[03] Colombia - El Carmen Camioneta [CROP 22/23 ARCHIVE]

The Camioneta Anoxic lot from El Carmen ran from 28/06/2023 to 20/09/2023.

Our first single origin release is from a Co-operative our founders know well, Asociación Agropecuaria El Carmen de Acevedo. A high quality day lot was separated off and processed using an innovative 2 stage technique that blends the best of natural & washed processing to create a unique, delicious coffee full of energy & intensity.

Brew Guide:

Best Brewed with: Filter

We’re roasting this coffee to lean into that crunchy red-wine & sticky boiled sweet character. Try going a touch coarser and going to 64g/L for a beautifully intense filter. If brewing Espresso, try a modern open recipe at 18g in, 45-50g out in 25-30s.

We’re tasting dense, sticky, rich acids, almost winey, with flavours of boiled sweets, rhubarb, blackberry and a hint of elderflower kombucha. 

Traceability

The Story:

This is a coffee from a cooperative that is dear to both Stu and Alex - El Carmen. El Carmen have been a stalwart partner of Raw Material, and their blender coffees have been consummate companions in many an excellent roaster’s drum or coffee shop’s hopper. 

But recent moves from Raw Material to separate out higher grades and reward producers for microlot quality has seen some truly stunning coffees come out of El Carmen, and this Camionetta Anoxic washed is no exception. Cherry is collected from the farmers, sealed in clean plastic sacks and trucked to Raw Material’s “Jamaica” processing station in Villamaría. The 72hrs the coffee spends being trucked over acts as a dry anaerobic fermentation. 

Upon arrival the coffee is pulped and put through a 48hr wet fermentation, with the coffees held underwater using a “water pillow” (a clean plastic sheet with cold water on top, much like a fermentation weight if making sauerkraut or kimchi). The combination of the “Camioneta” dry fermentation followed by the water pillow “Anoxic” fermentation creates a truly special cup.

If none of the words involved in the processing make sense - never fear - we’ll be writing and talking more about what all of this means soon. All we ask if that you trust us when we say this is a delicious and interesting coffee, one that we are stoked to be roasting and serving as one of our inaugural single origins.