Farm/Area : Huila
Processing : Washed, patio dried
Varietal : Caturra + Typica

Colombia is a coffee powerhouse and rightly takes up its position behind Brazil and Vietnam as the third largest coffee producer across the globe. Huila, or ‘The department of Huila’ as it is referenced today, is a South Western territory blessed with Volcanic soils and spanned by the Andes mountains, all wonderful contributors to its plantations being used for the production of flavoursome coffee. Processing in these plantations is more often in the traditional method of mechanised hulling equipment so spare a thought for the farmers and workhands operating this equipment as they are mostly hand cranked to depulp the coffee bean from its cherry. The coffee is then dried on raised beds on a sun drenched patio which facilitates enhanced air circulation that dries the beans both consistently and evenly. In some coffee producing countries a small farm is viewed upon with risk of being engulfed by larger more efficient and cost effective cooperatives, however most Colombia farmers view this as being their unique selling point as they are able to oversee every processing step themselves. This means they can instantly provide correction and guidance before a crop has been irreversible damaged during crop processing. For roasters, this means continuity and consistency every time. 

Colombian Coffee

Family run coffee roastery in the Wiltshire village of Great Somerford. Everyday we take inspiration from our stunning surroundings and young daughter.

Cotswold Coffee Roasters

Nestled in our home village of Great Somerford in Wiltshire is a pretty little tree lined avenue known as the Quack Quacks, which we felt we had to investigate it origins. Back in the early nineties the land is said to have once contained a lake which was home to a family of ducks. The lake and resident ducks were very popular with the local children in the village and regular visits would ensue, prompted by the request from the younger children to “Go to Quack Quacks”.

It is during our regular walks  into our local village via the path, where we would pick up the many seasonal aromas from the surrounding gardens and returning foliage. Whether it was the distinct smell of a Chocolate vine, the pungency of Hyacinths or the hidden honeys of Magnolias, the scents would trigger a familiarity to the smell of processed raw coffee beans after being processed using a method referred to as ‘white honey'.

This harvesting process is one that hulls the coffee cherry to leave a thin layer of mucilage still attached to the inner bean and remains one of our favourites for consistently great tasting coffee. Once hulled, the beans are dried naturally in controlled sunlight on patios for up to 13 days upon which time the sweetness
from the mucilage has had time to transfer into the inner bean. This sweet richness will stay resident right up to roasting and will persist until long after.

Our Speciality Guatemalan family supplier made us aware of a new coffee that had just entered its harvest for the year and that samples were on their way to us. The deep hints of dark chocolates and muscavado convinced us that we needed to reserve this particular coffee and after showcasing it at a few of our local
Cotswold markets, we have received some excellent customer feedback.

We have further tweaked the roast and combined it with our popular Costa Rican to create a new exciting blend we have decided to call ‘Quack Quacks Blend Americas’. It became a regular in the markets and also as our mid morning brew so we had little trouble deciding on whether we should add it to the availability list, we are so pleased to finally announce it's arrival. We hope you enjoy it as much as we have.

Quack Quacks Blend Americas

Each year we opt for a seasonal Decaf that is part suggested by our trusted suppliers and part from sample and cupping sessions here at the Cotswold roastery. Although we heavily favour sweetness and chocolates here in the Cotswolds, we strive for the best seasonal coffee available which we believe has the most to offer our customers.

Peru is in the top 10 highest supplier list of Arabica coffee globally. Despite this however, it suffers from a reputation of not being high on the list of specialty suppliers due to lack of classification by the industry. Approximately a third of coffee shipped out of Peru is sold on by cooperatives who have possession of land areas as small as 2 acres and it is these cooperatives where we regularly find the true gems of Peru. This particular selection in our opinion renders not only complexity in the cup, but has our mandatory requirement of notable background chocolate.

Decaffeinated Coffee

Guatemala is a coffee nirvana in our opinion here at Cotswold Coffee Roasters. We will be honest and say that it is our favourite coffee supplier and as much as 30% of its foreign based exports land on American soil, so we are more than happy to do our bit for Britain and not only pick up a share but promote our favourite haven for coffee.

Guatemalan Coffee

Rwanda was not coffee aware as a commodity or consumer beverage until 1903 thanks to German missionaries and unfortunately 90 years later prices crashed as a result of the world coffee crisis. This crash meant a lot of farms supplying single origin coffees went out of business and both the farming families and global supply market was worse off for this. The reactive benefit that emerged from this was the creation of a Rwandan Coffee Board (OCIR Café), to help refocus its support for its numerous (and precious) coffee plantations. Although the work the various world support organisations helped give the renaissance of Rwandan coffee its much needed momentum, the specialty sector did not form until years later in the early 2000s. Each time we browse the supply list for Rwandan single origin coffee, we are reminded how the vast majority of farming families are operating a plantation that is more often than not just 2 acres in size. Putting this into context, that is about 180 coffee trees.

Rwandan Coffee

The Somerford blend was created as a breakfast blend inspired by our local village community. The village benefits from a good handful of regular coffee mornings for anyone wishing to have a chinwag and catchup at the end of the routine dog walk. We provide a coffee supply to some of these events so we thought we would try and tailor a blend that had a best fit at breakfast time. We ended with something that had a 'snap' on first sip, continued with an earthy orange zesty undertone, finishing with a rich and sweet dark caramel aftertaste.

It has become the mainstay in the Foxfield roastery for the mornings and we tend to alternate between a Flat white double espresso, V60 pour over and Aeropress to brew our morning kick each day.       

Somerford Breakfast Blend

Although Sumatran coffee is regularly roasted dark to emphasise sweetness in the cup, we opt for a lighter medium roast as it is our favourite coffee when used as filter (our choice being the V60). Sumatran coffee has a unique Earthy and herbal taste which makes it a popular choice to provide floral notes in any blend. The Mandheling reference is a habitual name inherited from Sumatra’s Mandailing people who live in the Northern territories. Customers will notice that these beans are much larger than our other varieties and this makes them practically explode out of our roasting machine when they begin to release gases stored up during the early stages of the roasting process. In case you are wondering what the ‘DP’ means in the name, this is ‘Double Picked’ which references the number of passes by a manual picker along the production line in order to identify defects in the bean such as insect damage. This ensures not only that the beans are harvested at the correct time to ensure ripeness, but also to visually check that the beans are a consistent side to make sure they roast evenly and with flavour continuity.

Sumatran Coffee

We've been wanting to sell a coffee from Costa Rica for a while now, but it had to be the right one. One that our Roastmax Roaster could really elicit a complex flavour profile from. Costa Rica is well known for having some truly stunning coffees containing truly unique flavours giving a taste complexity and balance enjoyed the world over. The example we've selected for you is 'black honey' processed which means part of the coffee cherry (the mucilage) is left intact and still in contact with the coffee bean inside. This mucilage remanence will then impart its sweetness into the bean meaning a more full bodied flavour and unique sweetness will result. For the whole process to render the results required, farmers have to harvest only when perfectly ripe so each cherry contains more sugar and acids to aid fermentation.

The downstream process will then involve 'less mechanised' stages of processing to ensure these sugars are given the best chance of transferring into the bean itself. For the farm workers it is a slow process but the results are worth it as the coffee is sold at a premium on the open market remains hugely popular. We mostly enjoy this one as espresso in a flat white where we can also emphasise the subtle smokey and tobacco undertones.

New Costa Rica Coffee

The world famous Daterra Estate in Brazil is a vast landmass, so big it has its own micro climate and weather system. A multitude of separate farms on the estate give it an enormous range of coffees that are monitored with scientific precision whether it is the soil acidity levels or water absorption rates of sapling tap roots. The choice seems endless and we wanted to do something a bit different by picking one of the higher end coffees to add to our books. One coffee that both stood out on the cupping table was the 'Reserve'. A sweet honey and apricot flavoured coffee which was great in both filter coffee and milk based espresso (some nice caramels and dark sugars coming through). for those enthusiasts, this coffee has an SCA score in the 90s, the highest we have supplied to date.

The 'Reserve' naming is a nod to the farm where it is produced, a conservation area closely protected by its land owners so nature can be protected and left to flourish ... it was something we could closely relate to. Although this coffee is our most expensive in our shop catalog, we thought it was well worth the purchase.

New Brazil (Daterra) Coffee

The Carmo estate is still family owned and has been supplying coffee for over 155 years. The estate is following a small trend of blood generations introducing a more scientific approach to its coffee production, largely based around science. The farm regularly churns out speciality coffees and has a close association with the Brazil Speciality Coffee Association through its current owner Tulio Junquiera. 

Here at Cotswold Coffee Roasters we drink coffee in every which way possible, but the depth of flavour we get from espresso based brew methods mean it is the firm favourite when we take a short break and step away from the roasting machine. Low altitude beans such as those found in Brazil are usually a good choice to have as espresso for various technical reasons, but at break times we found ourselves almost exclusively brewing the bean from the Carmo Estate in either an Aeropress or a V60.

New Brazil (Helidora) Coffee

Kenyan Peaberry coffee has a uniqueness in that the beans from the cherry are completely oval in physical form rather than two halves. The bean will only develop and begin its growth inside the cherry when one of the beans becomes fertilised. Without a partnering bean to continue growing against, the fertilised bean develops into an oval shape and is harvested, ripened in this final shape.

Some farms call them a freak of nature but we love them, especially with their fruity and delicious sweetness.

Cotswold Coffee Roasters

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Cotswold Coffee Roasters

🇬🇧 United Kingdom

Coffee Roasts

Colombian Coffee

Decaffeinated Coffee

Guatemalan Coffee

NEW Brazil (Daterra) Coffee

New Brazil (Helidora) Coffee

New Costa Rica Coffee

New Kenya Peaberry Coffee

Quack Quacks Blend Americas

Rwandan Coffee

Somerford Breakfast Blend

Sumatran Coffee

Coffee archive

Costa Rica Coffee

New Brazil (Daterra) Coffee

New Coffee Review