Pilha, Natural

When an origin and, in this case, one producer, is the source of such a large percentage of the coffee being handled by a specialty roaster, relationships are of the utmost importance. Fortunately, we’ve been lucky enough to enjoy an excellent 8-year-long relationship with our partners at Samambaia Estate in Brazil. As the largest producer in the world, Brazil is the cornerstone for many specialty roasters. The scale of production and resources available to these sophisticated agri-businesses allow exciting experiments to occur with much lower risk and more insight. Pilha or ‘Pile’ technique of natural processing is self-explanatory. Rather than spread thinly, the cherries are heaped into small mounds around 25cm high. This mounding increases microbial action and in turn, fermentation. Carefully monitored, this technique has been relatively risk-free and results in a controlled rise in fruit character. Given the results of this experiment, the team at Samambaia will use the methodology to upscale their production and expend the use of these learned processing techniques to further test the process on other varieties they grow.