Say hello to your new favourite espresso (also great as a medium roast drip or French press). Great straight up or with milk based drinks.
This coffee is a washed anaerobic microlot from Fredy Nahun Vasquez, and it's a really unique coffee with tons of deep chocolate notes and a very sweet citrus note that is just lovely and really exciting in the cup.
As a microlot, Fredy only grows 10 bags of this coffee all year, and we were fortunate enough to connect with Fredy and buy almost all of them!
This espresso is syrupy and so chocolatey, but still just a medium roast, so preservers tons of the ripe citrus and funky chocolate notes of this unique coffee!
More about the producers, Fredy Nahun:
While Fredy Nahun and his family are not new to growing incredible coffee, up until about a year or two ago they, were mainly focusing on selling unprocessed coffees for regional blends. Fredy's more recent first attempt at processing coffee to parchment resulted in a solid coffee, but one that still didn’t manage to break clearly into microlot territory.
Still, this experience gave him the confidence to continue forward with his processing experimentation and this year, he was able to start selling his own coffee as a microlot of superior quality. And it will only get better!
Like so many young growers in Selguapa, Freddy grew up beside his father working the farm though their primary method of sale was to harvest cherry and deliver it to nearby Comayagua for whatever price could be received in the plaza.
Now, it’s Fredy, and his brother Jose, who are pushing their family in a new direction,
encouraging their father to understand the importance of developing durable and resilient relationships with buyers who respect their work and recognize the precarities smallholder growers face.
One of Fredy’s main interests is in cupping and learning more about processes and the impacts they have on a coffee’s flavour profile. Fredy has also taught himself to roast coffee at home so that he can cup his coffee himself and tighten the feedback loop on how each method shows in the cup. A surprisingly high number of farmers never, or rarely, get to drink their own coffee as they don't have roasters!
This type of initiative is so important for smallholders to have as it allows them to actively engage in assessments of their own coffee, and to better advocate for themselves.
When his traditional washed lots failed to stand apart as microlots, Fredy committed himself to extended fermentation in sealed Grainpro bags. This processing led to much deeper and expressive fruit flavours than past crops, without sacrificing the beautiful clarity and expression of the Typica varieties.
This year’s lot marks Fredy Nahun’s first international microlot and serves as yet another example of the importance of investing in smallholders. Our partners at Semilla Coffee invest a lot of time and energy in supporting farmers like Fredy. And the proof is in the pudding, or rather the coffee. We’re all thrilled with the results of Fredy’s coffee this year, and it will only get more incredible.
More about the processing method:
Coffee cherries are harvested at peak ripeness before being floated to remove any under ripe cherries. Next, the cherries are depulped and left to ferment for 68 hours in an low oxygen (anaerboic) environment before being washed clean.
The seeds are then dried on raised beds in a solar drier for 18 days. Using a moisture reader shared between nearby farmers, when the parchment reaches 10% humidity, the coffee is removed from the drying beds and placed in grainpro bags to be stored until milling.
Brewing Tips:
ESPRESSO: While every set up will be different, we've been pulling this espresso a little long, closer to a 1:2.5 radio. A little extra extraction time will really pump up the chocolatey sweetness. Overall, a pretty forgiving medium espresso! Great with milk too!
POUR OVER: For a V60, we recommend grinding fine-medium for this roast, using 20g of coffee for 290g of water (at 93C). We do a 60g bloom, and then 3x60g pulse pours, and then a final 50g pour (focusing on tight, concentric pours for the last pour). This coffee tastes even sweeter on a flat bottom dripper like a Kalita
FRENCH PRESS: We recommend the James Hoffman method for French press: 1:16.67 ratio // medium grind (not too coarse) // add water, do not stir, brew for 4 minutes // after 4 mins break crust gently, scoop everything off that floats // let sit for another 5-8 minutes // don't press all the way, only use it as a filter at the surface of the brew.
ICED COFFEE: Perfect as a funky and wild pour over flash freeze brew. Use large cocktail ice, lower your brewing ratios and then prepare as you usually would (with the option of adding a bit less water)!
Thank you to our partners at www.Semilla.com for the information contained on this page!
