Colombia — Familia Bermudez Finca El Paraíso Castillo "Lychee Peach" (Thermal Shock Washed)

Tastes Like — 🌸 White Flowers • 🍈 Lychee Gummy Bears • 🍍 Fruit Cocktail

DETAILS

• Producer: Familia Bermudez (Diego and Daniel)
• Farm: Finca El Paraíso
• Region: Piendamó, Cauca, Colombia
• Varietal: Castillo
• Process: Thermal Shock Washed
• Elevation: 1,900 masl

INTRO A fan-favourite flavour profile from the Bermudez family's long list of science experiments — heavy on the fruit, light on the funk. Tropical but not boozy, complex without being overbearing, floral like white flowers, sipping like black tea but tasting like lychee gummy bears, with pineapple, peach, tart cherry, and kiwi all in the mix. In the cup: white flowers, lychee gummy bears, and fruit cocktail.

THE PRODUCER What began as a small family farm in 2012 has grown into a venture with a presence in over 86 countries. Founded by Diego Bermudez and now overseen by his brother Daniel, Finca El Paraíso is a place where science and tradition coexist — innovation, sustainability, and partnership valued equally and above all else. Diego's command of processing has produced some of the most nuanced flavour profiles in contemporary coffee, once drawing accusations of "cheating" because the results seemed too vivid to be natural. They're not: they're the product of meticulous, science-driven processing that this release continues to demonstrate.

THE PROCESS This Castillo lot uses the Thermal Shock method, pioneered by Diego himself and perfected in recent years by Daniel. The coffee is first cleaned with ozone, then pulped. The resulting biomass is moved elsewhere and fermented with a specific yeast to draw out targeted aromatic compounds — tropical fruit, in this case. The fermented biomass is then reintroduced to the coffee seeds, and the two ferment together in a pressurised tank. During this stage, the tank temperature is slowly raised before being dropped abruptly — the "thermal shock" that gives the process its name.

The gradual temperature rise followed by a sharp drop is the defining step — it lets the cellular compounds within the coffee seeds slowly open to absorb the fermented biomass's flavours and aromatics, before closing quickly to lock them inside, building the white floral aromatics and lychee gummy bear sweetness that define this cup.

THE CUP Fruity, sweet, and utterly delicious — floral and aromatic like white flowers, sipping like black tea but tasting like lychee gummy bears, with pineapple, peach, tart cherry, and kiwi all playing through. Like unapologetically slurping the juice from a fruit cocktail cup.

Flavour Notes 🌸 White Flowers 🍈 Lychee Gummy Bears 🍍 Fruit Cocktail