COLOMBIA Santa Monica Castillo Honey Wine Yeast and Strawberry Maceration RHYMX
Finished and shipped from Sweden with standard or express shipment worldwide. Learn more about production cut-offs and shipping here
“For the curious, bold and brave.”
Blagoj Achevski
PhD Student in Chemistry, Macedonia
“Coffee with a statement. Syntactically and semantically.”
Ivica Cvetanovski
Founder, Coffea Circulor
SCA SCORE 89.50
FLAVOR ALGORITHM AND DESIGN Ivica Cvetanovski
Roasted light based on conduction and moderate heat application with world class skill and care. Prolonged roast, high front up heat that subsides and an aroma of light honey follows us through to the first crack with a swift finish.
GENESIS
| Producer | Jairo Arcila |
| Country | Colombia |
| Region | Quindío, Armenia |
| Altitude | 1,450-1,500 masl |
| Varietal | Castillo |
| Process | Honey, Wine Yeast, Strawberry Maceration |
| Lot size | 35kg |
| Trade | 36.00 USD/kg |
SENSORY EXPERIENCE
| Aroma | Fermented strawberry leaf, Vanilla |
| Flavor | Cocoa, Dark honey, Strawberry |
| Aftertaste | Black tea (Kenyan), Fermented strawberry, Mid |
| Acidity | Kiwi, Strawberry, Malic, Mid |
| Body | Soft, Syrupy, Mid |
| Balance | Uniform |
PRODUCT SPECIFIC STATEMENT AND DISCLOSURE
About coffees that undergo specific fermentations which could be considered "experimental", in general "experimental" or "undergone other treatment" which are contemporary (in 2022) either based on traditional 'wet' and/or 'natural' fermentation protocols with hybrids.
For this particular coffee, we ran out of the amount of fermentation morphemes that could fit on the physical coffee bag label. It should actually read "RHYFMX", namely "Red Honey Yeast Fruit Maceration". More does necessarily not imply "better" where "better" is to be defined depending on the nature of subjectivity. It is important for consumers to understand this important detail: "More does not mean better".
Consider this statement also Coffea Circulor being open and sharing in respect to understanding that at times we "ourselves" bring coffees to our attention to see how specific fermentations modify the sensory experience from areas where we are not conducting any self-financed operations ourselves.
For full disclosure, Coffea Circulor has conducted similar "experiments" particularly in Kenya throughout the years. Our definition of "experimental" is the following:
"Everything is experimental until one stabilizes a fermentation formula to be reproduced again and again, across the seasons, regardless of external impeding factors such as change in climate at origin".
Again, "experimental" does not automatically imply better, it should not be a word that activates a mechanism to charge more for a produced coffee, both in green/un-roasted for and when roasted.
Similar "experiments" conducted by Coffea Circulor has rendered coffees with an intense Kenyan tea-flavor sensation, removing the nature of the coffee such as soil, topography and climate recognition (goût de terroir). At times, we have considered this to be a drying defect. The reason for never having released these "experimental" coffee lots - and likely we never will - is that we consider these coffees to become extremely expensive to produce in respect to their sensory experience: One is namely better off "experiencing black tea (tea as actual tea) inculcated with strawberry flavor". However, that can also be achieved with a "500 USD/kg jasmine-dominant Geisha".
With this statement, we offer the freedom of choice for those who are seeking to try "something new".
SYNOPSIS
Initially, the farm was an avocado plantation and Filipe, the son of Jairo, convinced his father to move to coffee production.
Santa Monica’s soil characteristics consist of volcanic ashes and permits an annual rainfall of 1,800-2,000mm. Together with temperatures of 14-26C, the conditions are stable for coffee production and particularly for drying phases where temperatures do not exceed specific or irregular values which can damage the drying phase of the coffees.
Jairo also owns Finca La Esmeralda which he purchased in 1987 where he planted Caturra. Except Santa Monica, there are additional farms at Jairo’s disposal as well, such as Villarazo, Mazatlan, Mazatlan, Maracay and Buenos Aires. Santa Monica is the largest of Jairo's farms at measuring in at 50 hectares and is made up of Castillo and Caturra. Jairo also grows Gesha, Pink Bourbon, Tabi, Papayo, Caturron, Red Bourbon and many fruits and vegetables.
The production of this coffee involves multi-stage and combined fermentation. Cherries were strictly picked with the same level of ripeness. After picking, the coffee cherries are pulped and exposed to a dry anaerobic fermentation of 48 hours at 23 degrees Celsius. This anaerobic environment is in combination with wine yeast and strawberries. Afterwards, the coffee is shade-dried in parabolic drying beds to a 10.5% moisture content.
FERMENTATION MORPHEMES
As each picked coffee cherry is destined for specific fermentation formulas, we denote each lot carrying the same name with a morpheme. Below is a listing of most common fermentation practices. Please use this reference to better understand the differences between equally named coffees and their fermentation formulas. For example, read a suffix of "NASDX" such as Natural Anaerobic Slow Drying Fermentation".
| AX |
Anaerobic Fermentation |
| CX |
Cold Fermentation |
| CMX |
Carbonic Maceration |
| DX |
Dry Fermentation |
| EX |
Extended Fermentation |
| FX |
Fruit Fermentation |
| RH, WH, BH | Honey Fermentation (Red, White, Black) |
| HX | Hypoxia Fermentation |
| MX |
Macerated Fermentation |
| NX | Natural Fermentation |
| SX |
Slow Fermentation |
| WX | Washed Fermentation |
| YX |
Yeast Fermentation |
EXTRACTION RECOMMENDATIONS
Our World Brewers Cup recipe, One (1:1:1), for Hario V60-01/02 with Hario VCF-01/02 filters:
- Coffee: 20g.
- Water: 300g @ 93-95°C, TDS: 10-50 mg/l.
- 100g of 20 second pours in 3 total pours at 0:00, 1:00 and last pour at 2:00. Finish at 3:00.
- Pour by pulsing in helix formation during 20 seconds, starting from the centre, 5 revolutions per pulse. Ensure no grinds persist on the filter wall in the last pouring pulse.
- At 01:00, 02:00 and 03:00, confirm the filter bed is flat and uniform. Avoid generating cavities and craters.
- Target a TDS reading of 1.40±0.02.
- Adjust only grind size and water temperature.
- Grinding: Target 600-800μm. Example: 28 turns from the finest setting on Comandante.
- If the flow ends past each minute, adjust your grind settings to finer and respectively for slower flow.
- The recipe, technique and formula is singularly linear and time efficient. Learn more about linearly up- and downscaling our recipe here.
Find more recommendations for other devices here.
WATER RECOMMENDATIONS
Use water with balanced mineral content to optimize flavor and character. Keep Total Dissolved Solids (TDS) between 25-50 ppm or mg/l. We advise a temperature between 93-95°C for the best brewing experience. Target the following values.
| Calcium (Ca) | 0.9 mg/l |
| Sodium (Na) | 1.7 mg/l |
| Silicon Dioxide (SiO2) | 1.4 mg/l |
| Potassium (K) | 0.3 mg/l |
| Magnesium (Mg) | 0.2 mg/l |
| Sulfate (SO4-) | <7.0 mg/l |
| Chloride (Cl-) | 2.5 mg/l |
| Nitrate (NO3-) | 0.1 mg/l |
| Fluoride (F-) | <0.1 mg/l |
| pH | 6.2 |
STORAGE RECOMMENDATIONS
Please store in a cool and dry place in order to secure freshness and quality. To ensure best possible experience use within 3 months after roast date and 2 weeks after opening. We have invested significant time to research the durability of the coffee by actively refining our roasting algorithms to ensure perpetual quality post 3 months of production. Our flavor-lock packaging technology is based on processing and roasting. This ensures persisting and stable aromas, flavors and pro-experience.
TEMPORALITY RECOMMENDATIONS
Start using at will. Brew immediately or wait several weeks. Prepare for a championship with a strategy. It all depends on your goals.
We recommend using the coffees by first opening the container/bag one day before the first planned brew to enable a natural aeration of the coffees. Use according to the following matrix and remember these are general observations given parameters such as continent, country, region, variety, altitude, process, etc. combined with Coffea Circulor processing and roasting algorithms.
Plan your acquisition according to production schedules (roasting), event attendance (home/championship) and shipping priority (standard/courier).
| 0-3 days | Focused acidity |
| 4-7 days | Optimal Coffea Circulor recommended praxis |
| 8-14 days | Increased floral perception |
| 15-21 days | Increased sweetness |
| 22+ days | Increased balance |
| 1+ month | Intact sweetness, peak intensity |
| 2+ months | Inherent balance, possible reduced florals turning herbal |
Made by Colombia
Finished in Scandinavia