Nando & Chiqui Diaz Visit PT’s Coffee
It's always a special day when our Direct Trade partners stop by! Last week, we were privileged to have Nando and Chiqui Diaz of Finca Santa Ana visit.
We've been honored to partner with Finca Santa Ana since 2019, after being introduced to them by our sister company, Bird Rock Coffee Roasters. We've now visited Finca Santa Ana a number of times over the years—you can find a recap of our 2023 visit here! We were thrilled to hear that Nando and Chiqui would be stopping by the Roasting Co. after SCA Expo in Chicago.
PT's Chief Operating Officer Brent Piepergerdes and Nando Diaz wasted no time catching up and discussing the history of our warehouse.
Fun fact: during World War II our warehouse was home to the US Air Force's military missile production. A vast difference from the coffee that’s now roasted here!
During the tour, at Nando's request, Mike leads Chiqui and Nando over to a barrel of green decaf coffee beans. As Mike puts it, "This [Dur Feres Natural Swiss Water Process] Decaf...if I did not know it was decaf, I'd never know."
Nando was quick to spot green coffee bags from Finca Santa Ana, like his Pineapple Process, pointing them out to Chiqui with a smile.
This experimental process involves fermenting around 70 fresh pineapples for 48 hours, which is then incorporated into the depulped coffee in large fermentation tanks. This mixture sits for another 48 hours or so before the coffee is drained and then washed. This extra fermentation accentuates the coffee's natural sweetness and juicy tones, in turn yielding a round-bodied coffee with aromas of almond brittle and clover blossom.
After completing a tour of the warehouse, it was time to put the cupping lab to good use!
While in Chicago for Expo, Nando gave us various green coffee samples to bring home. Mike sample roasted 9 different varietals from Santa Ana and nearby farms—Pacamara, Mokka, Bourbon, and more—after returning from Chicago, and now it was time to cup them!
They waste no time and get straight to cupping—beginning with dry fragrance, smelling the aroma after filling each bowl with water, breaking the crust at 4 minutes, and beginning to slurp at 12 minutes.
You might notice that the sample coffee bags are turned face down during this cupping. Why do this? Because Nando wanted to taste all the coffees without being influenced by the varietal or processing method.
After cupping the first round of samples, it’s off to our hometown cafe, Wheatfield Village, for a quick lunch break. While we were there, Nando and Chiqui were once again excited to see a bag of Finca Santa Ana Pineapple Process, this time on the retail shelf!
We love roasting Nando's coffee and our customers clearly love drinking it! We’re excited to see which of the lots that we tasted end up in our coffee lineup in the future!