In short, we are a part of a sustainability project with Daterra on their farm. The lot covers 1 hectare of land and the main focus is to create a coffee where cup quality is high, the farming practices are 100% sustainable, and that it's scalable so that it can be implemented on a large scale. 

Read more about Our Plot 

The coffee we received was split up into two lots. One was to be processed as a pulped natural and the other one fermented anaerobically.

The first one we wanted to display the cleanest and most honest cup possible from the plot to a clear profile of what's coming out of the land and cherries. So we agreed to do a pulped natural with Daterra. This is the most common processing method in that region and gives a clear picture of the coffee's cup profile.

Pulped natural means that you remove the skin of the cherries and lay it to dry. But, apparently, this got lost in translation and they did an anaerobic fermentation for 48 hours, depulped it, and laid it on raised beds to dry. 

Anaerobic fermentation means that the cherries are filled into steel tanks and sealed. There's a valve that lets the oxygen be pressed out by the carbon dioxide that is produced by naturally occurring yeast and bacteria converting the sugars in the mucilage. They stop the process either when there aren't more sugars to feed on for the bacteria and yeast or when the desired time has passed. This technique creates more funky flavours and highlights the processing. A technique they master very well at Daterra with their high-end equipment. 

The second lot was anaerobically fermented for 63 hours and then dried as a natural on patio. 

In the end, we feel that the cups display our initial intention quite well, one being sweet and resembling the high quality we know from Daterra but with a bit more fruitiness and acidity (probably from the fermentation) and the other on more on the funky and wild side.

Even though it didn't turn out exactly as expected it's really interesting to experience the huge difference between two anaerobically fermented coffees where one has repulsed afterward and the other is dried as a natural. 

We really look forward to sharing these with you! Did I mention, it's an extremely limited batch, less than 250kg in total, so be fast if you want to taste it!