STORY

Edwin Ferrenbach is 75 years old and has been running his 17.5-hectare farm for 35 years. He named it “Sombras del Baru” because it sits in the shade of the tallest volcano in Panama, Volcan Baru. He has a total of 50,000 coffee trees, with a mix of Catuai, Caturra, Geisha and Pacamara varieties. He employs up to 20 people in the area during harvest to achieve his high-level standards of quality, and all weeding and maintenance is performed by machete to respect the natural environment.12 of the 15 hectares are planted with 50,000 Catuai coffee trees.

Here 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. The bacteria and yeast strains are unique and vary in each batch, and by involving them in the fermentation, we let the essence of the cherry shine. We open the fermentation environment to the air and allow nature to guide the temperature – which averages at 30° Celsius. In this case, we just keep an eye out to keep temperatures below 45° Celsius, 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.