Colombia El Mirador Tabi Natural Thermal Shock

COUNTRY: Colombia

REGION: Huila

FARM: El Mirador

FARMER/GROWER: Elkin Guzman

VARIETIES: Tabi

PROCESSING: Thermal Shock

ALTITUDE: 1550 – 1750 m.a.s.l.

We Taste: Raspberry, Cinnamon, Clementines

Description: Located in the village of El Portal in Huila, Colombia, El Mirador is a 31-hectare farm planted with several varieties like Caturra, Tabi, Catiope, Orange Bourbon, Striped Bourbon, Mokka and more. Elkin Guzman, the owner of El Mirador, has been surrounded by coffee since he was born. His family has always been involved in coffee cultivation, trading, and retail. Collectively, his family has celebrated over 70 years in coffee now, with 12 years of research devoted to post-harvest processing techniques.

In the case of this lot of Tabi coffee, the team at El Mirador chose Thermal Shock prossesing, which consists in controlling the temperature during fermentation. The selected coffee is placed in plastic tanks to create an anaerobic environment for 60 hours. After this, it is transferred to larger tanks to promote oxidation. Water at 35 ̊C-40 ̊C is added to maintain a constant and even temperature throughout the coffee mass for another 60 hours. Then, the water is removed, and cold is applied to stop the fermentation for 8 hours. After this, the coffee is dried for 18 to 24 days. This fermentation method produces coffee with greater sweetness, balance, and acidity, and fixes unique sensory attributes by managing different temperatures at each stage.

After the thermal shock process, the coffee moves to the dark room for drying. This process aims to optimize the drying environment, ensuring continuous drying day and night. Humidity and temperature are controlled with dehumidifying equipment to extract moisture and create a dry environment, along with extractors and fans to regulate the internal temperature of the dryer, which is kept as airtight as possible. This environment reduces humidity by 1.5% during the day and between 0.6% and 1% at night, resulting in a consistent drying time of 12 to 15 days. This method changes the sensory profile of the dried coffees, providing a cleaner beverage with unique notes compared to traditional natural drying or other systems.