Farm — La Oculta
Producers — Bertulfo Obando
Region — Valle De Cauca, El Aguila, Colombia
Varietal — Caturra

We are excited to bring you this microlot from Bertulfo Obando, one of the first producers we have worked with to produce microlots from the El Aguila  red association. Bertulfo Obando has been a coffee grower all of his life and lives on his farm with his family, producing coffee and plantain. His farm is located in La Vereda El Cofre at an altitude of 1850 MASL, an hour from the township El Aguila.

La Oculta is 1.5 hectares in size and predominantly produces washed coffees using an extended 36 hour extended fermentation method. This method of longer fermentation was adopted  on the advice of Socodevi 3 years ago, who provide information to help farmers increase understanding around coffee quality and sustainable production as a profitable crop. This coffee was finally sun-dried for 15 days on concrete roof patios, and sold to Raw Material as one of the first micro-lots to come from Asotatama El Aguila.

La Oculta

Assembly recreates the role of the coffee roaster so that it is not just one half of a transaction, but one equal part of a relationship involving all wholesale partners. Assembly acknowledges and values the diversity of experiences, knowledge and individual strengths of our peers in the industry. With a shared vision for identifying obstacles and creating forward thinking approaches to cafe culture, we are a collective where each individual’s insight grows the whole. Coffee by Assembly.

Assembly Coffee

After being de-pulped these super ripe cherries are placed in air tight stainless steel tanks where the absence of oxygen promotes anaerobic fermentation and the formation of its complex taste character. The coffee is then sun-dried before completion. 

Producer — Luis Eduardo Campos
Farm — Cordillera del Fuego
Region — Piedades Sur, San Ramon, Alajuela, Costa Rica
Varietal — Caturra

Luis Eduardo is not only an innovator in the field of coffee and processing but also in sustainability. In addition to being a member of the NAMA Association aimed at reducing emissions in coffee production Luis has installed solar panels to sustainably feed Cordillera del Fuego. Currently 100% of office energy and  50% of energy for the processing mill comes from these panels. 

Cordillera del Fuego

Mill — Nemba
Region — Kayanza, Burundi
Varietal — Red Bourbon

Nemba washing station lies in Burundi's northern province of Kayanza. Each washing station is managed and lead by an agronomist. This agronomist oversees the implementation of good agricultural practice and farmer education. He collaborates with the producers to ensure they have access to the necessary farming tools. Each agronomist also helps farmers determine and implement the practices best suited to the specific growing conditions of their farming plots.

Nemba washing station uses a monitoring system to ensure traceability all along the production and processing chain. All 3,000+ producers are smallholders who own an average of 150 coffee trees. The farms delivering cherry to Nemba are all located around 1700 metres above sea level, near the Kibila forest. The washing station has over two hundred drying tables and can process up to 750 metric tonnes of coffee cherry annually.

Nemba CWS participates in a number of farmer outreach and support projects include a goat and pig project, Farmer Hub, strengthening cooperatives and
distributing fertiliser and coffee trees.

Nemba

Mill — Atsabe, Baboe Kraik
Region — Ermera
Varietal — Hibrido de Timor, Moka, Typica

This is the second coffee this year we've shared from the the Atsabe Mill in Ermera, Timor-Leste, previous stocking the natural processed lot. This washed process from the same supply of cherry is sweet and fruit forward with a distinctively clear and well structured body. 

This coffee was produced around the suco (village) of Raimutin, in the municipality of Ermera. The cherries were collected daily and processed at the Atsabe wet mill in Baboe Kraik (1400 masl) before being dried for six weeks in total. This coffee was initially dried for three weeks across a combination of Colombian, Timor-Leste, and African style beds, before being moved to fully shade dried for a further weeks at much lower altitudes.

Timor-Leste is one of the world’s youngest countries, having found sovereignty in 2002. As the country stabilises coffee is becoming one of the nation’s most vital export. Since 2019 our partners Raw Material, lead by Mat Graylee, local partner Ameta and processing expert Migue Fajardo have been building a community-focused export standard for speciality coffee.

Raimutin

This is our second limited edition release and has been sourced in partnership with our friends at Qima coffee. As with many specialty Yemeni coffees the cup quality is difficult to find a comparison for and is, in our opinion, genuinely unique within the world of specialty coffee. Although complex and sweet the body of this natural Udaini varietal is at simultaneously fruit forward but incredibly light and delicate. 

Producer — Abdul Rahman
Farm — Wadi Mayhad
Region — Mahwit, Yemen
Varietal — Udaini

The coffee is from the small holder farmers of Wadi Mahyad, Located in the governorate of Mahwit. Our partners at Qima have worked closely with the Coffee Quality Institute and the Alliance for Coffee Excellence to introduce the worlds first Yemen speciality auction earlier this year. Assembly hosted the London auction where we discovered this microdot from the Wadi producer Abdul Rahman.

The region produces a variety of different cultivars, like Udaini, Tufahi and Dawairi, offering a diverse range of cup profiles. Mahwit is mountainous, full of deep aquifers which means better-than-average coffee yields. Mahwit is also home to some of the oldest Archaeology finds in Yemen.

Assembly Coffee will continue to work alongside Qima in order to keep bringing the diversity of Yemeni coffee to the world. We are donating a percentage of every bag of Yemeni coffee we purchase and sell, back to a development project aimed to create plant nurseries and improve access to water across the regions we work in.

Limited Edition 02 — Yemen

Mill — Shyira
Producers — Nyabihu Smallhodlers / Muraho Trading Company
Region — Nyabihu District, Rwanda
Varietal — Red Bourbon

Shyira’s small-scale (smallest of three washing stations among the Muraho group) is a deliberate choice to allow the station to focus on specialist and niche micro-lots for sale as single origins in European markets. The washing station receives cherries from neighbouring farms as high as 2400masl which is among the highest - if not the outright highest - coffee grown in Rwanda.

On May 7th 2020 floods ravaged the Nyabihu District, home to the Shyira farming communities, with catastrophic effect. The lives of 28 members of the community were tragically lost in the floods while the ensuing mudslides continued to cause destruction.

325 homes, 36 classrooms, 12 churches, a healthcare centre, electrical and water infrastructure and farming livestock and coffee trees have all been destroyed. Help is still needed to provide basic food, clean water and physical safety support for families affected.

All profits from the retail sale of this coffee  will be donated to aid immediate relief. In addition all donations or funds raised via our wholesale partners will be matched by Assembly. 

Shyira

The Assembly Espresso, as always, is the result of a collective process which draws on direct input from the best independent cafes in the UK. Together we have arrived at a 'brief' to offer a versatile house espresso which is characterised by clean sweetness but with a rich and balanced body - equally enjoyable either as espresso or with milk.

Farm — Finca El Salvador
Region — Ojo de Agua, Chalchuapa, Santa Ana 
Farm  — Ruffatti Batlle Family Farm
Varietal — Red Bourbon

Finca El Salvador has been in the Ruffatti family for 4 generations.

Rodolfo Ruffatti bought this farm in 1932. He had recently emigrated from Torino, Italy to El Salvador and went into the coffee business with his father-in-law, Luigi Risso, who had emigrated from Genoa.

The farm has 91 manzanas in production (manzana is a local unit, 1 manzana is approx 0.75 hectares) so 68.25 hectares cultivated with coffee and a pristine forest reserve of 8.5 manzanas, approx 6.3 hectares.

The farm employs 30 permanent workers and more people for the harvest, with one single family living at the farm. All the other workers live near the farm.

The bourbons are harvested as part of the bulk of the farm and the following varieties are harvested as micro-lots: Portillo, Pacamara, Sudan Rume, Kenya and Sarchimor (this last one is blended into the lowest cupping lot of the farm)

For this lot, we blended honey and natural day lots. Once cherries are harvested, they are driven to the mill, where they are weighed and analysed. We classify all day-lots by cherry ripeness and give each lot a grade. We usually reserve the best picked lots for our natural process. Honey process is de-pulped either at night or the next morning, without water, without fermentation, the de-pulped coffee goes direct to the raised beds, or lacking space, to the patios. The Natural process is placed directly on beds as it arrives at the mill (We do not float the naturals, so we can keep all the juice. We then have more work in the sorting).

Assembly House Single Espresso

Farm — Monteverde
Producers — Gildardo Gutierrez
Region — Herrera, South-Tolima, Colombia. 
Varietal — Caturra

Finca Monteverde was given to Gildardo Gutierrez by his father Oscar Gutierrez 40 years ago. Since 2004, the goal and philosophy of farm has been to move towards specialty production. Three of Gildardo’s siblings are now licensed Q Graders who have dedicated part of their work to advising Gildardo on planting new varietals for the specialty market. The Gutierrez family have been coffee growers for five generations in the south of Tolima, where they own a micro-mill, hand sorting each batch for processing. The cherry is picked at the highest level of maturation, observed using a refractometer, and measuring around 25 Brix. With this methodology, Gildardo and his sibling Johan have trained the seasonal pickers to pick the ripest cherries. This particular coffee undergoes a two-stage fermentation:

The first stage is a 80-hour controlled temperature anaerobic fermentation, which sits between 19 and 23 degrees Celsius.

Stage two is a 48-hour controlled temperature and pH aerobic fermentation. This practice was adapted from the ancestral knowledge of Yemeni coffee growers, who use similar techniques for their production.

Once the fermentation step is complete, the coffee is sun-dried in greenhouses, on African raised beds. During this process, airflow is adapted to control the relative humidity inside the greenhouse and the temperature at which the coffee is dried. This temperature never goes above 37 degrees C. The drying process takes around 25 days, and once the coffee reaches 11% humidity when it is then packed and ready for dispatch.

Monteverde

Our Decaf coffee is produced in Huila by farmers and producers from Raw Materials' El Carmen project.

Producer — El Carmen
Region — Pitalito, Huila

The decaffeination plant for this coffee is located in the city of Manizales. They use a sugar cane decaffeination process to strip the coffee of its caffeine content. This process utilises naturally derived ethyl acetate (a byproduct from refining sugar cane), diluted with local spring water. Ethyl acetate attaches itself to substances of a particular molecular weight (including caffeine), to decaffeinate the coffee without hindering its natural complexities and flavour compounds. 

Assembly Decaf

We all have a responsibility right now to adhere to the movement restrictions implemented  by our respective governments and preserve public safety. While it's non negotiable that we follow these it's also unavoidable that staying at home can get a little dull.

That's why we decided to liven things up with this juicy, sticky and jammy double fermented natural yellow geisha from Newerly Giraldo at Finca Monteverde in Rio Blanco. We'd originally sourced this and saved it for barista/ brewers competitions  but now agree it would be put to better use brightening up some kitchens!

Farmer — Newerly Giraldo
Farm  — Finca Monteverde
Region — Rio Blanco, Tolima, Colombia
Varietal — Geisha

Only maximum ripe cherries are selected using a refractometer and Brix to sort ripeness. This lot then undergoes a two-stage fermentation process. In phase one temperature is controlled and anaerobic fermentation promoted for 40 hours. In phase two the fermentation is allowed to continue aerobically and in controlled temperature for a further 60 hours. 

Cherries are then dried on raised African beds until a moisture content of 11% is reached. We find this creates a clean but exceptionally sweet and sticky cup with complex and fruit forward wine gum-esque body. 

Limited Edition 04 — Monteverde Yellow N

This coffee is unique among Ethiopian coffees in that the individual varietals have been separated and identified. 

Producers — Banko, Gotiti, Chelchele and Halo small holders
Region — Chelbesa, Gedeb, Gedeo
Varietal — Kurume and Dega 

486 partnering farmers from the villages of Banko, Gotiti, Chelchele and Halo contributed to this lot of Kurume and Dega varietals, which are native to the Chelbesa region. Their 2018/19 harvest was impacted by unseasonally heavy rainfall followed immediately by a quick cherry maturation which turned the cherries a deep, intense red.

Chelbesa

The Assembly Blend is our suggested ‘House Espresso’ and has been created in collaboration with baristas and cafe owners from some of the most esteemed specialty coffee cafes in the U.K.

The blend is designed to be versatile, suited to milk and black drinks equally and fine tuned tor the changing tastes of the UK coffee drinker. Sweet and clean with a rich body, and a viscous mouthfeel the Assembly Blend suits the tastes of both the independent industry and the coffee drinking public.

Assembly Espresso Blend

Farm — Aquiares
Region — Turrialba, Costa Rica
Producer — Diego Robelo
Varietal — H1 Centroamericano Hydbrid

This coffee is from Aquiares farm which is one of the largest specialty farms in all of Costa Rica. The farm is Rainforest and Carbon Neutral certified. Diego Robelo is the son and although the farm has been around forever it was when his dad, Alfonso, took over that it started innovating and pioneering in sustainability, specialty and ethics.

In addition to having a carbon positive output (at a ratio of 3:1) Aquiares also allocates specific sections of the estate for research and development work with various third parties and ecological scientists. 
Aquiares is also renowned for the part they've played in varietal innovations and this particular coffee is actually a F1 Hybrid H1  (also referred to as Centroamericano) which is a cross between Sarchimor and Rume Sudan. Although the processing method and varietal might seem quite exotic the coffee itself is more in line with traditional concepts of specialty quality. We find the cup to be almost typical of the best washed central-American coffees with exceptional balance and a clean crisp acidity. 

Diego Robelo

Cooperative — Wahundura
Region — Kiiraini, Murang'a, Kenya
Process — Washed
Varietals — SL28
Altitude — 1700 masl

Kenya — Wahundura

Producer —Enrique Vasquez Zamora
Region — El Hauco, Huabal, Peru
Process — Washed
Varietals — Caturra
Altitude — 1800 masl

Peru — Zamora

Farm — Finca Gascon
Farmer — Felipe Contreras
Region — Antigua, Guatemala
Process — Washed
Varietals — Orange Bourbon
Altitude — 1750 - 2000 masl

Guatemala — Finca Gascon

Farm — Divina Providencia
Region — Santa Ana, El Salvador
Producer — Roberto Ulloa
Process — 2-stage Anaerobic/ Washed
Varietal — SL28
Altitude — 1700 masl

El Salvador — Divina Providencia

Producer —Elmer Tineo Mendoza
Region — San Jose de Lourdes, El Diamante, Jaen, Peru
Process — Natural
Varietals — Bourbon
Altitude — 1750-1900 masl

Peru — Mendoza

Producer — Diego Bermudez
Farm — Paraiso
Region — El Tambo, Cauca, Colombia
Process — PO2
Varietals — Castillo
Altitude — 1700masl

Limited Edition — Diego Bermudez

Fazenda Pinhal is quite literally the most sustainable coffee farm in the world having won first prize in the last two Global Sustainable Farming awards. The programme and awards are co-housed by unilateral certification bodies including 4C, Rainforest Alliance, UTZ and Fairtrade Organic. 

More than half of Fazenda Pinhal is protected as native rainforest area which also provides homes for native rescued wildlife. The farm is 100% powered by solar energy and creates an energy surplus which is then distributed among neighboring farms.  

The coffee itself is exceptional, this being the Arara variety, processed specifically to accentuate rich and dense sweetness as an espresso.

As of 2021 harvest Pinhal will constitute a mainstay in the Assembly house and Espresso Blend offerings as we look to build on contributions to the immense work Pedro and his team has committed too.

Brazil — Pinhal

Laclo is the name of one of the main coffee producing villages (or sucos in Tetun), that provide cherry to the Atsabe wet mill. The village’s coffee land sits between 1200-1600MASL, where between 80 and 150 coffee producing families are selling to the washing station at any given time during the harvest season. The village itself has four sub villages, and a total household figure of almost 500 families.

TImor-Leste — Laclo (Fundraiser)

This lot is another exemplary coffee brought to us by the ongoing partnership between Daye Bensa and Falcon Speciality Coffee. The taxonomy of traceability and its mechanisms in Ethiopia are often over complicated through the market, however the celebration of diversity of producing groups and the value created by lot separation and higher quality driven prices for communities remain key to driving autonomy and market conditions for producing groups.

The out-grower group consists of around 1500 farmers, local to the Bombe mountain range, who deliver their cherry to the Keramo, Daye Bensa, washing mill. The mill specialises in processing smaller sized beans which are common at higher altitudes such as this and partly responsible for the unique flavour profile. 

We find the cup to be fruit forward in a typically 'natural process' way but with distinct cleanliness. 

Keramo

The Mohamed Ali family has a coffee production history dating back to the 1950’s. Mustefa Mohamed Ali took over management of the plots in the 1980’s, with the aim of preserving his agricultural heritage.

Mohamed Alis’ plots are located amongst some of Ethiopias’ high altitude primary forests, which are hugely important areas of biodiversity. The coffee is grown here without disrupting the forests’ eco system; local tree species provide shade, and the Olora and fauna maintain a fertile soil that allows Mohamed Ali to produce coffee of high quality without disrupting the unique environment of the forests.

Mohamed Ali produces both natural and honey processed lots on his 10.5 hectares of land.

Ethiopia — Mustafa Mohamed Ali

The Kiranga Estate is nestled in the hilltops of the Kirinyaga region in central Kenya around 2hrs drive north-west of Nairobi. Samuel Macharia and his family have owned the Kiranga estate since 1995 and farm some of Kenya's most renowned coffee varietals in SL28, SL34 and Ruiru. Ideal growing conditions paired with Samuel's attentiveness in processing result in some truly exceptional and clean expression of Kenyan coffee. 

This is the second of two coffees illustrated with the Victoria Arduino Youth Academy. The illustration attempts to convey the tea-like, delicate body which we found to be unique in this cup as well as notes of lime, clove, plum and lavender. 

Kenya — Kiranga

Ethiopia — Choose Love Fundraiser

Farmer — Villarazo and Jamaica Smallholders
Region — Villamaria, Caldas, Colombia
Varietals —Colombia and Castillo 

The Villamaria station is uniquely placed for processing coffee in that it is surrounded by high-altitude mountainous growing regions but is itself at lower altitude with drier and more stable weather. This plus its accessibility by road make it ideal for receiving  cherries from around 30 families in the neighbouring Jamaica and Villarazo regions. The station also boasts a Nuna dehydrator. This is a mechanical drier which controls temperature and humidity for either the whole or partial processing. Covered raised beds also exist for drying which means the station has a variety of methods at its disposal and has focused specifically on the methods of honey and natural processes with some exception results.
We find the cup fruit froward and led by a prominent juicy strawberry note but balanced with chocolate flavours and a smooth hazelnut too. 

Colombia - Villamaria

Farmer — Muraho Trading Company and Nyamasheke smallholders
Region — Gakenke, Nyamasheke, Northern District, Rwanda
Varietals —Colombia and Castillo 

Illustrated with Sheffield Coffee Festival
The Bumbogo washing station, operated by the Neza trading company in partnership with Muraho Trading is one of the stand out processing stations in the renowned Gakenke district of Rwanda. Muraho’s Director of Quality, Emmanual Rusatira, overseas production at the washing station where 200 raised drying beds allow for precise natural, washed and honey processed coffees.

Brothers Gaudam and Karthick Anbalagan are the founders of the Muraho Trading Company and, although raised to call Rwanda home, grew up in New Zealand after their families fled the Rwandan 1994 Genocide. Muraho Trading, and its network of affiliate producers, is the brothers’ way of giving back to their beloved home by helping local producers to attain high quality and innovative cup profiles than can then be promoted around the world.

The Bumbogo mill is the newest in their network of coffee washing stations but has quickly risen to fame. Located ideally for transport just 1hr from the region’s capital of Kigali and with prevalent dry winds making for ideal coffee drying the station has quickly risen in fame and production has doubled since its inception in only 2018.

Rwanda — Bumbogo

22 year old Nestor represents El Diviso, his family farm in south-western Colombia, which is managed between himself, his brother Adrian and father Jose. While Adrian and Jose manage the day to day practices on the farm itself Nestor mostly dedicates himself to the cupping labs where he sample roasts, cups and explores new possibilities for process/ profile. 

The philosophy at El Diviso is to be progressive and to discover new methods of improving cup quality while acknowledging, but not being bound to, traditional definitions. The group rigorously experiment with process, fermentation and different micro-organisms so create what they hope will be internationally renowned and totally unique cup profiles.

This lot comes from a Pink Bourbon (a rare hybridisation of Red and Yellow Bourbon) plot planted 5 years ago which grows organically under the natural shade of native citrus and plantain trees. The extended 180hr natural drying has created a cup which is dense, rich and sweet in the direction of chocolate with undertones of creamy vanilla and caramel.

Assembly Coffee

3.5

Assembly Coffee

🇬🇧 United Kingdom

Served in Coffee Shops

Coffee Roasts

Assembly Decaf

Assembly Espresso Blend

Assembly House Single Espresso

Brazil — Pinhal

Colombia - Villamaria

Ethiopia - Gora Kone

Kenya — Kiranga

Limited Edition — Nestor Lasso

Rwanda — Bumbogo

TImor-Leste — Laclo (Fundraiser)

Coffee archive

Chelbesa

Cordillera del Fuego

Diego Robelo

El Salvador — Divina Providencia

Ethiopia — Choose Love Fundraiser

Ethiopia — Mustafa Mohamed Ali

Guatemala — Finca Gascon

Kenya — Wahundura

Keramo

La Oculta

Limited Edition 02 — Yemen

Limited Edition 04 — Monteverde Yellow N

Limited Edition — Diego Bermudez

Monteverde

Nemba

Peru — Mendoza

Peru — Zamora

Raimutin

Shyira

New Coffee Review