Finca El Paraiso, Colombia (Washed Thermal Shock) Specialty Coffee

The farm and Diego Bermúdez

 

Bourbon is the most famous of the bourbon-descended varieties. It is a tall variety characterized by relatively low production, susceptibility to the major diseases, and excellent cup quality. The name of this cultivar comes from the beautiful pink color of the fully ripe cherries. French missionaries introduced Bourbon from Yemen to Bourbon Island (now La Réunion)—giving it the name it has today—in the early 1700s. Until the mid-19th century, bourbon did not leave the island. But beginning in the mid-1800s, the variety spread to new parts of the world as the missionaries moved to establish footholds in Africa and the Americas.

The bourbon variety was introduced to Brazil around 1860, and from there rapidly spread north into other parts of South and Central America, where it is still cultivated today. Here it became mixed with other bourbon-related varieties, introduced from India as well as Ethiopian landraces. Nowadays, there are many bourbon-like varieties found in East Africa, but none exactly match the distinct Bourbon variety that can be found in Latin America.
Today in Latin America, bourbon itself has largely been replaced by varieties that descend from it (notably including Caturra, Catuai, and Mundo Novo), although bourbon itself it is still cultivated in El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Peru and Colombia.

 

Fermentation Washed Thermal Shock
The washed process is widely used across Latin America and parts of East Africa. It involves the removal of the pulp and mucilage surrounding the parchment with the use of either friction or fermentation and large volumes of water. The most common practice of the various stages of this process is outlined below:

Selectively harvested cherries do not require extensive quality control. After cherries have been loaded into a siphon, the uniformity of the degree of ripeness can be easily assessed. Water is used to separate floaters and to transport the cherries.
Submerged cherries are transported to the pulper that forces the seeds out of the cherry by mechanical means. At this stage, the pulped beans are still covered with a mucilage layer that sticks to the parchment.
The slimy mucilage is slowly removed by a process of fermentation, often under water. The fermentation time may vary according to ambient temperatures and the process is completed once the mucilage is fully removed. Currently, there is a lot of experimentation on coffee farms with different fermentation protocols.
Water is then used to stop fermentation by cleaning the parchment from microorganisms and organic matter. This water then drives the seeds towards drying facilities. In addition, beans can be separated in washing channels by density.
Drying of coffee is done on patios, raised African beds or mechanical driers.
The washed process is the most resource intensive method of processing. It was developed in equatorial regions, where frequent rain required fast processing times.
At Finca El Paraiso, all washed processed coffees are going through a thermal shock, hence the distinctive taste. At some point during the fermentation, they wash the coffee beans with water at a temperature ranging from 35 - 42C (depending on variety and process) to expand the bean structure for it to absorb volatile flavor compounds that occurs during the fermentation, and then they seal the bean shut by washing it with a cooler water of roughly 10C.