Elevated Brewing — El Vergel Koji Java

• Producers — Elias and Shady Bayter
• Farm — El Vergel Estate
• Origin — Colombia
• Region — Tolima, western Colombia
• Variety — Java
• Terroir — 1500 masl, temperate tropical climate
• Process — Koji Fermentation

Tastes like

Date + Guava + Silky

Recommended brewing

• Best: Pour over with the Orea Brewer V3
• Great: Filter (batch brew, french press)
• Very good: Espresso

Dialling in? Read our guide for optimising espresso.

Prefer filter coffee? Try our recipe for pour over. 

Freshly-ground beans will help you to brew a cup full of flavour, check out our selection of manual and electric coffee grinders.

If you're ordering whole beans, we recommend allowing the coffee to rest for at least 10 days after roast before brewing. If you're ordering ground coffee, use immediately

The El Vergel Estate

2018 marked a milestone for El Vergel. Twelve years after planting their first coffee trees, Martha Montenegro and her sons Shady and Elias Bayter kicked off work to understand how controlled fermentation could increase the quality of their harvested crop.

Fast forward six years to 2024 and the Bayter brothers have become synonymous with coffees that exhibit remarkable sensory qualities, driven by pioneering extended fermentation methods.

The range of flavours and textures on offer from this estate is arguably unmatched across Colombia’s coffee-producing regions. What’s the reason for this? There are three key variables:

· El Vergel’s diversity of topography and therefore microclimates.

· The biodiversity and health of surrounding forests and their contribution to the composition of the microbiome in which the estate’s coffee plants are grown.

· Research and development in intentional, consistent, scalable post-harvest fermentation processes.

This specific coffee was processed with a method of controlled fermentation that involves the addition of Aspergillus Oryzae (Koji) - a fungus renowned for its ability to enhance flavour profiles. Used in food preparation across Asia for thousands of years, this bacteria is cultivated alongside steamed rice and then added to harvested coffee cherries to enhance the fermentation process.

The result is a flavour profile full of tropical fruits, floral aromas and a palate-pleasing silkiness of texture. The El Vergel Estate strikes once again.