Rare & Unique Series : El Paraiso Y05 by Diego Samuel Bermudez | Colombia

Key Origin Info:

Producer: Diego Samuel Bermudez and family
Farm: Finca El Paraiso

Region: Piendamo municipality, Cauca Department
Altitude: Around 1960 masl

Variety: Castillo
Process: Y05 - ripe cherries are first disinfected with ozone and left submerged under water for 72 hours, before being de-pulped and further fermented in a bioreactor with added yeast cultures for 36 hours. Finally the coffee is “thermal shock” washed and mechanically dried. 

Cup profile: Silky body, hibiscus, wild strawberries, tinned peaches

Exporter: Siruma | Importer: Falcon

More about Finca El Paraiso:

This outstanding lot comes from the world famous El Paraiso farm and processing factory headed up by Diego Samuel, his brother Alexander Bermudez and their family. Specialised in advanced processing methods, using their signature Thermal Shock washing method, and yeast-mediated controlled fermentations, the team at El Paraiso continue to innovate and push boundaries of flavour development in coffee. 

In their own words:

“Finca El Paraíso's achievements in the study of microbiology through the use of bio-catalysis allowed it to understand and then be able to control the complex interaction between yeasts, bacteria and other microorganisms present in the coffee fermentation process, thus ensuring absolute precision on the development of the aromatic precursors that influence the desired sensory profiles in each of its coffees.”

And the results are absolutely stunning! With fruit forward flavour profiles like no other, El Paraiso continue to deliver outstanding lots with utmost precision and consistency. We are very excited to once agan feature one of their lots as part of our Rare & Unique series.

You can find out more about Finca El Paraiso on their website.

The Y05 Processing protocol:

This particular lot is consist of Castillo variety cherries processed using the Y05 protocol, one of El Paraiso’s meticulously designed methods.

he process begins with the careful harvesting of coffee cherries at their optimal ripeness. Once collected, the cherries are disinfected with ozone before being transferred to fermentation tanks, where they undergo an anaerobic fermentation process for 72 hours while submerged in water.

Following fermentation, the cherries are pulped and demucilaginated, with the mucilage and pulp sent to a pilot plant for the production of specific microorganisms. These microorganisms help generate a culture medium rich in aroma and flavor precursors. This culture medium is then added to the fermentation tanks for an additional 36 hours, allowing the precursors to be fixed to the coffee beans under pressure. Afterward, a thermal shock washing process is applied, sealing in a greater concentration of precursors and preparing the beans for drying.

The drying process is carried out using a dehumidifier to carefully remove moisture, which helps preserve the coffee’s delicate notes while preventing over-oxidation and halting metabolic activity to avoid over-fermentation. After drying, the coffee is stabilized and stored in a cool environment before undergoing selection and threshing in accordance with quality standards.