The process
The sequence below describes a wild harvest. Intensive farming short-circuits stages 1 and 2 — which is precisely what destroys both the quality and the point of the product.
Ripening and selection
In season, coffee trees carry cherries at different stages. The civet, guided by the smell of sugar, eats only the ripest. This nocturnal selection cannot be reproduced at industrial scale and is the first factor of quality.
Digestion
Transit takes ten to twenty-four hours. The pulp is digested; the stone, protected by its parchment, passes through the stomach where enzymes and acidity begin breaking down the proteins. It is a fermentation controlled by an animal rather than by a tank.
Collection
At first light, collectors walk the known trails and gather the droppings, recognisable by their clustered shape. A night of collecting yields a few hundred grams of beans. Out of season it yields nothing.
Washing and drying
The beans are separated, washed several times in clean water, then sun-dried on raised beds to a moisture content of 11 to 12 %. Drying takes ten to fifteen days and requires regular turning.
Hulling and sorting
The parchment is removed mechanically. Sorting is then done by hand: cracked, discoloured or malformed beans are set aside. This is where a supplier's seriousness shows — careless sorting is immediately visible in the green lot.
Roasting
We roast in small batches to a medium profile, around eleven to thirteen minutes. The aim is to develop the sugars without over-caramelising: a dark roast would mask the enzymatic work and make the product indistinguishable from ordinary coffee.
What production means for you
Two practical consequences. First, availability is seasonal: a Sumatra lot exhausted in March will not be replaced before the next harvest. Second, every lot is slightly different, like a vintage.
We would rather tell you a lot is out of stock than substitute a product in silence. If your preferred origin is unavailable, we offer the closest alternative and say so plainly.