El Vergel - Colombia

More commonly referred to as 'Banana Guava', this Red & Yellow Caturra is one of the flagship coffees produced at El Vergel State. Located in the micro lot next to the washing station it is surrounded by Guava trees and has been one of the most intense and fruity coffees developed by Martha, Elias & Shady Bayter at El Vergel Estate.

Planted in 2016 and 2018 with a quantity of more than 40,000 plants, this lot has been one of the best of the estate to experiment with processing bigger lots. The coffee was processed through an anaerobic controlled temperature fermentation for 48 to 60 hours taking close control of the ph levels. This is followed by an intermittent drying process of a series of stalls in different moisture levels to enhance complexity, and finished in silos to obtain accurate moisture in the beans. Finally, it is stabilised for 45 days to homogenise the beans and promote a refined complexity to the profile.

We first encountered Shady Bayter, one of the team behind El Vergel, in May this year when he came by our roastery in Edinburgh before catching up over a 'pizza crunch' (if you know, you know) at Glasgow Coffee Festival. We're so chuffed to be sharing this exceptional coffee now with you all.

We haven't had an anerobic coffee with this complexity for a while and hope you enjoy its notes of Banana, Lime Jelly, White Wine, Cranberry, Guava, and Rum Fondant.