Mexico - Yajalon

This lot is sourced from a community of small farmers within the Yajalón municipality of the Tulijá Tzeltal Chol region. The area boasts high biodiversity with native fauna including hummingbirds, anteaters, ocelots and saraguatos (black howler monkey). It is also a magnet for tourists who visit the region to see the towering stone ruins and learn about the ancient Mayan and Tzeltal people.

Most of the farms average five hectares in size, with cherries picked by hand, before being de-pulped, fermented between 12-17 hours, washed, and then sun dried on farmers’ yards or zarandas. Organic farming is performed under partial shade of native tree varieties and intercropped with beans, bananas, pumpkin, citrus fruits and plums, whilst fertilisers are produced using the excess pulp of coffee cherries, dry leaves and wood ashes.

Peru - Del Oso

Created in 2014 by a group of six friends predominantly involved with the COCAFELOL Cooperative, Finca Liquidámbar has an ethos of addressing social and environmental issues throughout their coffee production processes. Fifteen hectares remain dedicated to forest and are left wild with the farm itself named after the trees native to the area. Experiments around coffee pulp-developed compost processed by Californian red worm are being carried out on the farm and mucilage is being used to make products that serve as foliar fertiliser for the farm. These experiments with organic fertiliser have been so successful that they have brought the techniques to the COCAFELOL Cooperative and rolled them out to other organic coffee producers in Honduras as well as other countries.

Indonesia - Sumatra Mandheling

This coffee is processed using the Giling Basah or “Wet-hulled” method. It is a process synonymous with Indonesian coffees and contributes a big part to their distinct flavours. Giling Basah shares the same initial steps of pulping, removing the cherry flesh and fermentation as the “Washed” process, but differs massively from then on. Whereas “Washed” beans are then dried to 11% moisture content so that the dried parchment layer can be removed, Giling Basah coffees are dried to around 25-35% moisture and passed through a “Wet-huller” which uses friction to tear the parchment off the beans before being laid out to try. All of this contributes to the uniqueness of Indonesian coffees and allows for quicker processing than the “Washed” method; avoiding moist beans sitting out in Indonesia’s humid climate for too long.