Fresh. Pressed. Juice
 
Shipping begins Monday 18 May.
 
A Raptor from Santuario
This release began in Santuario, Colombia, on a blind cupping table full of coffees from the region. Two coffees pulled me in: one bright, juicy, sweet, and Raptor-like, the other deeper, more cola-like, and T-Rex-like.
 
I chose them both, then found out they came from the same producer: Avelino Mena. Same farm. Same remonta washed process. The difference was time.
This is the 10 day expression, the brighter side of Avelino’s process, and the coffee that became the Raptor.
 
Avelino’s remonta washed 10 day fermentation
Avelino works on a one-hectare farm in Vereda La Linda, Santuario, where he grows Colombia, Caturra, and Supremo. He picks and selects the coffee himself, building the process through small daily collections as the cherry reaches the right level of maturation.
 
The coffee begins with a 12 to 24 hour in-cherry fermentation, depending on the cherry. It is then pulped and placed into sealed blue barrels for anaerobic remonta fermentation. Every 24 hours, the barrels are rotated, moving the coffee’s own mucilage-rich fermenting juices back through the lot as it develops.
For this expression, fermentation reaches 10 days. The coffee is then washed before being dried on the roof for around 8 days.
 
Cup Character
In the cup, the 10 day keeps the fresh, fast-moving side of Avelino’s process. It opens with raspberry, cherry, and jazz apple, with umeshu-like fruit and a lift of blood orange and fresh apricot. It has the clean fruit character of a washed coffee, with fermentation adding sweetness and movement rather than taking over.
 
What’s Inside
This is the 220g retail-pack format of the Avelino Mena 10 Day release, created for cafés to sell on shelf. Each pack includes the collectible Roastersaurus card, so your customers can take home both the coffee and the Raptor.
 
There is so much more to tell you about these coffees, from the cupping table in Santuario to Avelino’s farm, the blue barrels, Chiki the dog, and the mirrored card artwork. Look closely and you’ll see the Raptor and T-Rex appearing through the same mirror, a small clue to how one process splits into two fermentation timelines. Keep an eye on the blog, lore pages, and social media as the release unfolds.