This coffee is a preorder as we only have a tiny amount. The final roast will be on Thursday the 6th of February.

This is a rollercoaster of flavour. Starting with juicy red cherry and redcurrant, there's a lively acidity of pink grapefruit cutting through before it finishes on tamarind. These super clean flavours are followed up by a big funk of balsamic-like umami on the aftertaste.

That umami aftertaste really hangs around and gets bigger with each mouthful - try a sip of water before you go back in and that fruit will come to the fore again.

We met Shady and Elias a few years ago whilst they were visiting the UK and immediately clicked. The Koji process which they have pioneered is a super interesting one and we've been wanting to get a lot...but we've been waiting for the right one. It's really easy for the flavours in this kind of fermentation to tip over and overwhelm the coffee, leaving it unbalanced or without really showing the great potential that the these coffee cherries have.

That's particularly true with such an innovative and new process, so we waited until we saw Shady in Copenhagen for the huge World of Coffee event, where he excitedly showed us a couple of new Koji lots he had just finished processing. This one stood out for us as being a huge, flavourful coffee which still shows clean flavours and nuance and demonstrates exactly what this kind of processing can be at its best.

Koji fermentation, traditionally used in Japanese cuisine for products like soy sauce and sake, has been applied to Java varietal coffee grown at El Vergel in Colombia and the results are truly awesome. This method involves using the koji fungus, which transforms starches into sugars and releases fatty acids and amino acids. Unlike typical coffee fermentations that produce alcohol or organic acids, koji fermentation enhances the natural sugars in coffee beans, resulting in complex and sweet developments of the natural characteristics of the coffee.

Shady and his brother Elias collaborated with researcher Christopher Feran to develop their process and it's one we really recommend you try if you see it, rare and unique to say the least!

Please do remember that as we only have a very small amount of this coffee, we are offering it as a preorder. Any other items ordered with this coffee will be shipped separately, and the preorder coffee will then follow when roasted and posted on Thursday the 6th of February.

• Country: Colombia
• Region: Tolima
• Municipality: Fresno
  
• Producer: Elias & Shady Bayter
• Farm: El Vergel
  
• Elevation: 1,500 m.a.s.l.
• Varietal: Java
• Process: Koji Supernatural

Tasting Notes: Red cherry, redcurrant, pink grapefruit, tamarind, balsamic-like umami.

Cup of Excellence Cupping Scores

• Clean cup: (1–8): 7
• Sweetness: (1–8): 6.5
• Acidity: (1–8): 7
• Mouthfeel: (1–8): 6
• Flavour: (1–8): 7
• Aftertaste: (1–8): 6
• Balance: (1–8): 6
• Overall: (1–8): 6.5
• Correction:(+36): +36
• Total: (max. 100): 88

Roasting Information
Medium: you're looking for midway through the gap, not too quick or too slow.