SUGAR MOUNTAIN
There is no shortage of reasons why living through a pandemic is a choppy and rough outing. Receiving lovely messages continues to be personal buoy because it is genuinely uplifting to hear that a simple cup of coffee brightened a morning or anchored an unusual at-home office day. Another personal reassurance at the roaster continues to be endless loops of Neil Young albums. It started sporadic but these days, something from the archives is the background to every roasted batch or filled bag.
Thus, we arrive at Sugar Mountain: I wanted to source a special coffee that celebrates simple, vivid, and joyous delight. While simultaneously revealing some of the everyday minutia of Quietly. So brew a cup, take joy in a small pleasure, and listen to this 12-song playlist to hear some of the songs which inspired this roast: Spotify or YouTube.
El Edén sits on El Vergel, or the Black Mountain. While not made of sugar, it does sit on an inactive volcano that provides incredibly nutrient-rich soil. The farm is owned and operated by Marta and her two sons Shady and Elias. Driven to improve both cup quality and the producers in the region, the Bayter family continue to experiment with processing technology and interesting varietals.
This Java is an 'anaerobic natural', which is clumsy way of saying highly-controlled fermentation. Freshly picked beans go into sealed tanks and the oxygen is removed. The Bayter family use 200L tanks for just under 60 hours. While sealed, bacteria and yeasts convert acids into sugars throughout the coffee's mucilage layers. Part of the Bayter's unique approach relies on using half full tanks after the initial 20 hours of fermentation and then an elongated intermittent drying in the sun and shade
Articulating what’s actually in a fountain drink fruit punch is a difficult task. It’s also pretty close to what drinking El Eden is like: full of syrupy sweet tropical fruit notes that zip from from kiwi to papaya to pineapple. These lush notes sit alongside stonefruit flavours of nectarine and peach, as well as a rounded caramel sweetness. The cup is incredibly juicy, like biting into a red Jolly Rancher or pink Starburst candy.
Light-Medium.
Tropical with Kiwi, Papaya, Mango & Red Jolly Rancher.
REGION:
Fresno, Tolima, Colombia.
FARM:
El Edén.
VARIETAL:
Java.
ELEVATION:
1400-1600m.
PROCESS:
Natural.
IMPORTER:
Direct from Shady Bayter.