COLOMBIA FINCA CAMPO HERMOSO CARBONIC HONEY GREEN APPLE CO-FERMENT

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 pairing very specific cultivars with very specific processing methods designed to express the most surprising, memorable, and delicious coffees possible within his resources.

Edwin is one of Colombia’s true processing obsessives. Known among friends as “El Alquimista” (the alchemist), he has dialed in a wide repertoire of fermentation profiles, often using multiple fermentations in sequence to achieve a desired expression. Finca Campo Hermoso concentrates on growing a wide variety of coffee genetics, including pink bourbon, yellow bourbon, yellow caturra, bourbon sidra, gesha, and Cenicafé 1, a resistant hybrid developed by Cenicafé, Colombia’s national coffee research institute. The resulting coffees are often marketed under “El Alquimista”, Edwin’s personal brand for his microlots, which have featured in barista competitions and choosy roasters around the world.

Processing, particularly the fermentation step, always interested Edwin because of its potential to transform raw coffee seeds into a remarkably unique sensory experience for coffee drinkers. A breakthrough moment for him was realizing that the sugary, residual liquid produced during the fruit fermentation (known as the in winemaking) could be used again in subsequent fermentations to add natural sugars, and also serve as a solvent for flavoring agents. Over the years Edwin has co-fermented with chilis, ginger, brewers hops, and, in this case dehydrated fruit, to develop unique flavors in his microlots.

Edwin’s processing for this particular lot involved two distinct whole cherry fermentations, both of which were oxigen-deprived to different degrees. Each stage adds a particular bit of uniqueness to the final coffee, so that by the end the coffee is truly one of a kind in the world.

The first two fermentations were with fresh coffee cherry only, carefully hand-sorted for ripeness and consistency, and washed clean. The first fermentation was anaerobic, for 24 hours. The second was fully oxygen-deprived, also known as “carbonic maceration”, and lasted for 48 hours. During fermentations like these the coffee fruit becomes dramatically softer, sweeter, and more acetic, while also leaching out a concentrated sticky, sugary runoff—the mossto, not unlike the must from freshly smashed grapes and skins in winemaking.

After these first fermentations were complete, the fermented cherry was separated from its must and depulped. The must was then fermented on its own, along with brewer’s yeast to inoculate the process and ample quantities of both pure glucose (sugar solution) and fruit juices. The fermented and flavored must was then mixed into the fermentation tank with the parchment coffee, comprising about 30% of the mixture. This final blended co-fermentation lasted 72 hours.

This is one of the most fragrant and vibrant co-ferments we've worked with so far. The sweetness up front reminds us of green apple jolly ranchers and the finish has a slight spice note reminiscent of a basque cider.