Jose Porta - Dynamic Cherry

MEET THE PRODUCER | Known for their excellence in processing, CCD endeavors to "spark collaboration in the coffee industry and beyond," and we have been the giddy recipients of many of those collaborations since they began working in Panama in 2018. Each lot of ripe cherries arriving at their mill is assigned to one of four carefully constructed fermentation designs, each with varying levels of fermentation impact. If you've sampled anything from CCD before, you might be aware of their love for anaerobic fermentation and their subsequent ability to produce some big, wild flavor profiles in a given micro or nano lot.

For this lot, our friends at CCD partnered with Jose Porta, a newcomer to the industry who's already making waves in the Chiriquí region of Panama. Although he's only been working in coffee for a little over two years, he is passionate in his pursuit of agricultural excellence, and his partnership with the processing wizards at CCD is proving to be a very (forgive our pun here) fruitful one. 

TRUST THE PROCESS | We consider this lot to be a good expression of what middle-of-the-road fermentation impact looks like for a CCD coffee. These cherries underwent a fermentation strategy called Dynamic Cherry. In this process, the cherries were spread out on a warm patio for two days prior to undergoing fermentation. This step reduces the moisture content in the bean so that there is not enough water available to promote bacteriological reactions outside of the bean, but there IS enough to aid enzymatic ones within it. The purpose of all of this is to decrease the risk of fungal development in those early days, and it also serves to prolong the fermentation process considerably. This particular lot underwent anaerobic fermentation in plastic bags for 83 hours - though some batches have taken as long as three weeks! The coffee cherries are then spread out on patios for drying, until 9.2% moisture content is achieved.

TAKE A SIP | CCD certainly left its mark on this coffee; it pretty aggressively pushes flavor boundaries and expectations. Nevertheless, it manages to present as unapologetically funky without coming off as savory or unpleasantly ferment-y. Very dark stone fruits, like black plum, and craft dark chocolate, like cocoa nibs, combine with a wine-y flavor profile to remind us of sipping a gorgeous Merlot.

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Origin | Boquete, Chiriquí, Panama

Producer | Jose Porta

Farm | La Alquería

Process | Dynamic Cherry

Variety | Catuai

Elevation | 1460 masl