Producer: Julio Bermudez
Farm: El Refugio
Mill: La Palma y El Tucan
Region: Anatoli, Cudinamarca
Process: Lactic Fermentation
Altitude: 1650 masl
Varietal: Castillo
 
Julio is 62 years old, and has been growing Coffee for the past 16 years at El Refugio farm located in Anatoli village in the municipality of La Mesa. His parents were farmers and he follows the tradition focusing in coffee production. His two sons are also involved in the coffee production helping him with some labour at the farm. Julio is part of La Palma y EL Tucan's (LPET) Neighbours & Crops program, where the goal is to produce finely crafted and diverse cups, while helping producers with fair revenues. LPET buys whole cherry from neighbouring farms within a 10km radius and processes at their innovative processing facility in various processing methods. This stunning fruit forward lot has undergone a 72hr Lactic fermentation. Before joining Neighbors & Crop program he used to sell his coffee to the Coffee National Federation. Also for him the most challenging labour was the drying process due to lack of infrastructure. Now being part of the Neighbors & Crops program he save costs related to processing, and has access to better prices.
 
Lactic Fermentation.
After the cherries have had their flesh removed via pulping, the coffee with its sticky mucilage still attached is placed in sealed tanks. The Lactic process is anaerboic as the fermentation is carried out in the asbsence of oxygen. The removal of oxygen during this stage encourages a higher concentration of Lactic acid as a result of the mucilage carbohydrate fermentation, which in turn contributes to the organoleptic profile of the resulting cup. La Palma have a great understanding on this process and tightly control the ph (between 5-7) and within a temperature range of 18-25 degrees to promote the thriving of the Lactic bacteria, minimising other microorganisms that can 'take over' the fermentation process and alter the unique flavour profile of the resulting coffee.