A New Tomorrow From Finca De Dios.
When we originally conceptualized Tomorrow Seasonal Project, we were looking for coffees from farms we work with that would usually be sold as a blender lot but had a lot of potential. Last year, Finca De Dios in Guatemala had a hiccup moving a large lot collected from their farm. Serendipity aligned and we were able to buy that coffee at feature it in the Tomorrow Seasonal Project.
Tomorrow Seasonal Project is all about the potential a coffee has and putting a spotlight on amazing coffees that might be overlooked. In this case, being able to purchase the 'La Morena' lot from Finca De Dios for Tomorrow Seasonal Project is built around being able to commit more to our direct sourcing partners.
When Ruby began we only were roasting enough volume to purchase one or two individual micro lots from Finca De Dios. These lots were separated by the area of the farm, and sometimes by variety of coffee tree. La Morena represents a medium sized lot of coffee harvested from the entire farm. The coffees that go into La Morena are the late harvested coffee cherries that come from every individual lot area, blending different parts of the farm and different coffee tree varieties.
Most farmers can place the best coffees they have with roasters who pay high specialty premiums, but this usually only accounts for about 20% of their total harvest. While Finca De Dios has been able to sell La Morena to various roasters over the years, Ruby being able to buy this coffee means that Finca De Dios now has a guaranteed buyer year after year for this lot. This means that not only are we able to feature this amazing coffee as a Tomorrow Seasonal Project offering, Finca De Dios is able to better plan their plantings, harvesting, and processing, and are able to rely on consistent pricing for their coffees.
As the Tomorrow Seasonal Project grows and develops, we expect the sourcing to continuously evolve. For some farmers, that means the coffees we were able to select for Tomorrow are no longer available and are instead featured as top quality single origin lots. For Finca De Dios, La Morena represents a blended lot from their farm that will consistently be available year after year, making it a mainstay of our Tomorrow Seasonal Project planning.
This year's harvest features deep, rich sweetness that we think shows off more body and fullness than the more delicate individual lots, and we think it's an amazing offering to be able to showcase alongside the other Finca De Dios lots we'll be featuring.