El Fenix, Colombia

El Fénix is an organic, rare variety coffee forest and post-harvest lab in the Eastern municipality of Quindio, Colombia. It’s where good stuff happens. It’s a place where some of the best minds in coffee production come together and experiment with new practical farming techniques, organic production and selective breeding programs. Their aim is to gain roaster’s attention - and they have certainly done that!

When you taste coffee from El Fénix, you’re tasting the coffee of the future! This Anoxic Washed Tabi tastes like a big punch of orange and green tea, with a pecan brittle base.

There is a general rule of thumb that is followed for each variety at El Fénix farm: the coffee is harvested with a tolerance of 5% underripe beans and immediately floated to remove low-density beans. Each batch is stirred at least 3 times a day to ensure that any underripe beans have a chance to float to the surface, and separate from the high density coffee. Cherries then undergo 24-hour sealed water fermentation at a controlled 19-21°C for optimal quality. The beans are then ready to begin the decided processing method. In our case, we have got our hands on the Anoxic Washed!

After the initial floating and 24-hour sealed water fermentation process, these cherries are placed into a fermentation tank. A sheet is placed over the cherries and then submerged with cool water. The seal created by the water pressing onto the sheeting creates a vacuum effect on the coffee below, creating an anoxic environment for fermentation to take place over 48-hours, at a stable 25°C. The water and sheet acts as a heat exchange, preventing over-fermentation, hot water is added if temperature drops too low. After fermentation, cherries are rinsed, pulped, washed, and graded. Then, they are sun dried on raised beds for 4-8 hours a day, for 2-3 weeks.