Producer: Small growers of San Lorenzo group
Region: Caldas, Colombia
Varietal: Caturra, Colombia & Castillo
Importer: Falcon Speciality

Our coffee offering is all about showcasing fresh in-season single-origin coffees of varied favour profiles while sharing stories of their origins and producers.

With our house espresso, we look for coffees with a full body, coating, syrupy mouthfeel, notes of chocolate, caramel and a mellow stone-fruit acidity. They will present plenty of sweetness and character to stand alone as an espresso or long black whilst pairing beautifully with milk for a silky comforting flat white.

To maintain a consistency of favour throughout the year without compromising on the coffee’s quality and freshness we have chosen Colombia to be the origin for our house espresso. This also enables us clearly to know and communicate the coffee’s origin.

The country’s size, geographical position and hilly terrain with a variety of micro-climates provides perfect conditions for growing high-quality coffees; it also allows for harvesting year round, meaning that we can source fresh coffees throughout the year.

We source these coffees with the help of our importing partner Falcon Speciality, who work closely with growers and cooperatives on the ground in Colombia. The lots will change every four to six months as fresh coffee becomes available from different growing regions whilst the favour profile remains consistent.

The San Lorenzo group is part of the Cooperativa de Caficultores de Alto Occidente de Caldas which was established in 1964. It is an indigenous group of producers based in the Rio Sucio municipality of Caldas where there are 11,500 inhabitants with 1,150 farmers producing coffee within 21 communities.

Until recently, this region was heavily inhabited by paramilitary groups and guerrillas, who looked to control this central corridor in Colombia. The region has not been known for specialty coffee production but as the local tensions have eased and access improved, it is now possible to showcase the great quality of the coffees available from this area.

The indigenous inhabitants believe in the Pacha Mama – earth goddess, and see the land as a living being. To them it is their duty to protect the natural environment and have as little impact as possible from their farming of coffee and to leave it as it has always been.

Each farmer has approximately 0.5 hectares of land with about 2500 coffee trees. During the harvest season, families work with their neighbours to select ripe cherry before de-pulping and fermenting the coffee in water for 16 -24 hours, depending on the weather. The coffee is then washed and put out to dry on small drying patios, usually on the roofs of houses, for between 8 – 14 days. Then it is delivered to the cooperative where it is assessed and allowed to rest before being milled and prepared for shipment.

House Espresso

Curve is a speciality coffee roastery based in Margate, East Kent.

We're dedicated to responsibly sourcing the most interesting fresh crop green coffee we can get our hands on and roasting it to bring out the best of its intrinsic flavours. 

Our mission is to put producers in the spotlight and celebrate the dedication and hard work that happens at coffee origins. Each coffee has a unique story and we want to share them.

We believe world of speciality coffee is endlessly inspiring and fascinating but it should also be fun, accessible and sustainable. We strive to be at the forefront of the industry, constantly exploring, learning and improving our practices in quest of outstanding quality but also sustainability. 

We're determined to become an acknowledged source of coffee and education and nurture the growing speciality coffee community in the Kent area as well as to make positive contribution toward enhancement of the vibrant global speciality coffee community.

Curve Coffee Roasters

Producer: Debeka Farm owned by Israel Degfa
Region: Borena Zone, Oromia
Varietal: Mundo Novo

Debeka is one of several private farms owned by a young entrepreneur, Israel Degfa. One of our absolute stand out coffees last year was from Uraga Sami, which is another of Israel's washing stations. Located within the Borena zone of the Oromia region, bordering Guji in the north and Kenya to the south, the Debeka Farm spreads over 290 hectares at altitudes between 1680 and 1950 masl. It benefits from extremely fertile soils rich in organic matter, and only organic fertilizers made up of forest soil, parchment coffee and loam soil are used to increase production.

Unusually for Ethiopia where most coffees are mixed heirloom varietals, this coffee is a single-variety lot of Mundo Novo, a Brazilian cultivar given to Israel by a friend during a visit to coffee farms there. Mundo Novo performs very well in high altitudes and can result in some truly outstanding cup profiles. Processed by the natural method, this lot was first hand-sorted and floated in water before being dried in cherry on raised African beds for around 15 – 18 days. The resulting cup is sweet and delicately floral with lively notes of pineapple, apricot and sticky sweet golden syrup. 

Israel is a passionate entrepreneur, who manages farms and washing stations focusing on quality with premiums prices paid to farmers. He also heads up an exporting company – Kerchanshe Trading PLC – one of the largest in Ethiopia sourcing coffee directly from small-holders. As Israel explains, “Kerchanshe is founded on the principles of bringing fairness and transparency to the coffee value chain while satisfying customer demand”. Israel grew up in a coffee producing area and has great respect for coffee farmers, both as business partners and people. He is committed to improving prosperity of the company's small-holder partners and having a positive impact on social and economic development of the region. Kerchanshe is involved in numerous social improvement projects from building schools, providing clean water in remote areas to offering training on coffee quality improvement.

Debeka

Producer: Small producers of the El Condor village in Huabal region
Region: Cajamarca, Peru
Varietals: Mainly Caturra & Bourbon

Our coffee offering is all about showcasing fresh in-season single-origin coffees while sharing stories of their origins and producers. With our house espresso, consistency of flavour profile all year around is paramount whilst ensuring freshness. With our community espresso we want
to bring in a little more variety in flavour and change up the coffee’s origin every few months whilst putting forward the great work that goes into producing coffee as part of a community within a certain region.

We are currently focusing on coffees from origins and projects we have already been working with to source some of our microlots – FAF in Brazil and Falcon in Peru and Honduras. Improving coffee quality, producers’ livelihoods and caring for the environment are key elements to projects established by our exporting partners and they can only be successful when whole communities of producers are engaged and work together.

Our community espresso celebrates the hard work of producer communities whilst bringing you a flavour profile suited for classy espresso based drinks – black and with milk. Expect a coating creamy body, milk chocolate and just the right amount of subtle fruit notes characteristic of the coffee’s origin to liven up the cup.

This lot is a blend of small producers' lots from El Condor village in the Huabal district. The producers here all have between 1 and 3 hectares of land and mostly grow Caturra and Bourbon varieties. Once picked, cherries are de-pulped and fermented for around 24 hours, usually in bags as very few producers in La Huaca have tanks, before it is washed and dried on patios. Each producer picks, processes and dries their own coffee before delivering to to the Falcon warehouse in Jaen. 

Huabal is a district within the Jaén province of Cajamarca which has a huge amount of potential for quality coffee. Huabal is made up of various villages, such as El Condor, which are centres of coffee production and each producer typically belongs to a village. Since the area spans over a couple of mountains, the climate conditions and soils can vary considerably contributing to diverse cup profiles and some very complex coffees. Unfortunately, due to very poor infrastructure many of the producers here lack resources and knowledge to unlock the region's potential. Part of Falcon's operation in this region is to identify producers with potential and drive to produce quality and provide training to improve quality as well as access to the speciality market for their coffees. Buying community lots such as this one enables producers to receive premiums for quality, invest back in their farms and harness the full potential of their coffees.

Seasonal Community Espresso

Producer: Small holder farmers around the Chelbesa village
Region: Gedeo Zone, Oromia
Varietal: Wolisho & Dega

Chelbesa is a renowned coffee growing area located in the Gedeo Zone of the Gedeb Woreda (district) in Ethiopia's largest region Oromia. The region benefits from a red-brown soil that is rich in iron and high in acidity content, making it particularly fertile. Chelbesa Danche, named after the small hamlet of Danche where it is located, is a newly established wet mill (also known as washing station). It is built and operated by SNAP coffee company who purchase high quality cherry from local outgrowers around the Chelbesa village and manage processing at the washing station. This lot has been put together from the production of 476 local smallholders farmers delivering their cherries to the mill.

Established in 2008, SNAP coffees is an exporting company headed up by an experienced entrepreneur, Negusse, with Abenezer Asfaw, an experienced coffee professional, as the supply chain manager. The company now owns and manage multiple wet mills in Gedeo, Guji & West Arsi as well their warehousing, processing and lab facilities in Addis Abeba. They are a quality focused company with a long-term commitment to producing well crafted coffees.

SNAP's commitment to quality is paired with one to sustainable practices – the company invests heavily in education for their outgrowing farmers (those who sell their cherries to SNAP washing stations) through training in processing and cleaning methods. They also invest in waste recycling systems as well as organic farming practices and all their lots, including this one, are now organic certified.

SNAP has invested in the Chelbesa wet mill's fermentation tanks which were purposefully build with ceramic lining in order to bring clarity to the washed coffee as well as to help speed up the fermentation process thanks to better heat retention. The result is a coffee that is the perfect example of what we love about washed coffees from this origin - silky smooth body with incredible florals aromatics, honeyed sweetness and refined notes of peach and green tea. It was a definitive stand out on the cupping table of pre-shipment samples a few months ago and we are super excited finally to be able to share it with you.

Chelbesa

Producer: Elias Solis
Farm: El Rancho
Region: San Antonio Huista, Huehuetenango, Guatemala
Varietal: Caturra, Bourbon & Typica

The farm is owned by Elias Solis - a second generation producer growing and processing coffee on his family's land. The name El Rancho comes from a little hut located on the farm. Locals call these little houses “ranchos” and this particular one has apparently apparently been on the farm for the past 30 years and is well recognised by everyone in the area.

The coffee at El Rancho is grown amongst a lush canopy of shade trees allowing for slow cherry maturation which contributes to pronounced sweetness in the cup. Before the harvest Elias makes sure that his de-pulpers are all cleaned and calibrated for the right size. During harvest cherries are selectively picked to ensure that only the ripest ones are taken off the trees and prepared for processing. The picked coffee cherries are de-pulped at the farm on the same day and left in tanks to ferment for around 36 hours. After fermenting the coffee is washed and soaked in fresh water before being dried in the sun on lined patios for about 5 days until moisture content below 12% is reached.

In words from the producer:

“I began with coffee 25 years ago when only few coffee producers existed in the region. In those days only few varieties existed, the coffee was fermented in wooden containers and very little was known about the quality. Coffee production has filled us with passion and love for the countryside and our whole family depends on it. What motivates us is that the coffee don’t only sustain our family but also other people like the pickers who work on our farm”, tells Elias. 

In future Elias is interested in training himself further about agronomic practice and new alternative processing methods. And we are excited to see what the next year brings!

As ever big thanks to Primavera Coffee for being the best sourcing partners in Guatemala and connecting us with such wonderful producers and their coffees.

El Rancho

Producer: Small growers working with the Muthuaini washing station
Region: Nyeri
Varietal: SL28 & SL34

This lot is sourced from family-owned farms organized around the Muthuaini Factory (wet mill) in Nyeri County, Kenya. Muthua-ini is a Kikuyu name for “a place with many ants” - it became known for the ants which destroyed almost everything including the plantation of sugarcanes, and which built very large ant hills, visible from far away.

The Mutheka Farmers Co-operative Society manages the Muthuaini Factory, which processes cherry from members who generally cultivate around 200 coffee trees on half-acre plots. Small plots give these producers more control to strategically pick and deliver only the ripest cherry to the factory. Additional sorting is also done at the factory before the coffee is de-pulped, fermented and washed. After the coffee is washed, it is soaked in fresh water for long periods of time which is believed to contribute to that distinct cup profile Kenyan coffees are famed for.

With the traditional Kenyan auction system, it is not always possible to source the same coffees every year, especially in the light of this year's global climate and ever changing situation. Fortunately, our importing partner Falcon Speciality has pre-selected and purchased some wonderful lots directly from the auction with lots of attention paid as ever to the fairness, transparency and efficiency of these transactions. This allowed us to make our selection from a number of delicious coffees and this one truly stood out for its juicy mouthfeel, crisp notes of redcurrant and lychee and an intense boiled sweets kind of sweetness with a super-long mouthwatering finish.

Muthuaini

Producer: Various small producers
Region: Cajamarca

Las Terrazas is farm owned by Renardo Ovalle Vides. It is situated in the middle of a limestone valley in la Libertad, Huehuetenango. The valley creates a stable microclimate, protecting the farm from extreme weather conditions. This, along with the chalky soils contributes to the dense, syrupy body, and pronounced malic acidity in the cup. Coffee grows at up to 2100 masl here, giving the cup a very refined acidity and floral characteristics. 
Large parts of the farm are protected areas of wild forest, much of which is used to prevent soil erosion and reduce the plants exposure to winds. This is based on a permaculture model, with the intention of sustainability and respect for the environment, to try and recreate coffee’s natural habitat in high altitude forests.

This coffee was fermented in tiled tanks for 18 hours before being washed and graded in channels. After grading the coffee was soaked in tanks for 12 hours, before being dried in a parabolic dryer to desired moistures content ready for export. This lot has been subsequently decaffeinated by the sparkling water process.

About the Sparkling Water De-Caffeination Process:

The green coffee beans get softened up in a jacuzzi of spring water before the jets of liquid carbon dioxide are turned on: this loosens up the tension, before massaging out the caffeine molecules that are now free to roam. The carbon dioxide acts as a magnet for caffeine, drawing it out of the coffee and into the high-pressure flume of water. The water is then sent back around a hot loop that robs it of it’s energy, ready to take on the ride again. The beans are flushed repeatedly with the sparkling water until decaffeinated, leaving the sugars and proteins of the coffee intact. After being gently dried to it’s original moisture content, the beans are ready for roasting; free of caffeine, but full of flavour.

An entirely organic process with completely natural and recyclable by-products makes this a great way to decaffeinate coffee without compromising on quality.

Las Terazzas

Community Espresso

Victor Mejia Heredia

Gatare 667

Victor Mejia Heredia, Peru, Filter

Elvis Tineo Rafael

Gatare 667, Filter, Natural

Gitesi By Gahizi

Huabal

Nilson Silva Diaz

Montebonito

Las Pirias

Herminio Romero Ramirez

Eli Espinoza Soberon

San Lorenzo

Producer: Herminio Romero Ramirez
Region: San Ignacio, Peru
Altitude: 1800 masl
Varietal: Caturra, Mundo Novo
Process: Selectively picked, Fully washed

Herminio Romero Ramirez, Filter

Producer: Sotero Cano & family
Farm: Los Nisperos
Region: San Antonio Huista, Huehuetenango, Guatemala
Varietal: Catuai, Caturra & Bourbon
Process: Washed & dried on patios
Importer: Primavera
Cup profile: Creamy, milk chocolate fudge & apricot

For best results we would always recommend purchasing whole bean and grinding fresh before brewing. If you don't have a grinder, we can grind according to your preferred brewing method just before shipping.

Los Nisperos is a small family farm owned by Sotero Sano and his family, based in the highlands of Huehuetenango. The farm lies at the high altitude of around 1700 masl near the town of San Antonio Huista. Sotero has owned his land for decades, but he didn’t always farm coffee there. It was around 30 years ago that the family heard that coffee was a profitable crop and they started growing seedlings little by little. 

Sotero lives at the farm with his sons Jogli, Edin and Bayron, and the family works the land together. Apart from Nisperos they now also have a few other small parcels of land nearby dedicated to coffee farming. The farm is named after the Nispero fruit tree which is native to the area. There are many of them on the farm used as shade trees forming a lush canopy to protect the coffee trees from the elements and allow slow maturation.

This lot has been processed by the traditional washed method where cherries are de-pulped after picking and left to ferment in a small fermentation tank where mucilage breaks down.Once finished fermenting, the coffee is soaked in fresh water for 24h to stabilize moisture content before being dried on lined patios near the farm house. 

Similarly to many other small producers in the area, Sotero's farming methods are organic by nature even though the farm doesn't have an official certification. As Sotero explains, the pulp left from processing is used as mulch and fertilizer around coffee trees, and banana leaves provide a source of potassium for the soil. 

As our importing partner Primavera coffee shares, Sotero says that over the years he has learned a lot, and he feels confident about the future of coffee for those who are willing to continue learning and innovating. This is the message that he would like to share with his neighbours and the younger generations. 

We are very fortunate to have been able to purchase coffee from this farm for the past five years and are very excited to bring you this delicious lot again this season. We love this coffee for its decadent creamy body, fudgey caramel sweetness and just a subtle note of apricot fruit. It is extremely drinkable and makes some of the most delicious flat whites. We hope you enjoy it as much as we do.

Los Nisperos by Sotero Cano

For best results we would always recommend purchasing whole bean and grinding fresh before brewing. If you don't have a grinder, we can grind according to your preferred brewing method just before shipping.

This coffee is great for espresso machines and stovetops as well as a fuller bodied aeropress or cafetière brews. Great on its own and also awesome in a small flat white or cortado.

Producer: Small-holder farmers from the Bookkisa hamlet
Processed at: Wosasa drying station
Region: Guji, Oromia, Ethiopia
Varietal: Serto & Gibirina (Improved landrace varietals)
Importer: Falcon Speciality
Cup profile: Syrupy & floral, lavender, pineapple, strawberry, Turkish delight

This coffee takes its name after the Bookkisa “sub kebele”, meaning a “hamlet” or a neighbourhood. This is where the small producers who have grown this coffee are located. The Bookkisa hamlet lies within the Suke Quto area of the famous Guji Zone in Southern Oromia region of Ethiopia. Coffee here is typically grown under a canopy of natural forest, also known as semi-forest coffee. Along with the growing conditions and improved landrace varieties, the fertile red clay and loam soils contribute to the unique cup profiles of coffees from this region. 

As is typical for coffee production in Ethiopia, during harvest smallholder farmers sell cherry to a local washing/drying station of their choice where the cherry is sorted, processed and dried. The Bookkissa lot has been assembled from the cherry of 38 local producers, each with an average farm size of around 2.5 hectares. The cherry for this lot was sold and dried at the Wosasa drying station, operated by Ture Waji – also known as “the Kind of Guji”, a local entrepreneur and owner of the Sookoo exporting company with strong connections to the local land and its community. As well as operating drying stations Ture spends time between harvests training growers in agronomy and post-harvest practices in order to deliver quality and receive good prices. The washing station is property of a group of smallholders farmer but they also purchase cherries from out-growers in their vicinities. The drying station is extremely well organised and each day lot of cherry is tracked and kept separately on the drying beds. The lots are tagged with start date of drying and moisture readings for each day which allows to ensure slow and even drying process, resulting in great consistency and longevity of the green coffee. 

Bookkisa is jumping out off the cupping table with its bold floral and fruit driven character, packed with lavender, strawberries and tropical fruits. This is one delicious and fun brew, perfect for the warm summer months!

Bookkisa

Producer: Dora & Mario Duque
Farm: Guadua los Dos
Region: Montebonito, Caldas, Colombia
Varietal: Caturra
Process: Washed & dried in “eldas'“
Importer: Falcon Speciality

Monte Bonito is a small town in the Caldas region in Colombia. You may also recognise it as the name of a coffee that we feature as our house espresso for a part of the year. That lot is produced by a group of small coffee growers in the area, most of whom have a small plot of land, usually between 1 – 3 hectares, planted with coffee. Once harvested and processed, their coffee is sold in parchment to the local Manizales Cooperative, and typically it is exported as a delicious regional lot – Monte Bonito. Some producers deliver exceptional lots that are selected for their stand out character, valued at a higher price and exported as micro-lots. We are very lucky to have got our hands on this delicious one produced by Mario and Dora Duque.

Mario Duque and his wife Dora  bought their farm - Finca Guadua les Dos - 10 years ago, after Mario's father had died. The farm is a total size of 3 hectares and it is situated just outside of the main town of Monte Bonito. They have both the varieties Castillo Naranjal and Caturra (about 1300 trees) and they separate the varieties during harvest. They have around 6500 trees in production and are currently renewing 1500 trees. On the farm there are also orange and Guanabana trees providing shade for the coffee.

During the main harvest, the coffee is picked by hand with the help of around 4 – 5 workers and processed at a small wet mill, currently located in the centre of their house.  Once the coffee is de-pulped, it is fermented in tiled tanks for approximately 12-16 hours before being dried in an 'elda' - a drying patio on the roof of their house, for 8 - 15 days depending on the weather. When the coffee has dried and rested it is delivered to the Manizales Cooperative collection point in the town for grading and sale.

We were very excited by the opportunity to cup this lot when it became available from our friends at Falcon Speciality, as we have loved our Monte Bonito espresso and were convinced there was potential for great microlot selections in the region. This is an exceptional cup with a jammy body, loads of clean demerara sugar sweetness and elegant dark fruit notes of blackberry and cherry.

Dora & Mario Duque

Producer: Joao Hamilton
Region: Caconde, Brazil
Varietal: Obata
Process: Natural, selectively picked, dried on raised beds
Exporter: Fazenda Ambiental Fortaleza

Joao Hamilton's 10 hectare farm land is located in the Caconde region, on the border of Sao Paolo and Minas Gerais states. The land is divided into two farms – Sitio Canaa and Sitio Novo Canaa lying in altitudes between 1200 – 1350 masl. Joao and his family produce a number of varieties including Catuai, Mundo Novo, Bourdon, Sumatra & Obata. All coffee is now harvested when fully ripe, hand-picked and sorted prior to processing with a variety of methods. This particular lot consists of the unusual hybrid varietal – Obata, grown at Sitio Canaa, hand-sorted and dried on raised beds. 

In 2006 Joao and his brother Ivan started working in collaboration with FAF with the goal to improve the quality of coffee they produce whilst changing their agricultural practices and improving the environment around them. And they have come a long way since.

Joao Hamilton

El Rubi farm is located in Acevedo region of Huila in Colombia where Heiner has been farming coffee for many years. He and his wife Johanna bought El Rubi farm 25 years ago. The name was given to the farm by the previous owner who had initially named if after the ruby jewel as it was a present for his wife. Johanna and Heiner now see it as their precious ruby.

For many years El Rubi was planted with traditional Colombian varieties - Castillo, Caturra & Colombia but in recent years Johanna and Heiner started experimenting with new, more unusual varieties. Among these are 7,500 trees of Pink Bourbon which they started to plant 3 and a half years ago. We feel very lucky to have been able to purchase and share with you the fruits of their recent harvest of these Pink Bourbon trees.

The Pink Bourbon is a rare variety which was cultivated by crossing Red and Yellow Bourbon resulting in coffee cherries that pink in colour and very high in sweetness. The variety is prized for its exceptional cup quality as well as good productivity and resistance to leaf rust disease. It can be challenging to cultivate it with consistency as it is genetically volatile and can regress back to its parent varietals but it can be done on a carefully contained plot.

Heiner and Johanna take great care to tend for these trees and selectively pick cherries at their optimum point of ripeness, highlighting the natural sweetness and delicately complex flavour profile of this coffee. Once picked the cherries are de-pulped and dry fermented over night. After this, the coffee is sun dried in parchment over 7-10 days.

This coffee is juicy yet intensely sweet, like maple syrup. We love its delicately floral and fruity character reminding us of crisp pink lady apples and peaches.

El Rubi Pink Bourbon

This coffee takes its name after the Bookkisa “sub kebele”, meaning a “hamlet” or a neighbourhood. This is where the small producers who have grown this coffee are located. The Bookkisa hamlet lies within the Suke Quto area of the famous Guji Zone in Southern Oromia region of Ethiopia. Coffee here is typically grown under a canopy of natural forest, also known as semi-forest coffee. Along with the growing conditions and improved landrace varieties, the fertile red clay and loam soils contribute to the unique cup profiles of coffees from this region. 

As is typical for coffee production in Ethiopia, during harvest smallholder farmers sell cherry to a local washing/drying station of their choice where the cherry is sorted, processed and dried. The Bookkissa lot has been assembled from the cherry of 38 local producers, each with an average farm size of around 2.5 hectares. The cherry for this lot was sold and dried at the Wosasa drying station, operated by Ture Waji – also known as “the Kind of Guji”, a local entrepreneur and owner of the Sookoo exporting company with strong connections to the local land and its community. As well as operating drying stations Ture spends time between harvests training growers in agronomy and post-harvest practices in order to deliver quality and receive good prices. The washing station is property of a group of smallholders farmer but they also purchase cherries from out-growers in their vicinities. The drying station is extremely well organised and each day lot of cherry is tracked and kept separately on the drying beds. The lots are tagged with start date of drying and moisture readings for each day which allows to ensure slow and even drying process, resulting in great consistency and longevity of the green coffee. 

Bookkisa is jumping out off the cupping table with its bold floral and fruit driven character, packed with lavender, strawberries and tropical fruits. This is one delicious and fun brew, perfect for the warm summer months!

Bookkisa, Natural, Ethiopia

La Galera is a coffee farm owned and managed by a young producer, Mynor Cano. It is located in Guatemala’s famous coffee growing region – Huehuetenango, also known as Huehue, where the majority of our Guatemalan offerring comes from. The region is situated in the Western highlands of the country and sharing a border with Mexico. It is the only non-volcanic growing region in Guatemala, but its high altitudes and cool climate contribute to distinctly winey and well structured coffees.

Coffee production in Huehue is dominated by small producers whose farms are often based in very remote areas. The remote location requires that the majority of producers process and dry their own coffees. Their farm set up usually includes a small wet mill equipped with de-pulper and fermentation tank for washed processing, and concrete patios to dry the coffee in parchment. Being in charge of their own harvest and processing allows quality focused producers to be in control of the procedures and harness the best of their coffee’s potential.

As our importing partner Primavera Coffee shares, for Mynor, harvest is key to coffee quality, and workers focus on picking cherries with a dark red colour. All unripe, shrivelled, and defective cherries are carefully sorted out. After being de-pulped, the coffee is fermented for approximately 30 hours before being dried on a patio for around 5-6 days. The result is a crisp and clean coffee, with outstanding sweetness and vibrancy.

Mynor learned about growing coffee from his parents and wants to honour their legacy by continuing to grow coffee in a way that respects the community and the earth. Mynor’s passion for growing quality coffee is clear, as is his commitment to a sustainable product. In Mynor’s words: “My father taught us to work with love for the plants we sow and with a strong social and environmental conscience. Producing high quality coffee gives a better life to our family, as well as to the people who harvest and help process the final product.”

This is the second year we have purchased Mynor’s coffee and the improvement in quality of this lot is remarkable. For this the price premium paid for this coffee is also considerably higher from previous season and we will be roasting this microlot solely for filter brewing. Expect a creamy coating body, sticky butterscotch-like sweetness and juicy notes of very ripe grapes.

La Galera by Mynor Cano

For best results we would always recommend purchasing whole bean and grinding fresh before brewing. If you don't have a grinder, we can grind according to your preferred brewing method just before shipping.

This coffee will suit most brewing methods from espresso and stove-top to aero press and cafetieres. Expect full body and syrupy mouthfeel. Will work well with various amounts of milk too.

Also known as E.A.  - “ethyl acetate” decaffeination is a natural process that not only maintains great integrity of green-coffee flavour, but also allows us to offer a decaffeinated coffee that best supports a vertical supply chain. This is due to the fact that the growing, processing, and even the full decaffeination process all happens at the source in Colombia, meaning all value added by these processes stays within the country of origin and its communities.

How does it work:
The washed and dried green coffee is received at the decaffeination plant and it is steamed for approx. 30 minutes.  A low-pressure steaming process opens the pores of the coffee, allowing for caffeine extraction.

Coffee is placed in a solution of water and Ethyl Acetate (E.A.), a naturally occuring compound and solvent derived through the fermentation of sugarcane. While submerged in the solvent, E.A. naturally bonds to the salts of chlorogenic acids within the coffee, allowing for the extraction of caffeine.

Once the solvent is saturated, the tank is drained and fresh solution is introduced. This continues for about 8 hours.

After the last of the caffeine has been extracted, the coffee is removed from the solution and prepped for another steaming. The final low-pressure steaming removes the remaining traces of E.A.

Decaffeinated coffee is then dried, physically polished to ensure cleanliness, and packaged for export.

Huila, Colombia, Decaf

Named after the village where many of this coffee's growers are based, Bombe is also the name of the washing station these smallholder farmers sell their coffee to. There it is carefully processed, according to a particular protocol.

The Bombe washing station is one of several owned by Daye Bensa Coffee, a company founded and run by two brothers with a coffee farming background, Asefa and Mulugeta Dukamo. The company operates their own coffee farm near the town of Daye in the Bensa district, as well as working with out-growers in the nearby Bombe, Shantawene and Keramo villages. The farms are based in a naturally forested area with fertile soils and various shade trees. The farm along with out-growers is organic and Rain Forest Alliance certified.

Since the 2017/2018 harvest, smallholders deliver their best cherries to the Bombe washing station where these are separated into specific fermentation tanks and drying locations. The layout and good management of Bombe washing station allows for special processing techniques to be used to produce exceptional coffees. The wet mill is well-organized and run by a team including female agronomist Atkilt Dejene, an important member who has also worked with the award-winning Gesha Village project.

The “dry-fermented” process used for this lot was inspired by a method seen during a visit to a Guatemalan coffee farm and developed by Kenean, son of Asefa. It is a variation on the traditional washed process that doesn't add water during the fermentation stage. After delivery, the cherries are sorted and de-pulped before being transferred into climate controlled fermentation tanks with a warm, relatively dry environment where the beans rest and ferment whilst mucilage breaks down. This particular fermentation process not only aids the development of a complex and pleasant flavour profile but also considerably reduces water usage, making the process kinder for the environment and safeguarding clean water resources. Once fermented the coffee is slowly dried on raised beds before being assessed and prepared for export at the company's own dry mill.

We have selected this lot not only for its unusual processing method but above all for its delicious flavour profile that is characteristic of fine washed Ethiopian coffees. Expect an elegantly silky and floral cup full of honeyed sweetness & peaches.

Bombe Dry fermentation, Ethiopia

This coffee takes its name from the Gakuyu-ini washing station – known as a Factory in Kenya – where it is processed, located on the slopes of Mount Kenya in Kirinyaga, around 1.5hr from Nairobi.

A global leader in coffee quality, Kenya mostly produces washed coffees noted for complex, vibrant and juicy flavour profiles. More than 700,000 coffee farmers (smallholders) represent about 55% of the productio); we source smallholder-grown coffees from Kenya through our partner Falcon Speciality. Farmers tend to have 1-2 hectares of land and also grow various cash crops alongside their coffee trees. They are usually members of Farmer Cooperative Societies (FCS) that act as umbrella organisations for Factories, where farmers deliver their coffee cherries for processing.

Gakuyu-ini Factory is run by the Thirikwa Cooperative which has around 1600 members with around half-and-half male and female growers . The growers are surrounded by many Factories but the Thirikwa Coop is known to be amongst the best paying societies - quality is rewarded with good prices. This attracts growers and the premiums paid encourage good harvesting practices and cherry selection.

The growers around Gakuyu-ini benefit from high altitudes and fertile volcanic soils. Varieties grown are mostly SL28, SL34, Ruiru 11 & Batian. SL28 shoots are sometimes grafted onto Ruiru rootstock, combining the hardy and resistant Ruiru 11 with the fine cup of SL28.

Between October and January, farmers harvest and deliver cherry daily to the factory. Coffee is de-pulped and separated in channels by density, then fermented in tanks for around 24 hours until the mucilage breaks down and is washed off. As is typical for Kenya, the coffee is subsequently soaked in clean water before drying on raised beds over 11-14 days. After a period of rest in parchment, the coffee is delivered to a dry mill to be screened and graded by size, with three main categories being AA (largest), AB (slightly smaller) and PB (peaberry). 

The particular growing conditions, meticulous organisation and processing at Gakuyu-ini produces some truly exceptional cup profiles. This lot stood out for its complex acidity and pronounced notes of blackcurrants that Kenya is famed for. Expect a seriously juicy cup, a truly stunning coffee.

Curve Coffee Roasters

4.8

Curve Coffee Roasters

🇬🇧 United Kingdom

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