Peru Sisa 2024 - Direct Trade
$ 12.62
Origin: Peru
Region: North Peru – San Martin, El Dorado
Type: Local natives mixed with Criollos and Trinitarios
Year: 2024
Tasting Notes
The crowd seems to be split here in groups that either love it and can't get enough or those that find it disjointed and unbalanced. How can that be? Just have a look at the hophead lovers of the PNW IPA lovers club. I personally don't care for IPA's. The citrusy bitterness and astringency just isn't for me but local tap houses have 50% IPA's for a reason.
The chocolate aroma is solid chocolate and a hint of lime. Straight out of the gate you are going to have lime in both acidity and astringency. As that wave passes I get sassafras root and lime pith. At the level of sweetness of our evaluation chocolate I don't find as much sweetness as I like. Not unlike lemonade, I think this sings as a 60-65% chocolate where the sugar can help round everything out.
The linger flavors are both the lime astringency and some leather like earthiness. It is certainly not a common combination and you won't be forgetting it any time soon.
These beans come from the San Martin department, specifically within the province of El Dorado, furthermore within the district of ‘San Jose de Sisa’ which is roughly 300 square km. San Jose De Sisa is home to roughly 14000 people. This area is prominently mountains, that are about 300-600 meters above sea level, with various native communities. The native communities in this area are the ‘Quechua Lamista’ (they like to call themselves ‘Llacuash’).
The co-operatives are paid above market farmgate price. Harvesting is always very important, only ripe pods are harvested. The quality is consistent, reliable, and always improving. The cooperative we work with in Sisa buys cacao from more than 250 producers.
The fermentation is done in wooden boxes over a span of 6-7 days, with rotation of the beans done every day after the first 2 days. After a very well controlled box fermentation the cacao then gets transferred to mounds- stirring the mounds for 2-4 days depending on how much sun exposure there is, then dispersing the mounds over the tarped floor or drying shelf to finish drying. Total drying is typically 7 days… ~2 in direct sunlight and the rest under cover.
Drum Roasting
The roast profile for my evaluation was 12:20/14:45/18;45 @ 253 F. I found you don't really want this roast too terribly fast. 2 minutes in the development phase is too much. Likewise, it does not love a higher EOR temperature, tasting nicer in the mid 250s. If you want to really lean into the bright and vibrant flavors try X/3.0/6.0 @ 248 F.
Behmor 2000AB
If you are using a Behmor, P1 to start with 2 - 2.5 lb will be just fine. Be ready though to turn the power down as you start to note sharp aromas, probably pretty early on, say 10-12 minutes. When it turns sharper near the end of the count down, you are done. If it isn't there yet, add a bit more time (the C button for Continue, will reset your timer to 3:10) waiting for the turn of aroma.
Oven Roasting
