Located in Coatepec , around 30 minutes outside of Xalapa , the State Capital of Veracruz , our Finca is owned by a very old , respected family of coffee farmers . The main lodge has a rich history , having been used to film the Harrison Ford movie , Clear and Present Danger over 20 years ago . The entire state of Veracruz was developed during Spanish occupation , and this home is built in the traditional Spanish-Colonial style , with stucco walls and dark wood beams with heavy doors full of ironwork .
Coatepec is known as Mexico ’ s “ Capital of Coffee ,” a reputation earned by the outstanding beauty and quality of the coffee beans grown in this region . Around the town were coffee shops with onsite roasters , and the rich aroma left me with a heady feeling as I walked the streets and Town Square . Surrounding the town is a thriving university , specializing in the arts , and I could immediately feel its energy and youth . Modern sculptures dotted the shops and street corners , somehow perfectly coexisting with art-deco period painted mosaics , Colonial-period gold-gilded churches and classical Greek columns . Every bit of this town holds something to captivate your imagination .
What struck me most , though , was the beauty of the natural environment . Cloud-covered forests surround the region ’ s volcanic mountains while sharp ravines cut by four fast-running rivers switch back-and-forth across the only roads in and out of the village . The climate is perfect for growing coffee . The average temperature remains between 60 ° F and 85 ° F all yearround , and the pure water ensures the coffee trees will be healthy .
About Our Coffee
About the coffee itself ; our coffee grows on healthy , darkgreen bushes and small trees that line the flatter areas of the mountainside . The trees grow a fruit — the coffee cherry — that takes around nine months to mature . Our coffee cherries are beautiful when they are ripe — boasting a bright reddish pink hew . Just like any other cherry , the coffee cherry is a stone fruit , meaning that it has a pit inside of its soft flesh . We know a lot about the pits inside of coffee cherries . These are what we call “ beans .” For thousands of years , the skin and flesh of the cherry have been stripped off , revealing two beans inside of the cherry . These beans have been slowly roasted to a deep , rich brownblack state , grinding them and brewing them into that wonderful , black beverage — coffee .
The beans , prior to roasting , are light green in color , though , and very rich in beneficial phytochemicals — especially chlorogenic acid . For years , Garden of Life ’ s best-selling Raw Organic Fit Weight Loss protein has been super-powered by Organic Svetol , a clinically studied extract made from green coffee beans . To make Svetol , the skin and flesh of the coffee cherry are , again , stripped . Instead of roasting , the beans are then gently extracted through an organic process that preserves and concentrates the chlorogenic acid content .
Creating Green Coffee Bean Extract
Jeff and the scientists at Van Drunen farms have always been dedicated to unlocking the benefits of organic , whole foods . Intrigued by the process of creating green coffee bean extract , Jeff started to study the whole coffee cherry almost 15 years ago , focusing on the nutrition content of its discarded skin and flesh . The potential he discovered in those cast-off fruits , led to the development of two exciting new organic ingredients .
Jeff quickly learned that the coffee cherry has among the highest
Oxygen Radical Absorbance Capacity ( ORAC ) ratings of any fruit on the planet ( about 625x higher than blueberries ). That means that the coffee cherry is an incredibly potent antioxidant . In fact , Jeff ’ s researchers discovered a host of powerful polyphenol compounds in the skin and flesh including proanthocyanidins , chlorogenic acid , quinic acid , ferulic acid and caffeic acid .
Jeff told me that he wanted to use this incredible , antioxidant-rich , whole organic coffee cherry as the source of natural caffeine for our Sport line . The challenge was in the fast decay of the cherry . Just like any other cherry , coffee cherries need to be harvested when ripe , and not before . However , once they are harvested , the skin and flesh decay quickly . Harvesting on the mountaintop and then transporting them to Jeff ’ s farm in Illinois was out of the question as the crops would be useless by the time they arrived .
A Facility Next to the Finca
That ’ s when Jeff decided to create an extraction and drying facility right next to the Finca . With Jeff ’ s technology , and the region ’ s superior coffee cherries , Jeff committed himself to creating our Organic Coffeeberry . Jeff told me that this investment created a win for everyone . “ There is a real opportunity to add back to coffee all of the marvelous , healthy nutrition that had been discarded as waste material . And there is a sustainability aspect that really strikes a chord with everything we are doing by farming organically . On top of that , we are investing back into the local farming community with jobs , technology and new , innovative products .”
As I prepared to leave the Finca , I was overwhelmed with excitement about what we were creating together . As I wrote above , Jeff committed to making us two innovative , breakthrough materials from these Organic coffee cherries . The Organic coffeeberry caffeine is the first . As for the second ingredient . . . well , that story will have to wait for a little while .
Extraordinary Health ™ • Vol 40 13