Here's something a little different from Villamaria. We've been purchasing the classic washed coffee from this producer group for almost as long as Crankhouse has been running but it's the first time we've had this anoxic natural process through importer Raw Material.

Villamaría is a Colombian municipality located in the department of Caldas. The region is fed by numerous sources of water and natural resources and is located a few kilometres from the city of Manizales, whose urban areas are surrounded by the Chinchiná River. Villamaría's processing station, Jamaica, was chosen due to its perfect climate and altitude for the drying of naturally processed coffee. Alongside this, the large space available meant that producing high-quality naturals at scale was a possibility not available before. The dynamic duo behind Jamaica and the strong relationship with the municipalities collection point and wet mill La Aurora are Juan Felipe Aristizabal and Miguel Fajardo. Two big hitters of Colombian coffee right there and an absolute pleasure to be around during Raw Material's amazing Plant to Port trip.

This lot was processed as an ‘anoxic natural’ using a ‘water pillow’ technique. The technique focusses on low temperatures, and a vacuum-pressure created when a barrier is laid across the cherry or beans. Cool water is poured on top of the barrier, removing any chance of oxygen entering the space during fermentation. This absence of oxygen and low temperatures allows for extended fermentation times without a high thermal mass. This is because as heat leaves the fermenting coffee, the water pillow above the mass works as a heat exchanger, and the heat is able to evaporate off the top.

For the natural process, freshly harvested cherry is delivered to La Aurora where it is floated, sorted and left to rest in cherry for 24 hours. The cherries are transported to Jamaica the following day where they undergo 24 hours of anoxic 'water pillow' fermentation in cherry. They are then taken to drying beds in the greenhouse for around 15 days before being finished in the mechanical dryer for 3-4 days.

(content and images courtesy of Raw Material)