Our philosophy
Selection : only arabicas
Coffee is grown on both sides of the equator, in a tropical climate. Among the many varieties of the species coffea, the two most widespread are arabica and robusta. All the grands crus offered by Cafés J.J. Looze, whether pure or in a blend, are arabicas.
A delicate and exacting crop
Delicate and exacting, the cultivation of arabicas stands apart greatly from that of robustas. As a result, the taste characteristics of arabicas are of a great richness and find no equivalent. The caffeine level of arabicas is also half as high as that of robustas, which have, in addition, the disadvantage of producing a bitter, full-bodied taste with no subtlety whatsoever.
In arabicas, the dominant taste characteristic is acidity ! Of course, this term must not be understood in a pejorative way. Indeed, the acidity of arabicas is the element which, after roasting, will determine the subtle aromas that these grands crus will give off. This acidity is determined by the exacting method of cultivation that this species of coffee requires : cultivation at altitude, on rich soils and protected from the sun by the shade of banana trees and other shrubs.
Selective picking
All the varieties of coffee we offer come from plantations where a selective harvesting method is practised, that is to say that only the red cherries, which have reached maturity, are picked. This method, carried out by hand, is more expensive and reserved for the noblest varieties of coffee, which will offer the most delicate fragrances.
Of course, alongside this artisan method, other faster and less costly gathering processes have been developed. These consist of systematically stripping, at a given time, all the cherries whether ripe or not. Naturally, the introduction of these green cherries into the roasting process is not without consequence for the taste ; which is why we refuse it.
Wet processing
We offer exclusively coffees whose beans, once extracted from the cherry, are wet-processed. This means that the pulp is removed from each bean before they undergo fermentation in large basins of water for about 24 h, and before then being dried. The beans that result from this treatment will have a fine bluish tint and the aroma they give off after roasting will be without equal.
It should be noted that the use of the dry process with coffees of lesser quality, such as robustas, will give a beverage without aromas, but full-bodied.
