Christian Starry (El Xalum)

Description

silky mouthfeel, chocolate, plum & purple fruit, smooth

Producer
Christian Starry

Farm
El Xalum

Region
Amatitlán, Guatemala

Elevation
1400 - 1500 meters

Variety
Red & Yellow Bourbon, Typica

Process
Washed and Patio Dried

Harvest
Dec 2013 - March 2014

Storage
GrainPro™

Relationship
First Year Direct Relationship

This year in Guatemala we pursued several new farms to work with. When we're looking for new farm partners, there's more than just coffee quality involved in finding a partner to work with for years to come. Our vision of a good match is having enough buying power to effectively get the farms attention, as well as the farm either producing an excellent coffee or having the potential to produce improving quality in the future. Of the four new farms we found, one is on lake Amatitlan and was named El Xalum.

We ran across the son of the owner, Christian, in a cupping lab and he seemed eager to get our attention and have us cup their coffee. It turns out this 120 year old farm with heirloom bourbon trees had been hit by a hurricane, the eruption of Pacaya, and a mysterious pollination problem (we think the removal of local bee hives is related) in the last few years. The current yield on this farm was way down having just completed major pruning, they were looking to plant an entirely new section with an eye toward the future.

The bourbon from their farm cupped clean and had potential, but it was the visit and story he told that sold us. Once on the farm -- a narrow sliver down the mountain they describe as a pencil -- he gave a quick tour. As we struck up a conversation about yellow bourbon being better than red, he got very excited and took me down to an isolated coffee tree. On the tree stood one lone Yellow cherry I plucked and tasted the fruit. I proclaimed it sweet and he agreed. He pulled up his phone and showed me a picture of a brix meter reading. He then told me how they took the meter and walked the farm sampling cherry looking for the sweetest fruit until they found this tree. It measured a 22 when others had been 16-18. They decided to pick all the fruit on this tree to create a nursery for the new plot. This is not a common practice; the selection of seed is often for yield and disease resistance, so I was impressed.

Text from Barismo's listing.