Crown Jewel Peru Challhuamayo Edith & Ivan Meza Sagarvinaga Natural

Taste

Taste Analysis by Isabella Vitaliano 

As of recently, there have been a lot of experimental style processed coffees that have hit the menu. Lychee, hops, watermelon – oh my! New and exciting, it can be hard to come off such a high.  

We’ve so graciously decided to help you come down from your high (that we caused, oops) by releasing this natural coffee from our friends, Edith and Ivan. Although this coffee is one of the original methods of processing coffee, the flavor challenges the notion that traditional can’t be exciting.  

Decadent and complex, the bulk of this coffee’s profile is akin to a plum and wild blueberry shortcake or maybe even a red velvet cake with blackberries. It’s fudgy while also maintaining a sharp arc of flavor with accents of raspberry, dried cherry and sweet strawberry, blueberry – the list goes on.  

It reminds me of the coffees in the early 2000’s: the natural Ethiopian coffees with bombastic blueberry that were essentially a gateway drug for many people to hop on the third wave bandwagon. This lot will emulate that feeling of excitement with its strong fruit flavors and clarity. It is full of blueberries and sweetness but not rambunctious in any way. 

Edith and Ivan have been trusted sourcing partners from the start, and we are excited to showcase their work on the Crown Jewel menu once again. 

Source

Source Analysis by Chris Kornman  

Edith and Ivan Meza Sagarvinaga are a sister-brother duo with an incredible farm project and some of the best, most consistent coffee coming out of Peru. Their most recent harvest drops into the Crown Jewel lineup in triplicate for the first time in years: a washed, honey, and natural, offering savvy roasters the opportunity to taste the difference that precision-processing can make on thoughtfully cultivated coffee.  

Edith and Ivan are longtime, active and crucial parts of our central Peru supply chain, including advising and consolidating coffee from other producers all the while still plugging away at the innovative and unique farming techniques – coffee and otherwise – on their little plot of land known as Finca Tasta. 

Finca Tasta is located in Peru’s central forest; the farm was their late mother’s project, and the two have since taken over operations. In the last handful of years, they’ve refined their processing methods and expanded their operations, and hope to become a beacon of specialty coffee and sustainability. 

Edith and her brother Ivan are leading by example, focusing on sustainability and independence by diversifying crops beyond just coffee to include food for themselves and their workers. They harvest three varieties of plantains, yucca, beans, corn, tomatoes, pine trees, sugarcane, raspberries, blackberries, and pumpkins. 

They hope to inspire other farmers to move away from monoculture and back towards a model of truly sustainable agriculture. Their commitment to environmental protection runs so deep that they leave nine of their twenty-three hectares of land completely wild to protect native animals like deer, monkeys, and native birds. They also include a deer and a tree in their logo as a symbol of their dedication to the creatures and ecosystems they are committed to protecting. 

The obvious energy behind the project is palpable when speaking with Edith, as our own Mayra Orellana-Powell recently did in an interview (you can read that interview here). Her passion for continuing and improving the work of her mother and engaging with her community is clear. She’s an active member of the International Women’s Coffee Alliance and has set up outreach events locally to engage residents in and around Challhuamayo with events like specialty coffee workshops. 

Green

Green Analysis by Isabella Vitaliano 

The bulk of this coffee is in 16+ range in screen size. The larger screen size is pretty common for this region and cultivar type. Satipo province, located in the Junín region in southern Peru, encompasses the Junín Plateau – a landscape of deep canyons, jungle, and glacier valleys at the highest plateaus.  

The region is known for its ideal climatic conditions and offers cultivars like Caturra, Typica, and Bourbon. This lot composed of both Caturra and Catuaí that reflects the high quality that is expected from this area of Peru.  

Diedrich/Loring

Diedrich IR5 & Loring S15 Falcon Analysis by Doris Garrido 

Machine: Diedrich & Loring  

Batch Size: 4.5 and 18 lbs.  

Great news! We can finally enjoy Peru Finca Tasta coffee again. The coffee arrived last week, and I’ve already cupped it a couple of times. They will be on the Crown menu this weekend. We are very selective about our Crown Jewel coffees, and Edith’s meticulous work is evident in the exceptional taste. 

Edith and her brother Ivan Meza own a farm in the foothills of the Andes, the forest side of the Junin region of Peru. This harvest was challenging due to heavy rains caused by climate change, which lowered the yield of some of her coffees. 

To mitigate some of the impacts of these changes, Edith has implemented several strategies based on her knowledge of coffee farming. These include replanting the farm and nurturing the plants with specific care, she has also adapted harvesting and processing techniques to account for the climate influence. 

Edith’s background in food engineering focused on chemistry and microbiology, has been invaluable in addressing challenges during fermentation. She has optimized the process and built raised beds and greenhouses to facilitate drying. All this work has resulted in this exceptional cup! Her ingenuity and creative work have made this elegant natural process coffee truly impressive. 

I have done two roasts now. The first one on the Diedrich roaster turned out exceptional, so for the second roast I tried to adapt the roast to a different roaster and batch size. 

On the Diedrich, I used low charge and waited to turn on the heat until the turning point. I shifted with this the highest part of the heat to the middle of the roast, ending up with about half of the roast time in drying and the other half in Maillard. The development was pretty fast, happening over the last 16% of the roast. Not ideal, but the flavors were amazing: super sweet with notes of black cherry, cherry cola, jackfruit, pineapple, raspberry, cacao nibs, and my favorite, red velvet cake! 

For the Loring I was just a bit more cautious. I opted for a very short soak, which resulted in a really good balance between drying and yellowing. I started with 100% power in the first 30 seconds and gradually lowered it during caramelization, first crack, and during development. 

An overall 9.7-minute roast with an ending temperature of 407F. I recommend that, as for natural coffee, watch the first crack to maintain a smooth dropping during development. 

On the cupping table this roast resulted in a very pleasant natural processed coffee that even a washed purist drinker can enjoy rich, tangy, very sweet, velvety, fruity, and a nice touch of raspberry chocolate, very clean.  

Aillio

Aillio Bullet R1 IBTS Analysis by Evan Gilman 

Unless otherwise noted, we use both the roast.world site and Artisan software to document our roasts on the Bullet. You can find our roast documentation below, by searching on roast.world, or by clicking on the Artisan links below. Take a look at our roast profiles below, as they are constantly changing! 

I will never forget the last day we were open at the Crown before the pandemic.  

Edith and Ivan of Finca Tasta had come to visit and host a public tasting, which, for obvious reasons, was canceled. We had planned to put on a Beer and Coffee collaboration event later that day, also canceled. Edith and Ivan needed to get back to Peru, and were scrambling to get to the airport before rumored lockdowns. I called a cab for them, and we were left with only with memories and the sweet coffees from their presentation – I think we all took home a little, and I began performing all my home roaster analysis at home for the next two years! 

While I was working with a smaller batch than usual for this coffee, I still wanted to give a good amount of push to move quickly through green/drying and spend more time in Maillard to bring out some juicy berry notes. I started with 437F charge temperature, P9 power, and F2 fan, easing back on power and increasing fan at turning point. I continued to follow this track for each adjustment, reducing power and increasing fan as the roast went along, with the inflection points of peak rate of change, the usual pre-first crack spike in rate of change at 360F, and a final adjustment only to fan speed just as first crack hit. This put my final fan speed at F6, a little higher than normal, but great for keeping a clean finish on a natural – and naturally chaffy – coffee. I reached crack at 379F, which is a bit early, but it seems that all of the coffees from Finca Tasta cracked a bit early in general. More post-crack development potential for me! 

And what potential indeed. This coffee was an absolute confection. While Doris’ lighter roast highlighted the bright cherry and cranberry deliciousness of this coffee, my Bullet roast focused on sugars and ended up being a cakey, cherry cola chugger. I do love a natural process coffee, and this one is top of the pops in my estimation.  

Truly, this coffee could be used in nearly every situation: as filter drip, in an espresso machine, for ritual magic, or to MacGyver your way out of a bus that will explode if it travels below a certain speed. Take this coffee, it’s dangerous to go alone! 

Follow along with my roast here at roast.world: https://roast.world/egilman/roasts/L_38se7N7-UrUO3QmQIIn 

Brew

Brew Analysis by Joshua Wismans and Marie de Courcy 

It’s always inspiring when you see other folks continuously improving in their craft. Ivan and Edith have produced a stunning natural this year, the best that we’ve tasted from them since we started working with them. Once we unlocked the secret to this coffee, we found a range of flavors in various recipes that I’d be over the moon to receive if I ordered this coffee at a cafe.

From previous harvests, we recalled that this coffee has lower solubility, and therefore required a finer grind. Our initial brew was on the Kalita Wave, ground at a 9 on the EKS43, using a coffee to water ratio of 15.79. This cup tasted good but was slightly muted and hinted at more flavor hiding in the coffee. The flat bottom brewer highlighted the soft sweet round mouthfeel, but subdued the acidity, which ultimately we were seeking to bring forward.

Looking to preserve the mouthfeel but capture a more vibrant acidity, we switched to the St. Anthony’s C70 conical brewer. Using the same recipe as our initial brew, we ended up with a more delicate cup with a lower TDS and sweet lime, hazelnut, and pomegranate in the flavor profile. It was good, and the acidity was starting to shine, but a touch more savory and still hinted at something hiding in the coffee.

We cranked the grind down a whole step, and in doing so, unlocked the natural potential. Both of our recommended brews were ground pretty fine, with varying doses to highlight different flavor profiles. Both brews were exceptional, with the higher dose brew having a robust caramel and praline sweetness complimented by a piquant berry acidity. The lower dose brew had a more delicate herbal tea character with a molasses sweetness.

For this coffee, we recommend a very fine grind and a conical brewer. This coffee is really flexible with dose, so experiment both high and low to find a profile you enjoy!