SHADY LANE

A LIGHT DARK ROAST:
People have been drinking dark roasts for over two-centuries and it seems both short-sighted and careless to ignore history. And yet if you roast too dark, all of the unique flavours of origin are lost and you simply taste the bitter burn and one-dimensional char of the roast process itself.

Shady Lane is a new way of roasting that uses a gentle approach and precise technique to strike a compromise: it engages in our coffee past with an approachable low-acidity  but also showcases the deeply sweet and delicious chocolaty notes possible with particular origins. It is new and old because as the Pavement song concludes, "the worlds collide, but all that we want is a shady lane". 

ORIGIN:
Hugo Rene Garcia coffees comes by way of Cafe Colis Resistencia, which is a group of producers in Mataquescuintla who have been under siege by Canadian Silver mining company Tahoe. The company purchased the Escobal silver mine in nearby San Rafael las Flores, endangering the area's fragile environment and livelihood of local farmers. 

From Hugo himself, "My farm was founded by my maternal grandparents" and
"at 14 years old I started working the farm." He continues: "at that age that I started to sprout my own seedlings to have new plantations in the finca. The variety
that I reproduced was yellow Catuai". These trees helped with the expansion of the farm with Hugo and his uncle planting additional plots.

He writes, "in the year 2000, I emigrated to the United States for 5 years" because there was no "possibility of a fair market for coffee at that time". When he returned, he got back to work on the farm since it is " truly what he enjoys". He muses, "For me, being able to export my coffee this year, for the very first time, is something unique. Since
I was able to receive a better sale price and have more profitability from my property, I hope to be able to export more coffee from my farm in the future. I hope to be able to travel one day to Canada and see the great work done by the friends who buy our coffee from us". He concludes, "We started alongside my colleagues in the resistance against chemical silver mining in 2013, we are still present in the resistance today".

I am very happy to again join Semilla and other Canadian roasters in supporting these farmers and their crucially important and peaceful resistance. For more information, please read Luis Solano's "Under Siege: Peaceful Resistance to Tahoe Resources and Militarization in Guatemala" and Brendan Adam's "Cafe Colis Resistencia". 

FLAVOUR:
Sourcing crops for Shady Lane is always a fun challenge. We look for crops with a smooth sensory experience opening with a mild acidity, think cooked apples or pears, with a strong cocoa or cooked sugar backing. Hugo Rene Garcia lot is a perfect fit with its beautiful apple cider flavours that mingle with the sticky sweetness of amaretto or a coconut pecan frosting. There is a nice hit of round baking spices in the middle, think gingerbread or light nutmeg. The finish is big with lingering notes of cream and chocolate.