Farm: Villa Luz
Region: Socorro, Santander
Process: Lactic Fermentation.
Varietal: Castillo, Variedad Colombia F6
Altitude: 1700 masl
 
This is a Lactic fermentation of Lucila's coffee produced in partnership with La Palma y El Tucan as part of their Neighbours & Crops program. For the Neighbours & Crops program, La Palma buy and process coffee cherries from small-scale farmers while controlling every step of the process in their own wet mill. After the coffee cherries are picked they're transport to the wet mill and assigned the fermentation process that will be applied for that batch of coffee. A 250gr sample is taken for a quality control test where the minimum parameters are met. All this information is registered in a wet mill format that will later be used in the cupping lab analysis, to be able to connect all the dots on how the picking, the processing and the drying processes influence the cup.
 
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. 
 
Producer Bio.
Lucila was born in the municipality of Socorro, Santander. Her parents are traditional coffee producers, so since she was a child she was surrounded by coffee crops and love for this industry. Her farm, Villa Luz, is a 3-hectare estate located at 1700 masl in the municipality of Socorro. He has 10,000 coffee plants between Castillo and Colombia.
 
Doña Lucila is improving the farming practices with the help of new knowledge shared by her family. Thanks to coffee production she can provide education to her children and support her family. Before joining Neighbors & Crops program she used to sell his coffee to cooperatives in the nearest town. Also for her, the most challenging labour was the drying process as she does not have the appropriate infrastructure to provide an even dry of the beansNo as she is a part of the Neighbors & Crops program we can support her with the infrastructure to process her cherries.