Colombia – Felipe Arcila Strawberry & Wine Yeast Infused

Where in the world?

Big sweet body on a really fruity coffee is gold and that’s what we have with this. From opening the bag, grinding the beans and brewing the coffee, there is no mistaking the strawberry flavour note of this coffee. Think high fruit content strawberry jam spread thick on a delicious piece of sourdough toast and with a sip of champagne 

Fruit infused coffees are controversial, love them or hate them coffees. Coffee producers adding wine yeasts and fruit to coffee cherries as they ferment has been happening increasingly over the last few years and we think it’s really exciting…but only if the coffee tastes good! 

What we’re always after is a yummy harmony of sweetness, acidity and body, wrapped up in a comfy duvet of flavour. In the tasting session where we chose this coffee, there was a coffee infused with peach, one with cinnamon, one with mint and this one with strawberry and wine yeast. The others were ok, they were interesting, but this one was next level, it just worked. 

Carlos and Felipe Arcila have been working with their father Jairo to develop a huge range of coffee varietals and they are also pushing boundaries of coffee processing at their mill La Pradera.By selecting specific wine yeasts to add to the coffee cherries as they ferment, flavours that we have never tasted before are being drawn out of the beans, and with the addition of fruit to the fermentation tank, well there’s all sorts going on! 

In the Bad Old Days, coffee was thought of as a dull basic ingredient, an agricultural product that was only brought to life by the magic of roasting. Poor farmers were there to provide a commercial product that we made special.But oh boy how things have changed. The massively increased demand for specialty coffee over the last 20 years has seen increasing focus on the work being done by coffee growers.

At La Pradera ripe cherries are hand-selected and then undergo a 72-hour anaerobic fermentation in plastic tanks with added wine yeast and fresh strawberry pulp. After fermentation the cherries are de-pulped and, with the mucilage still intact, dried on raised African beds. Shade is utilised to manage the temperature below 35°C until they reach the ideal humidity level (12%). 

All we are doing as roasters is developing the flavours we are handed by excellent and innovative producers and this is an absolute coffee love bomb of an example.  

Brewing Recipe