13th December

Origin

We already had a chance to taste coffee from El Arbol in this year’s calendar. Now it is the same processing, but a different variety!

In 2016, Claudia Lovo collaborated with Saša Šestić and other coffee professionals to transform her farm into a self-sustaining, quality-focused operation. Originally producing only commodity-grade coffee, Finca El Árbol (meaning ‘The Tree’) shifted to a model that equally values the soil, workers, and cup quality.

The farm aims to be fully organic by 2025 and prioritizes biodiversity. They house beehives, raise livestock, grow vegetables for workers, and produce organic compost to nourish the soil. Significant improvements have been made to workers’ accommodation, including providing meals for pickers, along with health care, dental care, and education.

On the coffee front, El Árbol processes a wide variety of coffees, including Marsellesa, Pacamara, Maracaturra, Catuai, Bourbon, and Caturra, using innovative fermentation methods.

The Process:
Carbonic maceration is a fermentation technique originally used in winemaking, famously associated with Beaujolais wines. The process, introduced to the coffee industry in 2015 by Saša Šestić during his World Barista Championship-winning routine, gives producers precise control over fermentation, enhancing fruit flavors and lowering tannins.

In this process, whole coffee cherries are placed into sealed, carbon dioxide-filled vessels (either plastic or stainless steel). Unlike traditional fermentation, where microorganisms act on the coffee’s mucilage, carbonic maceration causes intracellular fermentation, where the cherries ferment from the inside out due to the CO2-rich environment. Producers manipulate temperature and pH to control the fermentation process, producing unique flavor profiles.

Recipe:

Method: Hario Dripper V60
Grind set: 28 kliků na Comandante
Temperature: 96 °C
Coffee amount: 20 g
Brew time: 3:00

0:00 – 50 g bloom (mix)
0:30 – up to 120 g
1:00 – up to 200 g
1:30 – up to 280 g
2:00 – up to 330 g