Origin: Western Valley, Costa Rica

Producer: Alejo Castro

Farm: Volcan Azul

Process: Anaerobic Natural

Varieties: H1

Elevation: 1400-1600masl

Importer: Apex Coffee

Roast: Light

Notes: Strawberry Cream, Lime Cordial, Lemongrass, Cherry Chocolate

POTIONS 2.0 - ALEJO CASTRO OF VOLCAN AZUL.

wot's potions?? POTIONS is our sub-section of our coffee menu that will have primarily processed focus'd coffees, that are experimental, fun, and sometimes funky!

Who’s Alejo Castro & What's Volcan Azul?

We had the privilege to meet with Alejo at Apex Coffee in Montreal last year and listen to him talk about his biodiversity in his farm, crop rotation, and the importance of building new hybrid varietals. Needless to say it super inspiring, and insightful. He was also just a super nice, down to earth guy who was super passionate about what he did, and it shows in his coffee.

Alejo is a fifth generational farmer, his family planted some of the first coffee plantations in the early 1900s, with the goal to producer the best coffee in the world. Alejo continues this pursuit passionately, with a strong focus on improving coffee quality, while also making a positive impact on the environment.

The combination of experience, ideal volcanic soil, and well practiced processing methods, makes Volcan Azul one of the best place in the world to grow coffee, and has been proven such winning many awards.

This beauty of a potion is made up of an H1 hybrid that is anaerobicly processed. H1 is a special hybrid varietal that is designed to be both disease resistant and high in cup quality. H1 performs amazing at the mid-range altitudes, making it a perfect varietal at Alejo's farm.

Alejo's process is meticulous, from close monitoring of enviroment, using insect traps instead of pesticides, and constantly watching over his coffee, tweaking year over year. After reaching peak ripeness, this coffee is anaerobicly fermented in sealed containers at a set temperature of 18c for four days. Once the coffee hits his ideal brix level, he pulls it and begins his drying process.

Alejo begins his drying process on his raised african-style beds, with a slow and controlled 6 days of drying in open air. He then shifts it over to his mechanical dryers to finish off the drying process.

This combination of raised bed + mechanical drying is something we're seeing with a lot of talented producers, it allows for a slow start, and a quick finish with lots of control. This is ideal for capturing the qualities of the coffee, as well as slowing down its natural aging.

This coffee is then packaged in vac-sealed blocks, again limiting any opportunity for aging or degradation of quality.

In the cup the coffee is bright, juicy, and extremely expressive. We get lots of bright citrus, lush lemongrass, and a boozy-cream strawberry-cherry chocolate, reminiscent of our favourite Quality Street candies! 

Play around with this coffee! It is extremely versatile. you'll have amazing results in a classic pour-over or aeropress. It's a lot of fun in espresso with the flavours really popping, and the booziness intensifying, try it as an espresso, and add a touch of water to really bring out the flavours. 16-17:1 ratio for filter(could go 15:1 for an intense aeropress), and 2.1-2.2:1 for espresso, in 28-32 seconds(set-up depending!)

HAPPY SIPPIN'