Diego Lopez—Washed Caturra

LPET has a team called the Elite Picker Squad. This team is constantly monitoring the progress of the coffee plants throughout their farm as well as the N&C program. They focus on pruning, fertilizing, applying compost (made organically at LPET), and harvesting the cherry. This intense level of detail ensures maximum expression of the coffees harvested and premium dollar to go back and support each of the neighbouring families. They're also able to focus their efforts of other crops and projects through the security of the N&C program.

Through the bio-innovation process, La Palma y El Tucan honours the main principles of organic farming by capturing and reproducing microorganisms found within the farm to inoculate the coffee, and drive the flavours utilizing their terroir. The whole cherry is fermented for 116 hours in sealed ceramic pots inoculated with local yeasts, then pulped and fermented an additional 25 hours with mucilage in traditional open air ceramic tanks. It’s then dried for 25 days in shaded raised beds, which are both temperature and humidity controlled, and then 72 hours in mechanical drier.