Description
Ana Mustafá along side our good friend Herbert Peñaloza, are integral to the operations of La REB. Both as producers and as operators; Ana is in charge of all the operations and Herbert is the head of R&D.
Ana comes from a long lineage of coffee growers starting when her grandfather came to Colombia from Palestine in the 1930s. He came empty handed but had a relative that was trading in fabrics and he started to do the same. After making some money, he was able to buy his first donkey, and then he saved until he was able to buy his first farm. He worked all the way up until he owned 6 different farms all in the small city of La Celia in the Risaralda region. He managed all these farms until he could not do the work anymore, then he passed them to Ana’s father.
After growing up watching her father grow and sell coffee, Ana felt she needed to continue his legacy. When she was ready, she inherited his farms in La Celia and ones he had bought in Pereira. Her focus for the farms has been to invest heavily in infrastructure and plant health. Creating higher cherry quality on the farm, along with higher yields, and efficiency. This lot comes from her farm in Pereira, named Los Naranjos, which is planted completely with the Castillo variety. Castillo is known for its high yields and being notoriously hard to process. Many Castillos end up being low quality coffees.
The fed-batch process looks a bit like this: first day, cherries get picked, depulped, and placed in fermentation tanks, then each day after this gets repeated, piling on top of the previous day’s cherries; after four days, they stop and move the cherries to a low heat mechanical dryer, to halt the fermentation, and start to dry the coffee.
They do this for a few different reasons: first, it saves a lot of space because patio space is scarce and valuable, second, it is far more sustainable because there is no water usage or water waste, and third, it creates a layered fermentation adding complexity in the cup. After the drying is finished, it rests in parchment for 20 days before getting dry milled and ready to be shipped.
Farm details:
Farmer: Ana Mustafá
Farm: La REB
Region: Pereira
Country: Colombia
Altitude: 1600m
Process: Fed-Batch Washed
Varietal: Castillo
Flavor profile:
Taste: Dried Apricot, Cacao Nib, Grape Jelly, Caramel, Sage
Acidity: Medium/Juicy
Sweetness: High/Dense
Body: High/Velvety
Recommended Brewing Methods:
Fellow Stagg [X]
22g in, 350g out
2:10 – 2:35 minutes
205 f temperature
Medium/coarse grind
Bloom
0-30 seconds
50 gram pour, pick up brewer and spin 3 times
Second pour
30-50 seconds
Pour from 50 grams to 200 grams, starting at 30 seconds and ending your pour at 50 seconds (7.5 gram per second, pour rate)
Let fully drain should be between 1:15-1:30
Third pour
1:15 – 1:30
Pour from 200 grams to 350 grams, starting at 1:15-1:30 and ending your pour at 1:35-1:50 (7.5 gram per second, pour rate)
Let drain completely
Final time
Drain should end between 2:10 – 2:35 minutes or brew to taste
Recommended Espresso Recipe:
Classic 9 bar recipe
20g in, 70g out (22 gram basket)
19-24 seconds
200 f temperature
Espresso grind