Panama
Finca Los Lajones
Grape Jelly, Pineapple, Chocolate Wafer
Regular price
$29.00
Roast Schedule: Roast And Ships Wednesdays
alt: 1800-2050 MASL
farm: Finca Los Lajones
producer: Graciano Cruz Senior
process: Natural: Intrinsic Cherry
varietal: Catuai
Creativa Coffee District (CCD) is a new project developed by the team at La Palma y El Tucán. Located in Boquete, Panama, CCD aims to enact the same economic and sustainability practices they developed through their Neighbors and Crops program in Colombia. By converting a high volume, traditional wet mill into a cutting edge processing facility, the team at CCD is able to work with local farms to source cherries from one of the world's greatest coffee growing regions while providing higher incomes and agricultural support to producers. As long time partners with La Palma y El Tucán, Bird Rock Coffee Roasters is honored to work with Creativa Coffee District in elevating industry standards.
The Producer: Graciano Cruz Senior
Graciano Cruz Senior lives on his 52.5-hectare farm with his son, Fernando. They have 22 hectares planted with 70,000 Geisha, Pacamara, and Catuai coffee trees. The rest is dedicated to promoting rich biodiversity that is evident everywhere on the farm, with lush vegetation, shade-giving fruit trees and streams making up most of the property.
Graciano Cruz Senior and his family have been in the coffee industry for decades, and are completely in tune with Creativa, saying that the whole family is artists – of growing coffee. We couldn’t think of a better reason to work with Graciano. He sees art as a way to elevate coffee culture around the world, as we must admit that we agree completely.
The Process: Intrinsic Cherry
"We ferment the cherry in the very same bags they come in. It is in this way our process maintains the essence of each micro-lot. We open the fermentation environment to the air and allow nature to guide the temperature—which averages at 30° celsius (86° F). In this case, we just keep an eye out to keep temperatures below 45° celsius (113° F), to prevent the cherries from overheating. We keep the fermentation times between 12 and 72 hours, because the soaring temperatures of our natural environment result in drastic changes of the cherry cell structure, and rapid embryo death, completely changing the cup profile.
"After fermentation, we set the cherries to dry either on raised beds or our patio. Our natural environment is scorching hot around harvest time... The high ambient temperature of our patio works to halt the fermentation processes of each coffee once it’s reached its desired pH and Brix levels, adding another layer of consistency to our methods.
"It is so hot in fact, the afternoon sun threatens to dry the cherry faster on one side than the other. To prevent this uneven drying, we move the cherry every two hours. Then, before night falls, we pile the coffee into small cherry mountains and cover them to prevent any risk of rain. In the morning, we spread them out and start it all again. The cycle continues for an average of 15 days, until the coffee reaches 11% moisture level."
The Producer: Graciano Cruz Senior
Graciano Cruz Senior lives on his 52.5-hectare farm with his son, Fernando. They have 22 hectares planted with 70,000 Geisha, Pacamara, and Catuai coffee trees. The rest is dedicated to promoting rich biodiversity that is evident everywhere on the farm, with lush vegetation, shade-giving fruit trees and streams making up most of the property.
Graciano Cruz Senior and his family have been in the coffee industry for decades, and are completely in tune with Creativa, saying that the whole family is artists – of growing coffee. We couldn’t think of a better reason to work with Graciano. He sees art as a way to elevate coffee culture around the world, as we must admit that we agree completely.
The Process: Intrinsic Cherry
"We ferment the cherry in the very same bags they come in. It is in this way our process maintains the essence of each micro-lot. We open the fermentation environment to the air and allow nature to guide the temperature—which averages at 30° celsius (86° F). In this case, we just keep an eye out to keep temperatures below 45° celsius (113° F), to prevent the cherries from overheating. We keep the fermentation times between 12 and 72 hours, because the soaring temperatures of our natural environment result in drastic changes of the cherry cell structure, and rapid embryo death, completely changing the cup profile.
"After fermentation, we set the cherries to dry either on raised beds or our patio. Our natural environment is scorching hot around harvest time... The high ambient temperature of our patio works to halt the fermentation processes of each coffee once it’s reached its desired pH and Brix levels, adding another layer of consistency to our methods.
"It is so hot in fact, the afternoon sun threatens to dry the cherry faster on one side than the other. To prevent this uneven drying, we move the cherry every two hours. Then, before night falls, we pile the coffee into small cherry mountains and cover them to prevent any risk of rain. In the morning, we spread them out and start it all again. The cycle continues for an average of 15 days, until the coffee reaches 11% moisture level."
