Several factors make Longboard unique among coffee producers. At a time when many are embracing more extreme process, we maintain our dedication to terroir driven coffee making. Our methods aim to release and accentuate the potential attributes of the varietal without dominating notes of process. To borrow a term from the wine world, we do not focus on producing “big” coffees.
Each year, our goal is to fully express the unique characteristics of the vintage, without focusing on consistency or yields. We do not make demands on the farm and then force it to comply through the use of chemicals. Instead we listen to the farm, and gently coax it into harmony using organic composted fertilizer, manual weed control, continuous pruning, and much love.
Each step is done by hand with fanatical attention to detail. Cherries are harvested at peak ripeness, with an average of over thirty meticulous harvests per farm from December through April. We pay our harvesters by the hour so there is no incentive to fill volume. Occasionally, one person will work a full 8 hours to harvest 1 lata (4 lbs finished coffee) of perfect cherry.
Our lots are sun dried and turned by hand (not rakes or shovels) three times per day. Our farms are managed free of chemical fertilizers, pesticides, fungicides, or herbicides, and in harmony with the natural cycles of the earth, moon and sun.
The founder acts as farm manager, process manager, roaster, cupper, carpenter, driver, and personally hand prunes each farm several times per year. We embrace harmony between the best in traditional methods and the endless potential of innovation. The result: authentic expression of the unique characteristics of the varietals planted into the diverse microclimates and rich, unadulterated terroir of our farms..
