Granja La Esperanza is a group of farms owned and run by the Herrara family. Recognised as one of the leading farms in Colombia their obsessive attention to details has led them to win the Speciality Coffee Association of America’s “Triple Crown”. This special award is only given to producers who have had three of their coffee selected to be in their countries top ten in a given year. This "Caturra de Altura" coffee, so-called due to the height it is grown is a firm favourite will both or wholesale and retail customers. Due to the two crops per year, this is one single-origin we are able to provide all year round. Seasonal variations can be expected though.

The La Esperanza farms stand out with their progressive philosophy of not only producing an amazing quality of coffee but also strive for environmental sustainability and provided extensive training for its employees. When we first cupped this coffee, it immediately stood out on the table due to its beguiling complexity of subtle flavours.

Caturra De Altura can be enjoyed as a rich and complex espresso or as a full-bodied filter perfectly brewed with the aid of Chemex. 

Caturra De Altura

We are a family run artisan coffee roaster based in West Sussex specialising in sustainable single origin coffees hand roasted to order.

Cast Iron Coffee Roasters

The Daterra Sweet Collection comes from the renowned Daterra farm in the Cerrado area in Brazil. The farm is famous for its innovative research and respect for the environment. The farm produces extremely high-quality coffee beans, especially ones suited for espressos. The sweet collection is also a Rainbow Alliance coffee, which means that the coffee has been produced ecologically and with sustainability, as well as in fair conditions for the workers. Rainforest Alliances' goal is to use the environmental certificate to also affect customer behaviour.

The Daterra is grown specifically for espresso and is a firm favourite for those who love a rich, sweet, low acidity chocolatey coffee.

This coffee is a Rain Forrest Alliance certified coffee.

Daterra

The current composition consists of 60% Brazil Fazenda Lages natural Rubi, 30% Ethiopian Bench Maji natural heirloom, and 10% Sumatran Jagong semi-washed Bourbon​​. 

Our house espresso. Full-bodied, rich and smooth with low acidity. Designed for uniformity of flavour throughout the year and to cut through milk well for a sweet delicious drink.  

Our Unity coffee is roasted for espresso only and is a real winner as both a black coffee or if you prefer to drink a milk drink.

Unity

This Peruvian coffee was founded by Rony Guerrero in 2016. With a focus on cup quality over commercial production, Rony hand-selected producers with potential and chose yellow and red caturra and typica from five of them. 

The five producers who made the cut are Antonio, Jacinto Jora Willaacero, Alexander Flores, Rosendo Cofiria and Gevaro Cruz. All are based near Cajamarca, a city in Peru's Northern Highlands in the Andes Mountains. This particular area is renowned for its quality; coffee grown at this high altitude produces a uniquely refreshing cup.

San Ignacio coffee is processed in the traditional washed style, with long dry fermentation. To preserve its quality, Rony stores it in grain pro bags. And to avoid the risk of fading, he never buys anything with a moisture content over 11%.

When enjoying San Ignacio coffee, expect a full-bodied, rich espresso with good complexity to enrich your tastebuds.

San Ignacio

This is a sweet fruity espresso, with notes of toffee, honey and forest fruits. We roast this blend slightly darker than our single origin espressos, maintain sweetness and complexity but not too far as to introduce too much bitterness. Our aim is to make it compliant to pull consistent shots. Composition will change throughout the year. IN THE CUP - Toffee, Honey & Forest Fruits.

Current Composition
40% Peru San Ignacio washed typica
60% Colombian Washed Caturra

Eden

Another wonderful coffee from one of our favourite farms.  A fruit bomb with a lovely vanilla and white chocolate finish, this coffee is great as both a filter or espresso.  This is a naturally processed coffee and is incredibly clean with no funkiness which some naturals can exhibit.

Mandela is a new experimental varietal created by CENICAFE, the Colombian Coffee Reaseach Centre.  It is a member of the Caturra family and named after Nelson Mandela himself.

Granja La Esperanza is a group of farms owned and run by the Herrara family. Recognised as one of the leading farms in Colombia their obsessive attention to details has lead them to win the Speciality Coffee Association of America’s “Triple Crown”.  This special award is only given to producers who have had three of their coffees selected to be in their countries top ten in a given year.

The coffee cherries are rigorously picked at the peak of the harvest to ensure full development, sweetness and consistency.

Mandela

THIS COFFEE HAS A WONDERFUL FLAVOUR OF JASMINE AND HONEY, WITH A LIGHT LIME ACIDITY AND A SUBTLE WILD STRAWBERRY FINISH. IT IS EXCEPTIONALLY CLEAN FOR A NATURAL ETHIOPIAN.
  
This years crop of natural Ethiopian coffees have been blighted by major problems. First, the rains fell unseasonably early in the major growing areas which led to drying issues of the naturals. This was followed by the COVID lockdown, which meant processed coffees being stuck in containers unable to be transported. This resulted in coffees that tasted uncharacteristically flat and dull in flavour.  

We cupped over 20 different coffees looking for this year's offering and were sadly underwhelmed with all of them - until, finally, we found this most beautiful offering from a new importer, Kamba Coffee, who bring us this stunner from Israel Degafa's private farm in Oromia, West Arsi.  

Bale Mountain

Domingo Lope is the owner of 8 hectares of land in San Antonio Huista, Huehuetenango. His farm - El Pajal - sits at 1920masl and is planted with Caturra, Catuai, Bourbon, and Pache. Domingo has been preserving his pure Arabica varieties - despite the rise in the use of Catimores in the area - due to the much better cup quality and the fact that his farm management practices mean that coffee leaf rust doesn't affect his plants.  

The farm is Organic certified and Domingo shows great respect for the environment and the sustainability of coffee production in this area, focusing on producing coffee without inputs and alongside other carefully selected food crops.  

When enjoying Domingo Lopez coffee, expect a full-bodied, sweet, and clean espresso. For home use, Domingo Lopez coffee will provide the perfect balance of body and complexity. 

Domingo Lopez

This fantastic decaf coffee is imported into the UK by our partners DR Wakefield and forms part of their Source Collections exclusive coffees.   With Colombian coffees, Excelso is one of the grading term used to specify the coffee bean size and the uniformity of size selection helps increase cup quality and flavour.

Sourced from a number of cooperatives, the ripe cherries are picked and sorted for quality.  They then enter the washing process to remove skin and pulp before sitting in fermentation tanks for up to 14 hours.  Next the beans are dried outdoors on patios until the moisture content reduces to 10-12%  Finally, they are sent to Swiss Water for the natural decaffeination process to take place.  

Excelso Decaf

Historically, the coffee within this region was smuggled across the border and sold as Guatemalan, or sold off as ‘high grown’ at a much lower rate. Recently producers have made considerable quality improvements through staff training alongside investment in farm infrastructure.

Donaldo Fiallos is a former agronomist who took over his farm from his mother around 12 years ago. The farm traditionally grows yellow & red catuai although Donaldo has recently introduced new varietals.

These Yellow Catuai cherries have high levels in sugar and acid, the sugar reading levels of 27% on average. The present sweetness and acidity persists throughout the cup and gives a beautifully unique flavour profile.

When enjoying Gonzalez Fiiallos coffee, expect a full-bodied, smooth sweet and clean espresso with rich cherry notes, drunk with milk expect flavours like cherry Bakewell. 

Gonzalez Fiallos

The farm was established in 1932 when Gustavo Vides Valdes named his property in honour of his newly born daughter, Lya. The farm name Bosque Lya translates to - Lya’s forest.  This is a 96-hectare farm, 64 of which are dedicated to coffee, the balance being left as natural rainforest. However, in many parts of the farm, it is difficult to recognise what is pure forest and what isn’t, since so many shade trees are used.

This wonderful coffee from El Salvador has a wonderful nutty flavour full of hazelnuts and praline.  It has low acidity and with its heavy body we bought it with espresso-based drinks in mind, however, it does make a wonderful filter too.  It is delicious drunk black or with milk.

Bosque Lya

The Geisha varietal is revered by the speciality coffee world and has legendary status.  Geisha trees are slow growing and produce fewer cherries and this leads to increased complexity in the cup.  This complexity, the layers of flavour, is what sets it apart from other coffees.  Expect a floral aroma, delicate acidity balanced with sweetness, lingering mouthfeel and subtle peppery finish.  We are lucky in our job to experience stunning coffees but this has to be one of the best we have ever had in our workshop.  It is, as we say in the coffee world, a proper banger!

Trapiche is one of the 5 farms that the Rodriguez family owns in Samaipata. The farm is located between 1,550 and 1,700 masl and is shaded with native trees. Some wild forest patches have been encouraged as part of the crop mix on the farm keeping the biodiversity rich.

Trapiche Geisha

Humberto Pecupaque and his wife Alba Zuleta are the proprietors of Finca El Diamante in Gaitania, Tolima, Colombia. Humberto, understanding the risk implied in alternative coffee growing techniques and the potential reward they can provide, has elected to invest heavily and take great risks with the goal of improving producer income in their cooperative.

This is a beautiful coffee that showcases the special microlots coming out of farms in Colombia.  The Pink Bourbon is an unusual varietal and combined with special farming techniques Humberto and Alba have produced a very special coffee.  Balanced, sweet, complex and very clean with wonderful fruits flavours. 

Perfect for filter or those that like a light espresso roast.

Finca El Diamante

At above 1950+ metres, Finca Deborah is one of the highest and most remote coffee farms in Panama and is world-renowned for the quality of the coffees they grow.

Jamison Savage is one of the most respected coffee farmers and is revered for his experimental techniques and coffees which have won many national and world championships.  Jamison believes that a balanced ecosystem and sustainability is essential for responsible coffee production.

‘Vivid’ is an extremely elegant but very accessible coffee with a complex flavour profile which is matched by its arduous production process.  Ripe cherries are hand picked, meticulously sorted and quickly deposited into hermetic tanks where CO2 is infused for 50 hours. The cherries are then washed and dried on raised beds.

Coffees of this quality do not come around very often and we feel incredibly privileged to have it on offer.

Cast Iron Coffee Roasters

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Cast Iron Coffee Roasters

🇬🇧 United Kingdom

Coffee Roasts

Adola, Ethiopia

Bosque Lya

Bukonzo Dream, Uganda

Caturra De Altura

Daterra

Eden

Excelso Decaf

Finca El Diamante

Mandela

Raimutin, Timor-Leste

Unity

Vivid Geisha

Coffee archive

Bale Mountain

Domingo Lopez

Gonzalez Fiallos

San Ignacio

Trapiche Geisha

New Coffee Review