The Coffee:
Producer: Wilton Benitez
Farm: Granaja Paraiso 92
Processing: Advanced Fermentation
Varietal: Red Bourbon
Tasting: PB&J, Cacao Nibs, Hibiscus
The Importer:
CoTrade
CoTrade is diamond quality partnership for Makeworth. Operating on a highly sustainable, equity-driven model they help us source some of our highest quality coffees. We cannot emphasize enough the way that they are allowing us access to some of the best coffees we've served as a roasting company. The CoTrade team is small but mighty and bring years of dedicated sourcing and logistics expertise to the table. Originally connected to us by way of Juan Diaz of KWC, CoTrade facilitates mainly our Colombian offerings, but has now provided us options for Guatemalan coffees, too. We are huge fans of CoTrade and hope you enjoy their work in coffee curation.
The Producer:
Wilton Benitez
If you've been around the specialty coffee scene, chances are you've heard the name Wilton Benitez. We are honored to have such a strong and eclectic network of coffee producers we buy from, but coffees from Granja Paraiso 92 by Wilton Benitez might top the list. Known for having an incredibly dialed and granular understanding of how fermentation impacts the cup, Wilton showcases some of the most balanced, flavorful and unique profiles. So much to say, such little time: we are beyond excited to have a Wilton Benitez coffee on our menu. Surely, the first of many!
The Processing: Advanced Fermentation
This coffee is worth adding a few additional remarks regarding its processing-- anyone who has tasted it (and anyone who knows of Wilton Benitez) know's that the precision of processing is an integral part to this cup. Below is the processing steps for Wilton's "Advanced Fermentation" approach
1. Collection or manual harvest of fruits.
2. Hygienization of the fruits with ozonated water and ultraviolet light to reduce the microbial load.
3. Selection of the cherry by size, density and color to guarantee the quality of the fruit.
4. After classifying the cherry, the first phase of anaerobic fermentation is carried out, which ranges from 16 to 96 hours in fermentation bioreactors with pressure control and the addition of a microorganism. (The hours and the microorganism depend on the type of profile to create.
5. After pulping, the second phase of fermentation of coffee with mucilage begins in anaerobic bioreactors, in which it is sanitized again with injection of ozonized water and later the microorganisms are added according to the profile to be processed. This fermentation is very extended, depending on the profile it can be 48 hours or 720 hours.
6. After fermentation and in some cases before, the thermal shock is carried out (in order to transfer and fix aromas and flavors and sanitize by temperature).
7. Subsequently, drying begins until the coffee reaches 16% humidity to be stored for 8 days in airtight bags. This practice allows the yeasts to act developing aromas and flavor precursors.
8. At the end of the stabilization period of 8 days, drying begins again for 12 hours until reaching a grain humidity between 10% and 11%.
9. Packed in Hermetic bags for food and stabilized for 15 days.
10. Threshing, electronic and manual selection to reach the required physical quality standard.
11. Quality validation by 6 tasters.
12. Vacuum packed.
