Milky Cake

Milky Cake has been with us since 2021 and has become one of our bestsellers. Originally developed with Cata Export and Diego Samuel Bermudez at Finca El Paraíso in Colombia, it’s an advanced anaerobic washed Castillo with a profile that’s hard to mistake for anything else. Vanilla cake, pistachio, cardamom and honey, with a creamy sweetness that works as filter, espresso or with milk.

Milky Cake keeps coming back because we keep wanting to drink it. Developed exclusively with Cata Export since 2021, this anaerobic washed Castillo from Finca El Paraíso in Cauca opens with vanilla cake and honey, moves into pistachio and cardamom, and finishes creamy and sweet. It works as filter, espresso, or with milk. This lot costs more than previous years. The producer raised the price significantly, and we chose to keep buying it.

Milky Cake comes from Finca El Paraíso in Piendamó, Cauca, at 1920 masl. When we first started buying the coffee in 2021, the farm was owned by Diego Samuel Bermudez. The coffee and its distinctive processing were developed by Cata Export.

Castillo. For Milky Cake, the variety goes through the M03 process, developed to create a very specific and repeatable profile. We’ve now been buying this coffee for several years, with vanilla, spice and creamy sweetness remaining at its core.

The cherries ferment anaerobically for 72 hours submerged in water with a milk-based culture before being pulped and mixed with the collected leachate. A thermal shock wash follows, then controlled drying in a dehumidifier before the coffee is stabilised, selected and prepared for export.

High. Fermentation, microorganisms, thermal shock and controlled drying are all deliberately managed as part of the M03 process. It’s one of the most technically advanced coffees in our line-up, but coffee is still an agricultural product, so some variation from harvest to harvest is expected. The core Milky Cake profile remains recognisable.

Produced by Diego Samuel Bermudez in Piendamó, Cauca, this Colombia · Piendamó, Cauca offering showcases the precision of modern processing methods. As an anaerobic washed Castillo lot, it highlights how controlled fermentation can influence the final cup profile, moving beyond traditional expectations for the varietal. While anaerobic processing is often associated with intense, fruit-forward profiles, this specific lot from Dayglow leans into a more nuanced, dessert-like character.

The resulting cup features distinct notes of vanilla cake, pistachio, cardamom, and honey. When evaluating such complex profiles, it is helpful to reference a flavor wheel to better categorize these specific aromatic compounds. By utilizing a controlled anaerobic environment, Bermudez emphasizes the potential for unique sensory experiences within the Castillo varietal, providing a sophisticated example of how technical intervention at the farm level shapes the final experience for the consumer.