1 lb. Panama Paso Ancho Carmen Estate SHB E/p Fresh Unroasted 100% Arabica Coffee Beans

The Carmen Estate provides safe and healthy conditions for workers and their families. Adequate healthcare is provided to the families along with a clean working environment and habitat. Children are not permitted to work on the plantation and are provided an education while adults work on the farm. Carmen’s agricultural practices are based on a set of principles which ensure the best output of the farm while maintaining ecological awareness regarding insect management, soil conservation, protection of natural water resources, waste management and over-all ecosystem conservation. Each year coffee cherries are manually harvested by the Nôbe-Buglé indigenous people and have been trained to harvest only when the coffee cherries are bright red and fully ripe. The cherries are carefully selected and handpicked, leaving behind the unripe beans to be harvested at a later time. Carmen Estate takes care at every stage of harvesting and processing to maintain optimum results. Each day, the ripe, bright, red coffee cherries are transported from the field to the mill to be processed as quickly as possible. Advanced, low water usage machinery washes away the skin, pulp, and mucilage from the parchment bean. Using small amounts of water contributes to Carmen’s efforts in ecological conservation. The residues from the milling process are recycled into the farm as organic fertilizer instead of releasing them into the environment at concentrated levels. If not carefully managed, high concentrations of mucilage produced from processing can damage watersheds and the eco-balance. The parchment beans are pre-dried in the natural sunlight and breezes on concrete patios. Mechanical driers, fueled by coffee parchment, are then used to complete the drying process. After the beans, still in parchment, are dried they are then packed into individual jute bags. These bags are carefully classified and numbered by lots, then stored in a wooden warehouses or bodegas for a 60 day resting period.