El Fenix is the community wet mill and rare-variety experimental farm developed by Raw Material in the Quindio region of Colombia. The farm has ideal climate conditions with a strong sun reflection off the valley and an average rainfall of 2,275mm a year, in addition to natural spring falls which provide water for the farm’s needs.
As well as being a rare variety producing farm, El Fénix is also home to a developing community wet mill for producers in the area. The project was crowdfunded to help fund the construction of the mill, which when complete will provide the region’s farmers with greater control over their coffee quality, and control over their income through a fixed price payment system.
Dave visited El Fenix earlier this year for Raw Material's Plant to Port course and it's a beautiful farm perched on the mountain top overlooking the Cauca Valley. Walking through the small farm under the guidance of the farm manager Miguel Fajardo was mesmerising. Cultivars of all sorts in various stages of development side-by-side was quite something. Gesha, Mokka, Pink Bourbon, Tabi etc etc.
Miguel mentioned he'd performed an infusion experiment with a batch of Tabi (one of his favourite varieties), one of which was this Maracuya (passionfruit) and Mango infusion with added mosto from a wush-wush fermentation, processed as anoxic washed. We were very fortunate to score a little of each of the three coffees and initially made them available as a three-way tasting pack. For this version, Miguel added a mix of Maracuya and Mango food flavourings diluted according to the instructions and also added a quantity of fermentation juice (mosto) from a Wush-Wush fermentation. The addition of the mosto changed the substrate of the Tabi fermentation, adding microbes as well as an additional food/energy source for the existing microbes in the Tabi fermentation. A sheet is placed over the pulped coffee, which is then covered with cool water. The seal created by the water pressing onto the sheeting creates a vacuum effect on the coffee below, creating an anoxic environment for fermentation to begin, which lasts for 48 hours.
The water and sheet act as not only a sealant, but a heat exchanger, allowing the heat build up to transfer to the water, which evaporates away. A stabilised temperature of around 25 degrees Celsius ensures that the cherry doesn’t over ferment. This temperature is regularly monitored, and if it falls too low for fermentation to continue, hot water is added to the water pillow, to provide warmth to the fermenting coffee underneath.
Once the fermentation is complete, the water is drained, and the sheet is removed. The now fermented coffee is rinsed and drained of all residual liquid. The coffee is then sun dried for between 4 and 8 hours daily, and dried on raised beds for between 2 to 3 weeks.
We released this coffee at the Bristol Coffee Festival recently alongside the 'washed' and 'Maracuya infused' versions. The feedback at the event was that this was by far the most complex of the three coffees: increased acidity, body and winey fruit notes.
(Some images courtesy of @Andrea Jimenez and some words courtesy of @Raw Material directly)