Finca El Recuerdo - Acatenango - Caturra - Natural 100 hours Anaerobic

The Guat Lab by TTCo Exports

Verified seller

• 76 sales on Algrano
• 2 Avg. orders per roaster
• 45 Roaster relationships

Origin

Guatemala

Producer

The Guat Lab by TTCo Exports

Variety

Caturra

Process type

Other

Altitude range

1530m - 1690m

Harvest period

January, 2020 - January, 2020

Seller's cupping score (SCA)

87.0 points

Updated April, 2020

ID

GT-53-202001

"Farm: Finca El Recuerdo
Producer: Mario Ricardo Alarcon Meléndez
Farm size: 21 hectares
Location: Acatenango town, Chimaltenango department, Guatemala. Near the Acatenango volcano
Altitude: 1530 - 1690 m
Soil: Volcanic
Cultivated varieties: Caturra, Catuaí, Bourbon, Gesha and Pache
Processes: Natural, Honey and Washed with triple fermentation

My name is Mario Ricardo Alarcón Melendez and I'm the 5th generation to oversee my family's farm, Finca Monte de Oro, after my mother Ericka Meléndez and my father Mario Rene Alarcón Aguilar. Previously called El Socorro, the farm was renamed by my great grandfather, Fidel Meléndez, due to the great fertility of our soil.

I have been managing the farm since 2008 and designed a new wet mill to improve the post-harvest process of our coffees. I have a degree in Mechanical Industrial Engineering and have been adapting the processing plant over the years to suit different methods, from washed to honeys and naturals. Thanks to one of the roasters I work with I now have a polytunnel with raised beds where I can control temperature and humidity to better dry micro-lots.

I started Truth Trading Company with Christian Starry in 2015 after seeing how our parents were struggling with the prices for coffee. We market not only coffees from our farms but also from other growers we know and trust. We do so in a completely honest and fully transparent way, much like algrano.

I am constantly innovating at the farm and I follow the guidelines from Brazilian researcher Flávio Borem for drying at the mill. One of the things I learned from him is that aggressive drying of beans leads to higher water activity and that leads to instability within the bean structure. The result is inconsistency and a shorter "shelf" life of green coffee. That is why I monitor the water activity on my coffees and my aim in drying is to reach the 11% moisture content slowly, keeping water activity at an optimum point. 

I start the post-harvest by fermenting the cherries before drying. We put them inside sealed containers connected to tubes that allow the oxygen to escape, keeping the carbon dioxide trapped with the coffee. The anaerobic fermentation lasts 100 hours. The reason I can prolong the process for so long without the risk of over fermentation is because I select cherries with lower levels of Brix. They usually have between 16 and 17 grades Brix. I found that this type of cherry produces much better anaerobic micro-lots, with lots of fruity flavours and no excessive funkiness. 

The drying phase starts on the concrete patio. We usually spread the coffees in the early hours of the morning so that there is no thermal shock. I know that the beans are less sensitive to temperature change when the moisture content is high (above 25%), so using the patio to kickstart the process doesn't affect the quality. 

The beans are then moved to raised beds inside a polytunnel where humidity and temperature are constantly monitored. The entire process can take up to 30 days. I then store the beans inside grain pro bags at the farm until milling. I am in the process of getting a big huller so I can process parchment myself and control the entire process. "