Freak & Unique XIII - A Rendezvous | Colombia | Jairo Arcila Wine Yeast Passion Fruit

Construction cranes meeting in the sky –their anthropomorphic nature is like creatures in the wild encountering a graceful exchange. The soft colours of the cranes and the idiosyncratic lines create strong yet vulnerable structures: an intricate fragility which holds a tension. When living in a city and being surrounded by constant building and growth, coffee offers a well deserved rest and pause.

Our very limited series, Freak & Unique continues with this Wine Yeast and Passion Fruit Castillo from Colombia. This coffee is paired with the artwork "A Rendezvous" by Fleur Yearsley.

FARM: Jairo Arcila, Finca Villarazo REGION: Armenia, Quindio ALTITUDE: 1450 - 1500 MASL VARIETAL: Castillo  PROCESS: Anaerobic Fermentation

This very exciting coffee comes from the Finca Villarazo, owned by Jairo Arcila, a third-generation coffee grower from Quindio whose sons founded the export company Cofinet. Jairo bought his first farm, Finca La Esmeralda, in 1987 whilst working at Colombia’s second-largest exporter where he was their Mill Manager for over four decades. Before his retirement in 2019, he was fortunate enough to have been able to buy five additional farms in the surrounding area, providing jobs to the local community. For this microlot, cherries were strictly picked with the same level of ripeness and immediately transported to La Pradera processing station. The coffee was then pulped and later exposed to a dry anaerobic fermentation of 48 hours at 23 degrees Celsius with passion fruit pulp and wine yeast. Finally, the coffee is shadow-dried in parabolic dryers to ideal moisture content, making for a distinct and elegant experience.

• Please note due to the extremely limited availability of this coffee, we will be roasting once weekly. This may add a small delay to online orders. *

Artwork is available to buy directly from Fleur via contacting her through her website: https://www.fleuryearsley.com/

Produced by Jairo Arcila in Armenia, Quindio, this lot represents a bold exploration of experimental processing. As part of the Hundred House Coffee collection, the Freak & Unique XIII - A Rendezvous utilizes the Castillo varietal, a plant widely recognized for its resilience and adaptability across the diverse landscapes of Colombia.

The coffee undergoes a meticulous anaerobic fermentation process, a technique that often pushes the boundaries of traditional cup profiles by introducing unique microbial activity during the breakdown of sugars. By incorporating wine yeast and passion fruit during this stage, the producer creates a distinct sensory experience that deviates from standard washed preparations. For those interested in how such techniques influence the final cup, our processing methods explainer provides further insight into the science behind these fermentations. To better categorize the resulting intensity and complexity, we recommend referencing the flavor wheel to identify the specific aromatic markers present in this unconventional release.