Colombia Quebraditas

Think you spend a lot of time on coffee? Edison and his girlfriend Luz Angela from Quebraditas farm take their beans through nine processing stages, including double oxidation, thermal shock at 45°C, and a final rinse with ice-cold water at 5°C.

These coffee geeks live at an altitude of 1600-1850 meters above sea level in the Colombian region of Oporapa, where their Pink Bourbon grows under the equatorial sun alongside 14 other coffee varieties.

But let’s get back to the fermentation. Here’s what the coffee goes through:

1. Harvesting ripe cherries.

2. Flotation - coffee is submerged in water to select the densest cherries.

3. First oxidation - cherries are placed in food-grade plastic containers to interact with oxygen and develop their flavor and aroma.

4. Dry depulping - coffee cherry pulp is removed without water.

5. Second oxidation with thermal shock - beans are cleaned of most of the mucilage.

6. Anaerobic fermentation - beans spend 36 hours with special yeasts at temperatures below 25°C.

7. Washing - after fermentation, beans are rinsed with ice-cold water (5°C).

8. Drying - beans are dried for 76 hours at a temperature of 40°C.

9. Stabilization - dried coffee beans are packed into airtight bags.