Wilder Lazo, Bella Alejandria 'Lady Geisha'

Nested high up on the slopes of the Santa Ana Volcano in El Salvador lies the first farm we ever visited back in 2016, the beautiful Finca Santa Elena. The farm is owned by Fernando Lima, a 3rd generation El Salvadorian coffee producer (and a lovely man). The first time on a coffee farm is one of those 'OH WOW' moments especially when the coffees taste this good. On arriving at Santa Elena the first experience was of a freshly picked pile of cherries being sorted ready for collection and transportation to Fernando's own micro-mill Los Balcanes. Harvest time - perfect timing. Santa Elena is located in Palo de Campana, Santa Ana on the Santa Ana volcano. It was established as a coffee plantation around 1930 and has for long been known for its very fertile lands and organic production practices, and frequently receives volcanic ash making the soil even more rich and fertile. Abundant flora and fauna are also found in Santa Elena, with a large portion of the farm is preserved as a natural forest, right beside the “Parque Nacional Los Volcanes” reserve. Fernando took us on a tour around Santa Elena amongst the coffee trees growing varieties including Bourbon, Pacamara, Kenya, Yellow and Red Caturra. That first experience of picking a ripe cherry, squeezing the seeds out and sucking on the mucilage and sticky cherry skin is something never forgotten. It's been a while since we've had Fernando's coffees on the Crankhouse list, and this year we got in early and were able to secure two excellent lots. This naturally processed Bourbon and a washed Pacamara which will follow shortly. Fernando has placed highly in numerous Cup of Excellence competitions over the years and is known for classic flavour profiles and low-intervention processing. This means his naturals are 'clean' and not full of the 'funk' we've seen in other origins and other producers over the past few years. Sweet and clean with some tropical notes and a syrupy body.

This coffee comes to us from a project born out of a meeting between coffee friends on one of Lucia Solis's fermentation camps. Mike, then of Red Bank Coffee, was on the camp in Kenya at along with Eustache from Muraho trading company based in Rwanda. We'd visited Muraho back in 2023 with importer Raw Material Coffee and Eustache was manager for a number of Muraho's processing stations including Kilimbi. During the camp Mike and Eustache hatched a plan to use the fermentation techniques they were learning during the camp to process a small lot of coffee at Kilimbi and bring it to the UK. Lucky for us there was a little extra to Red Bank's requirements and we were able to get hold of a few sacks. All cherry is hand sorted before a pre-pulp float, where under-ripe or damaged cherry is removed, along with any foreign objects. Cherry is then floated in pre-pulping tanks removing any floaters, and then pulped. The next step is the magic applied by Eustache and Mike based on their FTC experience. Lactobacillus var. plantarum (bacteria) and Pichia kluyveri (yeast) were then introduced and mixed with the coffee. The lot was fermented for 24 hours, with agitation every six hours, before being washed, graded in serpentine channels, and dried on raised beds.

Our latest decaf coffee is from Chiapas in Mexico and uses the Mountain Water decaffeination method at the Descamex facility in Córdoba, Veracruz. The water used in this process comes from the Pico de Orizaba, the tallest volcano in Mexico located in Veracruz. This water is used to extract caffeine from the green coffee beans under controlled conditions of flow, temperature, pressure and vacuum in combination with a green coffee concentrate and a sophisticated filtration system (much like the Swiss Water decaffeination method) in combination with special filters. Mountain Water Decaf Quetzal originates from 24 communities located across the VI Frailesca region and the Sierra Mariscal, traversed by the Sierra Madre de Chiapas, Mexico. This coffee is influenced by the favourable microclimates of the El Triunfo Biosphere Reserve, which benefits local biodiversity and the economy. The coffee farms, situated between 1,200 and 1,800 masl, are developed in polycultures that offer significant environmental, social, and economic benefits.

Our latest Colombian masterpiece is yet another release from the famous Inmaculada Coffee Farms and their 'Fellows' project in Huila and Cauca. This project with partnering farms which began in 2022 not only allows them to preserve the distinctive quality of the coffees but also expands the Inmaculada portfolio with exotic varieties that they might not grow themselves. With this project they are actively contributing to improving the livelihoods of partner coffee growers and strengthening their agronomic and processing practices in these regions. We first tasted a range of Inmaculada coffees at an event in 2025 and they were exceptional coffees. These are not generally accessible in the UK but luckily through our import partner DR Wakefield we were able to purchase two particular gems which were both amazing. We wanted more, and luckily we had the pleasure of hosting Jorge and Juan Pablo from Inmaculada on our stand at this year's World of coffee event in Brussels. They'd brought with them some stunning coffees to brew including a Bourbon Aji, which is also known as 'Pepper or Chilli Bourbon'. The plant has a distinctive pepper like aroma as the coffee cherries are picked, hence the “Aji” name (Aji is the south American word for chilli peppers). It was quite special so we immediately booked some and hey presto.. it was milled, packed and shipped to be here at Crankhouse within a couple of weeks. Research performed by plant geneticist Dr. Christophe Montagnon has shown that Bourbon Aji is not actually a Bourbon at all (just like Pink Bourbon), but a descendant of the Ethiopian landrace coffee group. It's the first time we've had this particular variety in the roastery but not the first time we've heard of it. It's one of the new 'exotic' varieties that has come out of the Huila region of Colombia. Inmaculada is based in Santiago de Cali, Valle del Cauca, Colombia and they process the Fellows partner coffees through their own state of the art mill for quality and consistency purposes. This Bourbon Aji is processed as a washed coffee with a short anaerobic fermentation after depulping. For us it has some tropical notes, with a juicy citrus acidity and a sweetness that reminded us of dry vermouth. It's a complex cup for sure.