When we visit the garden and the small plantation, I quickly understand why Mocca is so rarely grown: the trees are very small and bear only a few fruits, but the coffee tastes excellent.
We want to know why she’s growing something so unprofitable. She laughs – well, she has her pension and doesn’t need to make a living from growing coffee. And the old varieties always interested her, that’s why she is here – to experiment with them. On her 4 hectares, she grows 8 cargas a year (one carga equals 125kg), so her total harvest is about one tonne of green coffee.
As the roasters are speciality traders, they are keen to know how Doña Magdalena processes and sells her coffee. She mainly produces washed (lavado) coffee, but sometimes she also ferments the beans. Fermentation brings out different flavours in the coffee and usually makes it more interesting and unusual.
They farm organically and are certified through a cooperative – their own certificate would cost over €1000 a year.