Karla Portillo (APROCOMSA FLO ID 48213)

Finca Planeta Verde
Producer: Karla Patricia Portillo
Altitude: 1,598 MASL
Variety: Icatú
Processing: Honey/Washed
Harvest: December to March
Location: El Cerrón, Marcala

Producer Histroy
Planeta Verde was born on June 15th, 2015. It was conceived as a family project with the clear objective to process high quality organic coffee in harmony with nature, so that the person that consumes it can enjoy the true flavour of coffee.

Karla's family had already planted coffee on the farm, as most families in their vicinity. The area was known for excellent quality due to the prevalence of traditional and exotic varieties such as bourbon, catuaí and others. However, because of climate change, plagues and other diseases drastically reduced production for these traditional cultivars. This led them to plant icatú, which has proven to be resistant to diseases and has maintained cup quality.

Karla Patricia is a third-generation coffee farmer, and the accumulated experience of generations is manifested in the quality of the coffee. The family considers coffee growing to be very rewarding. How motivating it is to feel the breeze at the foot of the mountain, to enjoy nature's beauty listening to birdsong, and see animals such as squirrels and guatusas side by side with coffee trees. The experience is unmatched. 

It was not until the 2016-2017 harvest that Karla, with guidance from COMSA, began to work with specialty coffees, specializing in the production of honey and natural coffees. The processing of these types of coffees is almost an artform as they are prepared in a very artisanal manner. But with enough passion, it becomes a delicate labour of balancing the elements so that the profile of every batch is almost impossible to replicate. That is to say that even if they apply the same process to the same coffee from the same trees, they are always surprised by a different product, but never an inferior quality.

Honey Process
The process begins during harvest, selecting cherries during their optimal ripeness. Coffee  is then further sorted in a sieve, to ensure that before the coffee gets pulped, no damaged cherries enter the batch. Once selected, the coffee is depulped ensuring the equipment is properly calibrated and clean. Once depulped, the coffee is fermented, controlling time and temperature. 

Once the desired level of fermentation is reached, the coffee is rinsed and placed in sieves to be dried in shade until the honeyed parchment coffee reaches 12% moisture. The drying process takes anywhere between 9 to 12 days depending on the climate conditions and temperature. 

Washed Process
Harvesting is conducted according to the requirements set by COMSA. Only ripe cherries are selected, ensuring that no green, dry, damaged or over-ripe cherries have made it into the batch. Once harvested, the cherries are floated in water barrels to remove less-dense damaged beans. This step also helps to hydrolyze the cherries. They are then de-pulped. Next, they are piled into a fermentation tank. After 12-24 hours, the fermented coffee is washed with fresh water and dried on a raised bed solar drier for 10-15 days.