November Mystery Reveal - Mirra

It's time to reveal the mystery coffee for November! We hope you all enjoyed this coffee!

About the coffee and the producer from Will at Mirra:

With this Colombian field blend from contributing farmers of the Inza Community, Cauca, we present our second outstanding example of a varietal blend from Colombia; despite having been produced by a number of distinct producers, and being a melange of caturra, typica, and castillo varieties, we find no compromise whatsoever on depth, complexity, sweetness, clarity, and general quality in this lot when compared to single producer, single variety separations. It is a prime example of the potential of meticulously crafted Colombian field blends, and a beautiful expression of Caucan terroir. In the way of tasting notes, we find an abundance of juicy red and orange fruits immediately in the cup, characterized for us by pomelo and pink/red rhubarb. There is also, notably, a healthy degree of light-brown caramel, a note we have come to love and expect in excellent lots from Cauca, which provides a sustained body and a lingering, robust finish.

All of the coffee in this lot was contributed by a handful of producers whose farms surround the small village of Inza, which is located about 35 miles east of Popayan, the capital of Cauca. The soil of the farms surrounding Inza is enriched by historical eruptions of the nearby Purace Volcano. The contributing farms for this lot are located between 1,800 and 2,100 masl, and have an average size of 1.8 hectares. Each lot to be blended into this final lot was assessed for quality and flavor harmony by the local coffee farmer’s association, Asorcafe, before being taken to a central community station for processing and milling.

This lot is composed of three traditional and common Colombian varieties, caturra, typica, and castillo. Caturra is a natural mutation of the bourbon variety, and was first discovered in the Minas Gerais region of Brazil between 1915 and 1918. It is common throughout South and Central America, and is known for its flavor quality at altitude. 

Typica is one of the most ubiquitous and well-known varieties of C. arabica, particularly in South America. It is characterized by its high quality potential at altitude, plant height, very low production yield, and susceptibility to major coffee diseases. Typica originated in southwestern Ethiopia, and was taken to Yemen in the 15th or 16th century. By the turn of the 18th century, typica taken from Yemen was already being cultivated in India. In 1696 and 1699, typica seeds were taken from the Malabar Coast of India and planted on the island of Batavia—today’s Java in Indonesia. It is these seeds which provide the genetic stock for what is known and distinguished today as the distinct typica variety. In 1706, a single typica plant was shipped from Java to Amsterdam, where it was planted in the royal Dutch botanical gardens; in 1714, a typica plant descended from this Dutch royal tree was shared with the French royalty, who then used the genetic material from this single plant to cultivate coffee in Suriname, French Guiana, Brazil, Martinique, Jamaica, the West Indies, Santo Domingo, Cuba, El Salvador, Costa Rica, and in essence, the remainder of European colonial possessions in the Caribbean, Central, and South America. Because of its low yield, and vulnerability to leaf rust, typica is less popular than it used to be, but remains common in the Americas and South East Asia.

Castillo, like colombia, is a cross between caturra and timor hybrid, also developed by Cenicafe. It was first released in 2005 in response to the persistence of coffee leaf rust. Where caturra was once the most common variety in Colombia, now castillo has taken its place, making up over 40% of all coffee grown there. Named for researcher Jamie Castillo, castillo does better than most varieties when planted in higher density due to the tree’s dwarfism, and as such has a relatively higher yield. Although its quality can range, castillo is able to yield beautiful final cups under careful cultivation, at altitude. In fact in a blind cupping alongside one of Colombia’s most lauded varieties, caturra, there was no notable difference in quality between the two varieties according to professional tasters.

Statistics

Now onto the top placers:

In first place with 21 points: xmuglifex and salt rock lamp!
In second place with 18 points: OnlyFan, willow, Justin Best, and UnknownSilicon!
In third place with 15 points: juneauplant and de'on!

Thanks to all who guessed! If you'd like to buy more Mirra, you can check them out here: https://www.mirracoffee.com/shop

Be sure to guess if you join us for a mystery round.