Nine Years in the Making: An Ethiopian Heirloom Finds a Home in Guatemala
Nine years ago, a collection of coffee seeds from the southwestern Ethiopian highlands near Jimma, Ethiopia was introduced to a farm in the mountains of western Guatemala. It was the beginning of a nearly decade-long process of multi-generational cultivation, selection and patience.
Today we're excited to present the results of that process with El Platanillo Heirloom, a selection of Ethiopian coffee grown by our friends and long-time producing partners Sam and Stuardo Coto on their farm El Platanillo in San Marcos, Guatemala. This coffee is an interesting look into how genetics, environment and producer decisions play a role in the cup.
From Ethiopia to Guatemala
Ethiopia is the birthplace of Arabica coffee and home to extreme genetic diversity. Unlike many of the cultivated varieties across Central and South America, Ethiopian coffee populations are often characterized by significant genetic diversity. It's common for plants on a single farm, or in coffee forests, to display differing growth habits, physical characteristics and sensory qualities. Jimma, in the southwestern region of Ethiopia, is particularly notable for its history of coffee cultivation and the genetic diversity of its native coffee populations.
For Sam and Stuardo, this was an opportunity. What if they introduced these Ethiopian genetics to their farm in Guatemala? How would these plants adapt to the new environment? Could they find individual plants that combined theexceptional cup quality with the growing characteristics needed to succeed in San Marcos?
Jimma, located in the southwestern highlands of Ethiopia, is characterized by humid, forested land while the Coto's farm is located on the Pacific facing slopes of Guatemala's Sierra Madre. Volcanic terrain, abundant rainfall and a long wet-season create a very different environment for the expression of Ethiopian coffee genetics. San Marcos is, by a good bit, the rainiest of any Guatemalan coffee growing region, and, on average, it sees 100+ inches more rainfall than Jimma annually.
This project was an opportunity to explore not only what Ethiopian coffee might taste like when grown in San Marcos’ environmental conditions, but how through selection over multiple generations, a more consistent and distinct population of plants could be established.
6 years of observation and selection
Nine years ago the first seeds were planted. It would be three years after planting before they reached production. Throughout the growing process, Sam and Stuardo noticed some distinct variations in the plants. Some grew tall and spindly, others were relatively short and bushy. New leaves had either bronze or green growing tips. These were just afew of the variations that reflected the diversity of the original seed population.
Instead of approaching these plants as a single, uniform variety, the Cotos separated the plants based on their physical characteristics. They then took the seeds from these separations and planted them in separate lots, beginning another three-year growing cycle.
Six years after the initial planting, the second generation reached production and each group was harvested, processed and evaluated individually for cup quality.
From the selections, there was one that stood out. Tall plants with green growing tips. Physically, they resembled Bourbon and Typica and in the cup, they showed great quality potential demonstrating pronounced floral aromatics and a remarkable sweetness.
This is a good time to point out that there were six years of work on this project before there was the first opportunity to taste the results of their efforts. At the roastery, we wait, impatiently, for a couple of weeks after roasting for many of our coffees to reach their prime. It's hard to wrap your head around waiting six years just to see if there's potential.
After the cupping results, Sam and Stuardo selected the group to be propagated. They grew seedlings in the nursery, found an ideal location on the farm, and again, began the process of planting.
One important distinction to understand about the project is that Ethiopia Heirloom is a broad designation. It's not a single, genetically uniform cultivar. Through their efforts, the Cotos have started to narrow down the diversity of the original population. They're selecting and propagating plants with desirable physical characteristics and sensory qualities. As a result, this coffee is a more distinct, consistent selection of Ethiopian coffee genetics shaped by years of agricultural observation and decision making.
A different expression of Ethiopian genetics
One of the most interesting things about coffee for us is the relationship between genetics and the environment where theplant is grown. A coffee variety doesn't exist in a vacuum. The soil conditions, rainfall, temperature, agricultural practices and countless other factors influence how a plant grows and ultimately, the sensory characteristics of the coffee produced.
A Bourbon grown in El Salvador, for example, might look and taste quite different than a Bourbon grown in Rwanda, even though they share the same genetic lineage. And, over multiple generations, a genetically diverse coffee population introduced to a new environment can undergo natural or human selection slowly developing distinct characteristics and perhaps even leading to a new, locally adapted variety.
This is what makes the El Platanillo project so interesting. The genetic origins are the forests of southwestern Ethiopia.But, over multiple generations, they've been cultivated and selectively propagated in the distinct growing conditions of the Coto's farm. The result is a coffee that's shaped both by its Ethiopian heritage and the careful selection of the producers who are growing it on the other side of the world. It's a great example of the role that producers play in shaping the coffee long before harvest, processing and roasting.
A thoughtful approach to processing
For this coffee, Sam and Stuardo used a 96 hour carbonic maceration washed process. Carbonic maceration is a fermentation technique adapted from winemaking. Whole coffee cherries are placed in sealed tanks within a carbon dioxide rich, oxygen limited atmosphere. This controlled environment influences fermentation activity promoting the development of complex aromatic compounds. After CM fermentation, the cherries are set out to dry for a short period before being depulped. After depulping, additional, traditional, fermentation is used to remove the remaining mucilage. The coffee is then washed before drying.
While carbonic maceration can lead to intensely fruit forward coffees with pronounced fermentation characteristics, this isn't what we find particularly compelling about the processing style or this lot.
Despite the relatively high level of intervention in the processing of this coffee. The fermentation never overwhelms the inherent character of the coffee. Instead, it seems to allow the floral qualities and sweetness to shine with great clarity. For us, that's the sign of great processing. Not necessarily creating the most dramatic flavor profile possible but rather using processing as a tool to allow the underlying qualities of the coffee to present themselves clearly.
The Cotos and their team are master processors and have learned, and continue to learn, from the best minds in the industry. People who dedicate their careers, basically their whole lives, to thinking about coffee processing and how to improve it. In an age of shockingly processed coffees it's nice to work with people who show restraint.
Nine years later, in the cup
The result of this project is a coffee we find to be distinctive and elegant. It's vibrant and exceptionally clear with notes of jasmine and lime zest throughout the cup complemented by the rich sweetness of apple compote and streusel. There's a precision to the flavor profile that we particularly appreciate and despite the extended fermentation, the cup remains clean and defined, and the floral, citrus and apple characteristics are clearly articulated. It's a beautiful expression of the potential of these Ethiopian genetics and a testament to the care that's gone into this project.
Why projects like this are important
We've worked with Sam and Stuardo for 15 years now. Beyond the friendships we've formed, projects like this are what make those long-standing relationships so interesting. In specialty coffee, there's understandably a lot of focus on tasting notes, processing methods, and scores. But those are just a part of a much larger picture. The decisions made on the farm, often years before a coffee is harvested, have the greatest influence on what's in the cup.
I always emphasize the fact that by the time a coffee ends up in our roastery the overwhelming majority of the work that goes into it has already been done. As roasters, we're responsible for just the last few steps. We roast in a way to highlight the work that's done before us, the work that gives coffee many of its innate qualities. We can't add, we can only take away. Technically, roasting creates new aromatic compounds and flavors through chemical reactions, so, that's not entirely true. But, you get the point. Start with something interesting, and there's the potential for an interesting result. Start with something uninteresting, and there's not.
The El Platanillo Heirloom project is the result of nine years of experimentation, cultivation, selection. It shows how the genetic potential of a coffee can be shaped by its environment and by the decisions of the people growing it.
