*SPECIAL RELEASE LYCHEE MACERATION* Colombia - Jairo Arcila - Lychee

LYCHEE, ACTUAL DAMN LYCHEES, LIME AND A TOUCH OF SWEET CHOCOLATE AS WELL

Hold onto your pantaloons. Another silly coffee. We’ve had a couple of fruit fermentations in the past, by a country mile this is my favourite. Jairo, the guy responsible for the ICE process last year, this time he’s taken the cherry and fermented it alongside lychee’s, it’s so good. The smell, lychee, the taste, lychee, the experience? Life changing. Well, not quite, but it’s bloody good.

It’s roasted light toward medium, I’d suggest filter brews, get that nose right over it whilst brewing. If you like any of our Bermudez stuff, then this will be for you, most similar to the Bermudez lychee lot. It’s a silly scoring coffee at 89, I don’t have a lot of this, once it’s gone it’s gone. Enjoy and tell your best mates, Joel.

P.S., This is dearer than my other offerings, you might know I do try hard to keep things accessible, it’s an expensive bean.

THE COFFEE ITSELF

Jairo Arcila is a third-generation coffee grower from Quindio, Colombia. He is married to Luz Helena Salazar and they have two children together, Carlos and Felipe Arcila, who are the co- founders of Cofinet. Jairo's first job was at Colombia's second-largest exporter, working as their Mill Manager for over 40 years until his retirement in 2019. Jairo bought his first coffee farm, Finca la Esmeralda, in 1987 and this is where he planted his first Caturra lot. He was fortunate enough to earn money by producing coffee on his farm in addition to working full time.

Using his savings, Jairo slowly managed to purchase five additional farms. After Esmeralda came Villarazo, Mazatian, Santa Monica, Maracay and then Buenos Aires. During the harvest period, Jairo is able to provide a number of jobs to locals which has a significant economic impact on their community.

Jairo has received great advice and guidance from his sons who are now experts in producing Specialty Coffee. With their help, Jairo has greatly improved the picking, sorting, and processing of his coffees. His sons have also guided Jairo in the production of exotic varieties. He now grows varieties like Pink Bourbon, Java, Papayo ,and Gesha growing across all his farms. The guidance from his sons has empowered Jairo and given him the tools needed to produce fantastic coffees with amazing flavour profiles

This coffee was exposed to a dry anaerobic fermentation period of 72 hours with the pulp on. During this fermentation stage, lychee was added. The cherries were then pulped and placed to dry on raised beds until the ideal moisture content was achieved. This microlot is 100% Castillo. This variety was developed by Federación Nacional de Cafeteros. It is more productive than Caturra and resistant to coffee leaf rust.