POMA x APAX LAB x City Saints | 4 Experiments | Microclimate • Pruning • Thinning • Ripening

Join us on for a truly special event at City Saints!

This time we'll be cupping, brewing, tasting and casually discussing four unique coffee sets grown under precise lab conditions in Denmark and Costa Rica by the POMA coffee research team.

Our guide into this world of coffee wonder will be no other than Simon Gautherin of APAX LAB! One of our favourite coffee educators and an acclaimed mineral expert with a unique insight into POMA project since its inception.

We will taste the following boxes:

1) Thinning Experiment - Cold Washed Pacamara

2) Microclimate Experiment - Cold Washed Gesha

3) Pruning Experiment - Caturra

4) Ripening Experiment - Typica

This is a rare opportunity to explore true innovation in modern coffee. Each set isolates a single aspect of the coffee-growing process, removing all other variables. We’re beyond excited!

POMA boxes and APAX mineral sets will also be available for purchase at a special discount.

Spaces are limited to 15 guests for this one so get in quick!

The experiments:

Microclimate Experiment - Cold Washed Gesha

Two unique coffees from POMA research station in Denmark. This box set allows you to taste and learn how different microclimates affect coffee physiology and quality.

Inside, you will find two versions of the renowned Gesha variety, celebrated for its elegance and floral characteristics, grown under distinct microclimatic conditions at our research station. One version is cultivated under conditions simulating intermediate altitudes, characterized by warmer and more stable temperatures, typical of most coffee-growing regions, resulting in a classic expression of the variety. The other version simulates very high altitudes with cooler and more temperatures fluctuations, inducing a longer and more cell-fulfilling ripening period, resulting in an expression marked by wild complexity and refined floral elegance.

Thinning Experiment - Cold Washed Pacamara

Two unique coffees from POMA research station in Denmark. This box set allows you to taste and learn about an innovative crop load management technique called thinning, which can be applied to high yielding varieties to significantly enhance the quality of the coffee.

You will find two versions of the variety Pacamara, a cross between Pacas and Maragogipe, grown under identical conditions at our research station - the only difference being the amount of fruit they bear. A regular version of the Pacamara, and a thinned version where we manually removed 25% of the fruit on the coffee trees just before the seed ripening stage. This diverts excess nutrients into the remaining seeds and fruits, heightening the perceived sweetness while giving the coffee intensity and complexity.

Ripening Experiment - Typica

Two unique coffees from Volcán Azul, Costa Rica. This box set allows you to taste and learn about the impact of different ripening periods on the quality of coffee seeds.

Inside the box, you will find two versions of the Typica variety, an old and historically significant coffee variety cherished for its high-quality cup profile, grown at 1500-1700 masl at Volcán Azul - the only difference being the extent of the ripening period.

A regular version of the Typica variety picked at what is considered a typical ripening period for this variety at Volcán Azul, and an extended version where the fruit took 16 days further to fully ripen as a result of being cultivated in a cooler area of the farm. The extended ripening period of this coffee, due to a lower air temperature, allows more time for complete seed filling and fulfillment of the biochemical steps required to achieve a high seed quality. This yield a coffee that Is denser, more intense and of much greater complexity and sweetness compared to the control version. Both coffees were from the main pick and have undergone our signature Cold Washed Processing.

Pruning Experiment - Caturra

Two unique coffees from Volcán Azul, Costa Rica. This box set allows you to taste and learn about a technique called 'Pruning', a vital yet often overlooked canopy management technique for improving and sustaining seed quality and tree vitality.

Inside the box, you will find two versions of the variety Caturra, a natural mutation of the Bourbon variety, grown at 1600masl under identical conditions at Volcán Azul - the only difference being the canopy management of the trees.

A regular version of the Caturra without pruning, and a pruned version using POMA Pruning System where we opened up the trees and rejuvenated them over several years by taking out excessive, overbearing and poor branches to be reinitiated. Since coffee produces its highest quality on younger wood, and fruits compete for nutrients and carbohydrates, the pruned trees, with their more balanced fruit loads and newly developed younger wood, yield a coffee of much greater complexity and sweetness compared to the non-pruned version. Both of the coffees have undergone our signature Cold Washed Processing.