Producing High Quality Organic Coffee

Producing high quality organic coffee requires careful attention to detail through all the stages of coffee growing, harvesting and post-harvest. 

It all starts with the selection of the botanical variety.  We have chosen to work with 100% Arabica coffee and selected the Catuai varietal as the most suitable to our local conditions. 

The location of all the farms in the project at altitudes above 1,000 meters, quality soil and careful implementation of biodynaic techniques, all within the micro-climate of the Chapada Diamantina mountainous region, present us with an ideal set of conditions for growing coffee.  However ideal conditions are not enough to produce a great coffee as any oversight during harvest and post-harvest can have a major negative impact on the quality of the coffee.  Great care and attention to detail is required at every step in order to produce a great cup of coffee.   

With an ever increasing globalization of farming products, coffee has become a standard commodity that in many cases has lost the character specific to the producing region. 

We believe that coffee should carry the traits of the region where it is grown and this can only be captured in single-origin blends.  The flavour of each cup of coffee is affected by the farming factors as well as every handling variable in the post harvesting processes.  Every variable matters as these bestow the unique flavour notes and aroma to each coffee of origin. 

There are many variables that affect the quality and flavours in the post-harvest processing of the coffee cherries.  The mature cherry has the highest potential to yield the best cup of coffee.  After the ripeness peak in the plant or after harvesting, the risk of fermentation is a major concern and great care is require to avoid increased activity of microorganisms that will affect the quality of the coffee.  On the other hand, no so ripened cherries will not benefit from all the sugars that mother nature intended and will confer some astringent and bitter test onto the coffee.

Great care is then required to assure the quality of each cup of coffee.  Some of the key processes include:  

• Selective hand-picking:
  • During harvesting, only the mature cherries are picked.  This extends the harvest for several months as it is required to go back to each plant to manually pick only those cherries that have achieved the right level of maturity as the best cup of coffee comes from mature beans where the potential sugars have been produced and synthesised by the plant but where fermentation has not yet started. This process also respects the natural phases of the plant development thus providing a more balanced physiological cycle for the plant.
  • The dried cherries (or over ripened) on the plant are undesired and removed as they provide a source for fungus and fermentation.
  • The green (less mature) cherries will be left on the plan until they reach their optimum stage of ripeness on the plant.  This is an important factor in quality as the astringent or acrid notes on some coffees are generally due by the inclusion of green fruits. 
• Avoiding fermentation – after picking, the cherries should not stay for more than a few hours in the containers before moving on to the next step in the process.  The contact with each other, the absence of light and the consequent lack of ventilation may trigger the fermentation while waiting to be processed.  Therefore, great care is taken to make the trip back and forth to the processing area two or three times per day to avoid potential fermentation.

• Separation – the cherries are then put through the selection machine which is a water tourbillion that separates the cherries based on density while discarding impurities and cherries that present problems during the development stage.  This process takes place two or three times per day to reduce the time the harvested coffee is accumulated.

• Preparing a Balanced Blend – from this point on we follow two distinct processes that produce coffees with different characters.
  • Natural – in this process we take the coffee directly to the drying field where during 10 to 14 days the beans will lay on a heat refracting pavement in a naturally ventilated covered area.  The beans are turned by hand constantly to ensure an even drying and concentrations of sugar.  During this period the sugars from the flesh and mucilage incorporate into the bean.  Coffee processed in this manner is know as Natural.
  • Pulped – in this process the outer skin and part of the mucilage will be removed prior to drying.  This makes the drying process have a faster dynamic in the production of sugars and a milder note that the stronger personality of the Natural.
• Selection – after dying the beans are selected to eliminate broken beans as these will have an uneven effect during the roasting process.  The screening and selection for well-formed and superior beans result in a higher quality cup.
• Storage – after processing, the coffee is kept in special wooden containers in order to control humidity while the coffee awaits to be shipped. 

The coffee is now ready to be shipped where we continue with the same careful handling of the coffee until it reaches the specialist roaster in the UK.  The coffee is then roasted to deliver on its unique regional characteristics of the Chapada Diamantina region. 

We pride ourselves not only in the stewardship of the land through biodynamic principles, but also in the production of a quality coffee though careful attention to detail at every stage.  It is our aim to produce gourmet quality coffee through environmental and socially responsible methods.