The Peralta family has been one of our greatest collaborators for the past five harvests. Since weʼve worked together we have worked in a focused and regimented program to discover and improve processing for the coffees handled from the family of farms the two cousins, Julio and Octavio manage. There were many successes as well as failures, but we strongly believe that weʼve managed to produce a series of micro-lots every year that go above and beyond anyoneʼs expectations. While we produce over 60 micro-lots through- out the picking season Integral selectively chooses those which we feel are most interesting and offer an ideal expression of the goals at hand. Like snowflakes, every one of these small pickings is unique in its own right
This is the seventh year we have been bringing lots from Santa Maria de Lourdes - family farms located in San Fernando. This is one of the higher farms - ranging from about 1400-1540 masl. San Fernando, however, produces a warmer and drier climate than the altitude calls for and the results are an interesting combination of cooler climate and warmer climate behaviors. Typically, we experience riper pickings and more concentrated behaviors in the fruit.
San Jose de las Calas is a 2.5 manzana plot from the farm that we have coincidentally never sourced from. It is planted exclusively to red catuai, like much of the farm, and shares the south eastern exposure allowing for a dry and cool climate throughout the ripening period. The 2023 harvest seems to be characterized by a notable cleanliness in the coffees - the flavors are clear, precise, and well delineated. There is an increasingly complex aroma and flavor that have distinguished all of the coffees from the farm this year. In part we can ATTRIBUTE this to the farm's ever-improving processing facilities. This pulped anaerobic was depulped on an ancient depulpeR that uses steel discs before being allowed to ferment for 48 hours in hermetic tanks providing an anaerobic environment.
The precision in this processing has allowed the coffeee to shine with lifted and pronounced notes - strawberry candy, cherry hard candy, and mandarins all come to mind. The palate has that mouth watering tropical acidity that we love to taste, WE ARE reminded of tart and juicy plums, and finally the finish does not disappoint - caramel, butterscotch and sugar cane are all framed with spice like cinnamon bark, allspice, and mace.
