ELZER GARCIA, La Shapa Washed Caturra

La Shapa is a small farm in the La Unión area near Jaén, sitting at a staggering altitude of almost 2,500 masl. The farm is owned and managed by Elzer Garcia Ticlahuanca who started growing coffee in 2015 after seeing the crop thrive in other areas. Starting with 100 plants as a trial, Elzer saw that they adapted well and produced a good yield, which encouraged him to expand the plantation to around 7,000 plants, covering nearly two hectares. The coffee is planted beneath Pajuro trees, providing natural shade that creates better growing conditions and helps the plants thrive. On the farm, they use pruning shears and hoes to maintain the plants and add organic fertilisers to enrich the soil.

The harvest is carried out by hand with the help of local villagers. Once picked, the coffee is pulped and fermented without water in tanks for three to four days before being washed to remove the sticky mucilage. The extended fermentation promotes the development of more fruit forward flavours and complexity. The clean parchment is then taken to the drying yard where it’s spread in thin layers and turned several times a day to ensure even drying. During this process, care is taken to prevent the coffee from absorbing moisture overnight and to protect it from sudden changes in weather, allowing it to dry slowly and evenly until it reaches the ideal moisture content. This careful handling helps preserve the physical quality of the seeds and maintain their best attributes in the cup.

Caturra is a pure-line dwarf mutant of red Bourbon, discovered in Minas Gerais, Brazil in 1937. Its leaf and fruit characteristics resemble Bourbon, with cherries that can be either red or yellow—known as Caturra Vermelho and Caturra Amarelo, respectively. The plant is short with abundant lateral and secondary branches, giving it a vigorous and compact appearance. Due to its susceptibility to coffee diseases and lack of hardiness in frost-risk areas, Caturra was never cultivated in Brazilian lowland plantations. However, its broad adaptability has led to its widespread cultivation across Colombia and Central America, where it thrives at higher altitudes.

The washed process was designed to minimise the risk of off-flavours caused by uncontrolled fermentation during the natural process. Cherries are typically sorted using a flotation tank, where under-ripe or defective fruits float to the top and can be removed. The remaining cherries are then pulped and left in a tank to ferment until the sticky fruit mucilage is soft enough to be washed off the parchment, a paper-like layer surrounding the seed.

The design and cleanliness of the tanks used for fermentation are crucial, and the type, degree and speed of microbial activity depends on various factors. These include the amount of fruit remaining, the presence of bacteria and yeasts, whether the tank is filled with water, and the environmental conditions.

Once the mucilage has sufficiently degraded, it's washed away with water. The remaining parchment coffee, as it's commonly called, is then dried until it reaches a safe moisture content. The bacteria rich and sugary water used in the process must be treated carefully, as it can cause algae blooms if it enters streams and rivers.

In situations where large amounts of coffee are processed in bulk, such as in Ethiopia, some operations have found it economical to use a mechanical de-mucilager. This device removes all the fruit from the parchment with minimal water, bypassing the fermentation stage entirely. However, some believe this leads to a reduction in cup quality, as many flavour precursors are created through fermentation.