Producer: Teddy Kim
Farm: Finca Don Rafa
Region: San Rafael, Las Margaritas, Chiapas
Altitude: 1,600 MSAL
Variety: Geisha, Caturra
Harvesting Method: Manually Hand Picked
Process: Double Anaerobic Honey Mossto
Fermentation Time: 72 Hours Initial Fermentation, 48 Hours with Mossto Second Fermentation
Drying Time: 25 to 30 days on Raised Drying Beds
Processing
When the Geisha & Caturra cherries are a deep red they are selected and harvested. Following the selection of the cherries the coffee is passed through clean water and floated to eliminate the less dense cherries that float. The remaining are selected to proceed forward to fermentation. The initial fermentation phase, an anaerobic process in which the coffee is placed in hermetically sealed Ecotact bags for 72 hours. After the initial fermentation phase, the cherries are depulped leaving a layer of mucilage coating the parchment. The 2nd anaerobic fermentation is 48 hours with incorporating the fruit mossto juice that was generated during the depulping process. Following the second fermentation phase, the coffee is moved to the raised beds for 25 - 30 days to dry directly beneath the sun.
About the farm
The story of Finca Don Rafa started in 2014 with Teddy Kim. Teddy Kim, a pseudonym for the passionate Korean coffee hunter/coffee producer, Byeong Soo Kim. Teddy began taking regular annual trips to Mexico starting in 2008. He was always obsessed with Mexican coffee and was in an endless pursuit of finding the absolute best Mexican coffee and then bring back to Korea to enjoy. The end result of these regular visits to Mexico and his noble conquest in search of this magical cup inevitably resulted in Teddy permentaly moving him and his entire family to Mexico where they live today.
Finca Don Rafa Farm is located in a small community of Las Margaritas in the state of Chiapas. It has a population of only 266 inhabitants that live in the town. Teddy not only works on his own farm, but he also teamed up with other small local farmers from around the community and openly collaborates on projects together. Teddy produces conventional and specialty coffees, but what should be known, his coffee is some of the absolute best we have ever tasted in Mexico.
When Teddy made the decision to live in Mexico he had two primary objectives. First, to make sure all his neighbors were getting paid a fair price for their coffees, so he defaulted to paying them 25% higher than the average market price for any of their coffees. Teddy committed himself to teaching them good practices in specialty coffee production, which more importantly included nature friendly growing practices. The use of chemicals such as fertilizers and herbicides are not allowed for use at Finca Don Rafa and neither at the any of the collaborating smaller farms that work with Teddy.
Secondly, Teddy's vision for Mexican coffee was simple, to be synonymous and recognized for great quality coffee. This is how Finca Don Rafa has been operating since 2014 when Teddy arrived on the scene. Teddy credits the quality of his coffee to the excellent work that each of the farmers do on his farm with their methodical cherry selection, endless work to improve their technique and their hunger to constantly learn more about their craft. A notable achievement for Teddy and the hard work of Finca Don Rafa came when they placed 2nd place overall in the 2019 COE Auction with a 91+ point coffee and 19th overall in the 2022 Cup of Excellence Auction. Prices paid for his coffee have reached north of $20/lb when purchased at auction.