How Does Coffee Growth at Finca El Paraiso Shape Its Flavor?

Finca El Paraiso in Colombia is run by Diego Samuel, who has managed the land since 2008 and won first place in a regional competition in 2015. Its Cherry Blossom lot uses the Castillo variety and a double anaerobic washed process, and with a light roast it cups with notes of mugwort, basil, mint, berries, and osmanthus.

The estate began as a small family plot of about 2.5 hectares, and its owner reinvested each harvest into research on producing specialty flavors more consistently, working through his company Indestec. What is Colombian coffee in this case is a question of method as much as origin, because the anaerobic coffee growth and fermentation steps drive the unusual cup profile.

Luckin's recent launch of the Finca El Paraiso SOE has brought this Colombian coffee into the view of more people. Finca El Paraiso is located in Colombia, and its owner Diego Samuel has been managing this land since 2008. Through continuous research into ways of producing specialty flavors, he won first place in a regional competition in 2015. Front Street Coffee has also introduced this estate's Cherry Blossom coffee beans, which use a double anaerobic washed process and the Castillo variety. Front Street presents its authentic flavor with a light roast, and in cupping one can perceive notes of mugwort, basil, mint, berries, and osmanthus. This article will guide you through Finca El Paraiso's background, processing methods, and variety characteristics, and share Front Street's brewing parameters and extraction insights to help you better savor this unique anaerobically processed coffee.

Luckin Coffee has finally emerged from the shadow of its previous string of financial fraud scandals, and its recent co-branded product with Coconut Palm has stirred up a market sensation. Speaking of the SOE series, the earlier highly popular Huakui SOE introduced many consumers to the Huakui bean, and this time Luckin has launched the Finca El Paraiso SOE, so it is naturally necessary to get to know Finca El Paraiso properly. Coincidentally, Front Street Coffee has also introduced coffee beans from Finca El Paraiso, so next let Front Street introduce this bean to you.

Finca El Paraiso

Finca El Paraiso has been managed by Mr. Diego Samuel since 2008, and at first it was merely a small family-style estate of only 2.5 hectares. The estate owner invested the profits from each year's harvest into coffee-growing research and continuously explored how to produce high-quality specialty flavors more consistently.

In 2015, he participated for the first time in a local regional competition, Colombia Finca El Paraiso coffee beans and took first place. After becoming famous overnight, he gained recognition in the industry, which also gave him more motivation to promote specialty coffee cultivation.

With the help of his company Indestec (Innovacion y Desarrollo Tecnologico para la Caficultura), Diego developed new innovative technologies to improve and stabilize coffee quality. He said that he enjoys stepping out of his comfort zone because doing so continually drives him to keep improving.

Colombia, where Finca El Paraiso is located, is one of the first producing countries in the world to carry out research into new anaerobic fermentation processing, and Finca El Paraiso is likewise committed to developing coffee beans that present unique flavors after processing. The estate's better-known flavors, such as Strawberry Yogurt and Cherry Blossom, are obtained precisely through this kind of processing.

Processing Method

Anaerobic fermentation is an extremely popular post-processing method in recent years. It usually requires placing coffee cherries into an oxygen-free environment for fermentation, then removing them from the anaerobic environment and proceeding to the next stage of processing, ultimately becoming anaerobically fermented coffee beans. The Cherry Blossom coffee beans from Finca El Paraiso introduced by Front Street use precisely a double anaerobic washed process.

After the coffee cherries are removed from the anaerobic environment, the skin and pulp are first removed by machine, and then the coffee beans, which still carry mucilage, are placed into plastic bags or other sealed containers and again put into an anaerobic environment for a second anaerobic fermentation. A processing method that undergoes the above two rounds of anaerobic fermentation is called double anaerobic fermentation.

This Colombian Finca El Paraiso is a double anaerobic washed coffee. After completing two anaerobic fermentations, the coffee beans are removed from the anaerobic environment and washed to remove the mucilage layer, then sun-dried to reduce the moisture content to about 11%.

Coffee Variety

This Colombia Finca El Paraiso coffee beans is of the Castillo variety.

Castillo is one of the most widely planted coffee varieties in Colombia. It is so popular because of its excellent resistance to leaf rust.

Starting in 1961, CENICAFE began researching the Timor variety, which carries Robusta lineage. CENICAFE then continued to advance its research and development, releasing its second disease-resistant variety Tabi in 2002 (a hybrid of Typica, Bourbon, and Timor), and in 2005 releasing Castillo, the most successful disease-resistant variety up to that time. After the large-scale outbreak of leaf rust in 2008, Colombia began vigorously promoting the cultivation of Castillo.

Front Street Roasting and Cupping

Faced with coffee beans with such pronounced fermentation notes and distinctive flavors, Front Street chooses a light roast in order to bring out the coffee beans' original flavors to the greatest extent.

By cupping this Finca El Paraiso Cherry Blossom coffee, one can perceive the flavors of mugwort, basil, mint, berries, and osmanthus.

Brewing Flavor

To present the coffee's best flavor, it is natural to brew when the coffee beans are in their best condition. Front Street recommends using freshly roasted coffee beans for brewing, as this allows you to experience the coffee's rich flavors to the greatest extent. The coffee beans sent out by Front Street Coffee are all within 5 days of the roast date, because Front Street knows very well that the freshness of coffee beans has a huge impact on flavor. Front Street's roasting philosophy is "freshly roasted good coffee," so that every customer who places an order can receive the freshest beans when the coffee arrives. Coffee's resting period is about 4 to 7 days, so when customers receive it, it is exactly at its peak flavor stage.

Brewing Parameters

Coffee dose: 15 grams

Ratio: 1:15

Water temperature: 91°C

Grind size: 80% passing through a 0.85 mm sieve

Dripper: Hario V60 #01 dripper

Brewing process: For the first stage, pour 30 grams of water and bloom for 30 seconds; for the second stage, pour 95 grams of water (the scale shows 125 grams), finishing the pour at about 1 minute 05 seconds; for the third stage, pour 100 grams of water (the scale shows 225 grams), with an extraction time of 1 minute 45 seconds. Because these are anaerobic coffee beans, the extraction time will be slightly shorter than for ordinary coffee beans.

Flavor description: pronounced spiced tea, citrus-like acidity, smooth, slight floral aroma, medium body

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The above content is compiled by CoffeeHunters, a coffee news website.