this Carbonic Galaxy Hop process? Let's break it down:
Noreña picked this coffee from Gesha trees, using a brix meter to selectively harvest, after which the cherries soak underwater for about an hour. Primary fermentation takes 72 hours and occurs in whole cherry, in a sealed tank. The coffee is then pulped and set for secondary fermentation for 96 hours, infused with the mossto from the first fermentation (Mossto, or "must," is used here to indicate the runoff of a prior fermentation batch). This mossto is infused with Galaxy Hops, and is recirculated every twenty-four hours for a total of four days in secondary maceration. This heavily fermented "honey" coffee is then taken to raised beds to dry for 22 days, followed by a controlled warehouse humidity stabilization for an additional 8 days.
The result is a highly amplified flavor profile, with extreme floral notes, bombastic dark fruit tones, and an incredible sweetness.
