We’re celebrating speciality coffees which dare to be different. Our funky friends Hernan and Pablo Dorronsoro from La Marianela are coffee pioneers. We’ve been working together on experimental lots for several years. This year’s Unkle Funka is our best yet!
Hernan, a skilled agronomist, has been producing incredible coffee since purchasing the farm in the 1980s. The farm is run with the utmost care for coffee, the environment, and it’s workers. Areas of the farm are treated as a nature reserve protecting natural forest and wildlife, workers are provided housing and the coffee goes through meticulous quality control.
Skilled pickers pick the ripest cherries. These are fermented then dried in La Marianela’s custom build kiln for drying. Leaving the fruit and skins of the cherries to ferment on the bean, natural processing, imparts boozy, fruity flavours. These exceptional flavours and quality mean La Marianela can sell the coffee at a premium. This payoff is not without risk, however. If the coffee over-ferments, the whole batch could be lost.
At a time when the market price for coffee is lower than the cost of production, not to mention the impact of coronavirus, these risks are worthwhile, and higher earning lots such as this one, are a necessity for La Marianela, it’s workers and their families.
This funky coffee is a fruity, boozy espresso. Something deliciously different with notes of pineapple and apple-sour candies and a boozy hit of brandy-cream in milk.