Varietal: Lempira

Norma Iris Fiallos owns the farm San Rafael, located in the Los Limos area of Corquin, Copan. 

Norma is one of the most innovative producers in the area, with a vast array of different varieties, including bourbon, catuai, maragogype and parainema. 

The farm is nestled within a pine forest, which greatly acidifies the soil, giving the coffee a very unique cup profile. The coffee is completely shade grown and the production area represents a fraction of the total land.

Carbonic Maceration

This is an adapted processing method in coffee initiated by Brazilian Farmers, imitating a winemaking technique of Beaujolais: 

Whole cherries are fermented in a carbon dioxide-rich environment prior to pulping.

Harnessing the power of fermentation is an important part of the coffee farmer’s work, and innovations are rapidly emerging as coffee seeks to improve quality and better establish standards for the process, as has been done in the wine and beer industries. 

Vintners would shudder at coffee fermentation. There’s hardly a winemaker in the world who doesn’t know the strain of yeast used for their wine, yet coffee farmers let the indigenous local bacterias and yeasts loose on their product. In this regard, coffee fermentation is more akin to that of cacao.

Some surmise that these indigenous microbes are intrinsic in the unique origin flavours of many coffees, but science had not yet offered a definitive answer to this presumption. As with other fermented products, the nature of ingredients down to terroir and plant cultivar, not to mention myriad other factors, play a  critical role in flavour expression.

Norma Iris Fiallos

A lifelong passion for food, wine and coffee eventually led Alan Phillips to roast speciality coffee by the sea in County Meath. Alan is a certified member of the European Speciality Coffee association, he learnt his craft from one of the best in the business, training under Kees Kraakmann of Amsterdam's Keppler Coffee. And when he launched The Studio it was very much in line with Kees' ethos of quality and consistency.

Alan explains, as roast volume grows, quality tends to decline, so we manage this problem by only roasting in small batches. Our green beans are all highly rated speciality grade, ethically sourced from farms in  Ethiopia, Brazil, El Salvador, Nicaragua, Colombia and Peru and roasted as single origin lots on our 15kg Giesen. 

The Studio's sustainable approach to coffee sourcing is mirrored at our roastery which is largely powered by renewal energy. Our coffees and cold brew achieved numerous UK Great Taste Awards in 2018 and 2019, 3 coffees honored at the Irish Food awards and Best in Ireland award by McKenna Guide 2019 and 2020.

Norma Iris Fiallos

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Norma Iris Fiallos

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