COLOMBIA - STRAWBERRY MILKSHAKE #2508

Tastes Like: Strawberries and cream, Dried red fruits, Floral

Curator’s Notes:Wow wow wow! When I saw that our friends at Bonlife were serving up this amazingly unique, one-of-a-kind microlot, I immediately asked them to reserve a small amount just for Bean Box customers. I’ve had super fruity, berry-forward coffees before, but never one like this. If you love fruit-forward coffees, or strawberry flavors in general, you’re going to FLIP for this one. At first sniff, the aroma is intense, it’ll hit you as soon as you open the bag, and you’ll smell straight-up strawberry candy while it’s brewing. In the cup, flavors are MEGA strawberry, but super soft, super creamy, like strawberry yogurt, with a really nice, sugary note that reminds me of those dried strawberry chips. As it cools, notes mellow even more, some delicate floral notes emerge, a hint of citrus, and together the flavors become a little cakey, like you just bit into a strawberry donut. It’s SO GOOD. And I will remind you, this is NOT flavored coffee, even though it tastes like it! The strawberry notes and creamy body are a result of how the coffee beans are processed, which hinges around a custom, probiotic culture fed on molasses and strawberries. After a careful fermentation of approximately 270 hours, the magical result is a microlot like this one – intensely flavorful and one-of-a-kind. Are we surprised it took a Bronze medal at the Golden Bean Awards? Don’t sleep on this one: Bonlife only has a limited amount of this special coffee, so act fast! This type of coffee only comes around once in a blue moon. Who knows when we’ll see the next one?

Bottom Line: A fruit bomb of a special-process Colombian, this strawberry co-ferment has to be tasted to be believed. You’ll love this coffee if you love berry-picking, strawberry-flavored anything, or super fruit-forward coffees.

Located in the village of El Portal in Huila, Colombia, El Mirador is a 31-hectare farm planted with several varieties like Caturra, Tabi, Catiope, Orange Bourbon, Striped Bourbon, Mokka and more. Caturra is a core variety for the farm as well, making it a staple for volume lots.

Elkin Guzman, the owner of El Mirador, has been surrounded by coffee since he was born. His family has always been involved in coffee cultivation, trading, or retail. Collectively, his family has celebrated over 70 years in coffee now, with 12 years of research devoted to post-harvest processing techniques. All of this research and experience has brought Elkin to utilize multiple processing techniques depending on the individual lot of coffee, including Coffee Maceration, Lactic and Acetic Natural processes, and Natural Hydro Honey.

Harvest and post-harvest procedures are highly standardized for consistency and quality. First, the sugar content of the coffee cherries is measured in degrees Brix, followed by density and volumetric separation. Finally, the decision is made on which processing method is best suited to bring each lot to its fullest potential. The processing methods used by Elkin embody his pioneering spirit, combining different approaches to fermentation and drying techniques to complement each coffee’s inherent characteristics. In the case of this lot of Catiope coffee, the team at El Mirador chose a special processing method that they call Strawberry Natural. Catiope is a variety that Elkin came across during a visit to an experimental station operated by Cenicafé in Timbio, Cauca, Colombia. They told him that the cultivar was a result of crossing Caturra with Lineas Etiopes, hence the name. After planting it on his farm Elkin fell in love with the variety for its production and cup quality.

Strawberry Natural processing begins with harvesting coffee cherries that have measured above 20 degrees Brix. The cherries are sorted via flotation before being hand sorted to remove dark and overripe fruit. The cherries are then fermented for 60 hours in plastic tanks. After this initial fermentation, a mother culture of microorganisms like lactobacillus and saccharomyces which has been fed with molasses and strawberries for four days is added to the tanks. In this culture, the molasses provides energy for fermentation while the strawberries contribute flavor. The coffee cherries are then fermented with this strawberry-infused culture for 270 hours, bringing the total fermentation time of the cherries to 330 hours. Once this fermentation is complete, the cherries are dried on raised beds to reach 10.5–11% humidity.