Coffee Sense

Our Coffee

QUALITY. Everything that we do revolves around quality. This begins with the selection of superior seed material for our nursery farms and does not end until we have delivered perfectly roasted coffee to our clients.

Responsible soil management and good agricultural practices ensure our coffee trees can produce the finest coffee cherries. Our knowledge of coffee growing and processing provides us with insight into coffee’s reaction to roasting that makes a significant difference, guaranteeing excellence in the cup.

The Perfect Roast

The process of roasting coffee transforms the hard green seeds of the coffee tree into the marvelously aromatic brown beans you purchase for sale.

During roasting, four major things occur to the coffee seeds.

1. They lose some of their internal water content making the beans lighter
2. Sugars inside the beans are caramelized into flavor oils contributing to the body of the finished cup
3. The natural acidity or brightness of the coffee is gradually reduced
4. The cell walls of the seed itself are broken down which creates a bean that is prone to staling if not immediately and properly packaged or consumed

Achieving the perfect roast profile is critical to the overall flavor of a particular coffee.

• A long, slow roast will result in a lifeless cup that is devoid of flavor
• A fast roast will leave the center of the bean underdeveloped with a sour taste in the cup

Through minor changes in the amount of heat applied or the flow of air through the roaster, our roast masters make subtle adjustments to the roasting profile, ensuring that each batch of beans is roasted to its peak of flavor. The roaster must account for these variations for every coffee we offer. We invite our customers to come visit either of our roasting facilities to watch our roasting staff at work. .

 

The Ultimate Cup

Coffee is the seed of a cherry-like fruit that grows on a tree. The way that coffee trees are grown is crucial to the quality of the raw coffee that they produce.

In order to produce a world-class coffee, a farm must be blessed with the proper growing conditions.

• Climate, altitude and soil greatly influence the character and quality of coffee
• A farmer must combine the husbandry of the old ways with modern and scientific knowledge to produce a quality product that is also economically practical
• The farmer’s choice of which coffee variety to propagate is an important one – we grow only Arabica varieties of coffee
• Once the seed is selected it is placed in a moist mulch to germinate – this takes around 30 days
• Trees are then planted in terraced rows, approximately 2500 per acre
• A tree is rejuvenated when pruned – each year we prune one row of trees to a height of 50cm to maintain consistent production
• We weed manually at La Minita, but due to economic pressures most other farmers use (and often over-use) herbicides.
• We also utilize Poro trees for shade – their wide leaves protect the coffee from direct sunlight aiding in better bean development
• The beans develop at different rates so we pick each tree by hand at least four times a year to ensure that only the cherries at their peak are harvested
• We use almost exclusively washed coffee since they produce the cleanest cup

The origin, moisture content, and age of the raw coffee are just a few of the variables that the roastmaster must consider. If all coffees are simply roasted to one specific color, without regard for their inherent differences, the subtle nuances of flavor can be lost. That is why our roastmaster and other staff members constantly cup our roasts. These continuous quality checks allow us to make any necessary adjustments so that our clients and their customers always receive a perfectly roasted coffee.