This lovely H1 is produced by the well-esteemed Fincas Mierisch at their farm La Huella. In the words of the very own Erwin Mierisch, you can get to know the lot in more detail below:

"H1, or Centroamericano, is a relatively new hybrid varietal developed in Central America that was released in 2010. It’s a cross between a Sudan Rume and a specific strain of Sarchimor. This makes H1 resistant to coffee leaf rust and highly productive (about 22 - 47% more productive than traditional varieties such as Caturra). Besides these agricultural benefits, the variety performs extremely well cup quality wise as well. H1 is highly demanding nutritionally but it starts producing fairly quickly (we obtained our first harvest the second year it was planted in the field). Currently, we only have H1 growing on our farm La Huella, but after the fantastic results this year we will absolute be looking to plant more of it. This variety has already garnered success in Cup of Excellence Nicaragua (earning a producer 2nd place in 2017). Following the success we have had with this varietal we have decided to plant more of it on our farms Limoncillo and La Huella.

All our processes begin at the farm by only selecting optimally blood red, ripe cherries. These are floated and then carefully depulped using the least amount of water as possible. After depulping, it dry fermented in fermentation tanks for 36 hours. We prefer the dry fermentation method because of water conservation purposes, it also helps remove the mucilage quicker. Post fermentation, the parchment is washed using clean water then transported to our dry mill.

At Don Esteban we do not dry on concrete patios. On the ground we place a thick layer of parchment which we then cover with a black colored polymeric material net that allows air to pass between the ground and the coffee; allowing a more even dry. This lot dried on these patios for two days under 100% sunlight, in order to prevent over fermentation or mold growth. After this it was transferred onto the raised beds inside our greenhouse where it was dried with 75% shade for 14 more days until it reaches a humidity range of 12% or below. Total drying time for this lot was 16 days. Once dried, they are moved to our warehouse where they will rest as dried parchment in order to homogenize the humidity amongst all the coffee beans.

La Huella is a relatively new farm; it was purchased in 2014. Nonetheless, it is producing some of our best coffees. It is located inside the Arenal Nature Reserve which places restrictions on deforestation and water contamination. Something unique about the micro-climate of this farm is that it will be covered in fog for around 60% of the day. This means we do not use many shade trees on La Huella, because the farm auto-shades itself with the fog. The Yellow Pacamara variety, which requires more sunlight than other varieties like Gesha, thrives on this farm due to the limited number of shade trees. Other varieties grown on this farm are Yellow Pacamara, Yellow Pacas, Red Pacamara, Javanica, Orange Bourbon, Red Catuai, Pink Bourbon (just recently), Obata (just recently), and SL-28 (just recently)."