Solok is an Ethiopian landrace variety that mysteriously found its way to the town of Solok in Sumatra, Indonesia. News of its exceptional quality spread, and some seeds were acquired by pioneering Mexican agronomist Manuel Diaz. Manuel shared eight of these seeds with his good friend Enrique, who managed to get them to germinate and to plant them.
Two years after they were planted, the trees were badly affected by coffee leaf rust, and had to be pruned. Only three of the trees survived, and Enrique almost gave up, but thankfully he decided to make one more attempt to propogate them. Enrique worked hard on nutrition of the plants and foliar feeding, and after three years they produced their first cherries.
300 seeds from the plant that developed best were used to sow the first F1 generation. These trees produced cherries after another three years, and 1,000 of these were replanted.
In the intervening years, the original trees is Sumatra were wiped out by coffee leaf rust, so as far as anyone is aware, Finca Chelín is the only farm in the world to cultivate this variety.
This particular lot is processed by way of Enrique’s black honey method. The ripe cherries rest in concrete tanks for two nights and are depulped in the morning after roughly 40 hours of rest. They are then laid out to dry on patios for two days under direct sunlight, then under shade until the desired moisture level is achieved.
It is a coffee of exceptional quality, with a cup profile not often associated with Mexico, and demonstrative of its huge potential as a region for coffee of the highest quality.
