Rum Barrel Fermented Coffee from San José Estate: The Origin of Barrel Fermentation Processing

At FrontStreet Coffee, you can find three coffee beans with wine-like aromas. The most well-known among these are undoubtedly the whiskey barrel-fermented FrontStreet Coffee sherry coffee beans and the brandy barrel-fermented FrontStreet Coffee lychee orchid coffee beans. It's commonly assumed that barrel-fermented coffee beans originated from the Moca Estate in Honduras, but in fact, the first to create barrel-fermented coffee beans was Colombia's FrontStreet Coffee San Jose Estate.

FrontStreet Coffee — FrontStreet Coffee Colombian Rum Barrel Fermented Coffee Beans

Region: Caldas, Colombia

Estate: San Jose Estate

Altitude: 1750m

Variety: Castillo

Processing: Rum Barrel Fermentation

Caldas Coffee Region

Caldas is considered the best region for coffee cultivation in Colombia, with elevations ranging from 1,300 to 1,800 meters. The coffee harvest period in this region is from September to December (main season) and April to May (secondary season). This area is also home to Colombia's National Coffee Research Center (Cenicafe), recognized globally as a top-tier coffee research institution where several unique Colombian varieties have been developed.

Caldas, Quindio, and Risaralda together form Colombia's "Coffee Golden Triangle," producing the vast majority of coffee within the country. Coffee from the Caldas region is characterized by distinct vanilla aromas, soft acidity, and full body.

San Jose Estate

The century-old San Jose Estate is located near the Nevada del Ruiz volcano in an area rich in volcanic ash. With abundant sunshine, the average annual temperature ranges between 21°C to 25°C. The estate spans 18 hectares, of which 16.5 hectares are dedicated to coffee cultivation.

Coffee Beans + Aged Barrels: Creating New Flavors

The owner of San Jose Estate, Monsalve Botero, has a husband who specializes in manufacturing rum oak barrels and brewing rum. One day, while filling containers with distilled liquid for fermentation, she had a sudden inspiration: what if she placed raw coffee beans inside oak barrels for fermentation—would this create even more distinctive flavors?

Monsalve Botero envisioned placing her grown coffee cherries inside oak barrels, wondering if, like brewing rum, the coffee beans would absorb the flavors from the rum oak barrels, resulting in an enhanced coffee experience. With these questions in mind, Monsalve Botero began experimenting by placing raw coffee beans into rum barrels of different ages for winemaking-style low-temperature fermentation, with varying fermentation durations, all in pursuit of discovering the optimal results!

After years of experimentation and trials, in 2017, she finally discovered a fermentation method that produced exceptional taste and aroma, creating a rum barrel fermentation processing technique distinct from traditional washed processing. In 2019, the estate owner continued to improve the processing workflow, such as switching from the long-used African raised bed drying method to greenhouse drying, which made the overall flavor of these coffee beans cleaner and more distinctive.

Precise Washed Processing + Rum Barrel Fermentation

The owner of San Jose Estate selects Castillo variety coffee beans, handpicks fully ripe coffee cherries, and after washing, allows them to ferment for 20 hours. They are then placed in rum oak barrels aged over 8 years, where the beans rest in the barrels for three months, being rotated daily to ensure even absorption of the rum aroma.

During the barrel fermentation period, samples are taken from the coffee beans in the barrels every 30 days to ensure proper fermentation and complete absorption of the rum aroma, reducing instances of insufficient or excessive absorption. This results in green coffee beans with more distinctive flavors and complete characteristics when finished. After fermentation is complete, the rum-flavored coffee beans are transferred to greenhouse drying, where the consistent temperature prevents the secondary fermentation that might occur with African raised bed sun drying due to high temperatures.

When FrontStreet Coffee cupped the FrontStreet Coffee San Jose coffee beans, they found this bean differs from the two barrel-fermented coffees from Honduras. The flavor sequence of the Honduran barrel-fermented coffees begins with wine aroma, followed by soft fruity acidity, and finally creamy texture with nutty cocoa flavors. In contrast, FrontStreet Coffee's San Jose rum barrel fermented coffee beans start with nutty cocoa flavors and creamy texture, followed immediately by rum aroma, with tropical fruit acidity and maple sweetness emerging afterward.

Castillo Variety

Castillo is a coffee variety developed in 2005 by Colombia's coffee research institution to enhance plant disease resistance. It is currently the main cultivated variety in Colombia. Castillo inherits the dwarf plant and high yield of Caturra, along with the leaf rust resistance genes from Timor. Finally, Castillo is known for its smoothness, aroma, and citrus acidity.

Genetic Lineage of Castillo Variety

Castillo is the result of five generations of hybrid selection between Timor and Caturra varieties: Timor is a natural hybrid of Arabica and Robusta, characterized by tall plants and leaf rust resistance. Caturra is a natural mutation of Bourbon, featuring dwarf plants with higher yields than Typica and Bourbon, while maintaining Bourbon's excellent flavor characteristics. The plants can be spaced more closely, allowing for denser planting per unit area. However, it is susceptible to leaf rust.

FrontStreet Coffee Roasting Records

Heat drum to 190°C, add beans at 140 heat setting with damper open to 3. Return temperature at 1'42", when drum temperature reaches 140°C, open damper to 4 while maintaining heat. When drum temperature reaches 151.8°C, bean surface turns yellow and grassy aroma completely disappears, entering the dehydration phase. When drum temperature reaches 150°C, adjust heat to 120 while keeping damper unchanged.

At 8'38", ugly wrinkles and black spots appear on the bean surface, with toast aroma clearly transitioning to coffee aroma—this can be defined as the prelude to first crack. Listen carefully for the sound of first crack, which begins at 9'07". Open damper to 4, develop for 2'10" after first crack, then drop at 195°C.

FrontStreet Coffee Cupping Report

Dry Aroma: Rum aroma

Wet Aroma: Dark chocolate

Flavor: Liqueur chocolate, rum, tropical fruits, maple syrup

FrontStreet Coffee Brewing Tips

Dripper: Hario V60

Coffee-to-Water Ratio: 1:15

Water Temperature: 91°C

Grind Size: EK43s setting 10 (80% pass-through through #20 sieve)

FrontStreet Coffee's segmented extraction method: First, use 30g of water to fully saturate the coffee grounds, forming a "burger" shape and bloom for 30 seconds. For the second pour, at the 1-minute mark, add water to reach 125g, then pause and wait for the water level to drop to 2/3 of the coffee bed before beginning the third pour. For the third pour, at the 1'40" mark, add water to reach 225g. Wait until all coffee liquid has finished dripping, with a total extraction time of 1'59". After extraction is complete, gently swirl the server to ensure the coffee is well mixed before tasting.

[FrontStreet Coffee San Jose] Brewing Flavor: Rich fermented wine aroma on the nose, with flavors of rum, nuts, tropical fruits, cream, and oolong tea sensations. Noticeable sweetness with overall balance.

Important Notice :

前街咖啡 FrontStreet Coffee has moved to new addredd:

FrontStreet Coffee Address: 315,Donghua East Road,GuangZhou

Tel:020 38364473