Honduras is the 7th largest coffee producing country in the world with more than 100000 people relying on coffee production for their primary income. Until recently, most of the coffee produced in Honduras was aimed at the commercial market, making its way into various lower grade blends or dark roasts. There has always been a strong focus on Organic farming, and it's great to see incredible small high cup score micro-lots appears from individual producers.

We've selected an amazing carbonic maceration natural from a small 2 hectare farm in the Copan region, north-west Honduras

Farm Overview

The farm is owned by Yolanda Arita and she manages the farm with the help of her husband and three sons who are studying agronomy. 

The farm is very small at just 2 hectares in size (a bit smaller than 4 football fields) and is a mix of coffee and native forest and shade trees. Synergy with the environment is one of their core beliefs and the farm is organic certified. 

Harvesting and Processing:

Coffee is hand-harvested and delivered to the local Aruco mill for processing. Farmers in this area often choose to use a specialist processing facility as they have the equipment and expertise to help them to produce high cup score micro-lots. The mill is located at 800masl where the weather is more stable making it a better altitude for drying coffee. 

After delivery to the mill the coffee went through the following process:
1. Cherry is washed and floated in water to remove defects
2. The coffee is placed inside sealed containers to create a zero oxygen environment.
3. The container is kept at a stable temperature of 22-25c and left to rest for 72 hrs.
4. Coffee is removed and transferred to raised drying tables.
5. Drying takes about 25 days and the coffee is turned every hour drying the day to ensure even drying.

The process of storing coffee cherry in containers before drying is referred to as carbonic maceration. This is a technique that has been learned from the wine industry and causes some very interesting fermentation before the drying stage. 

Tasting Notes:
This is a stunning example of the added complexity that can be added through unusual post-harvest processing methods and we've never had a coffee quite like this! If you love bright, juicy acidity then this coffee is definitely not to be missed. Many natural processed coffees have noticeable fruit notes and fermentation but often with a muted acidity. This is most definitely not the case with this coffee and the structure of acidity is more similar to a washed Kenya or Colombian coffee!

This is a high scoring coffee that has been graded by multiple Q graders scoring 89 points. This is a lovely complex coffee with notes of passion fruit, mango, sparkling soda like acidity and many more tropical fruit notes. 

Honduras - Yolanda Arita

Horsham coffee roaster specialises in premium, traceable, ethically sourced, freshly roasted coffee.

Horsham Coffee Roaster is based in West Sussex and specialises in the sale of freshly roasted, ethically traded coffee. We roast all our beans to order using a traditional cast iron drum roaster. We only sell coffee that has been ethically source and fairly traded. In many cases also organic, Rainforest Alliance or UTZ certified. Many of our coffees are traded with producers through direct relationships.

Horsham Coffee Roaster

Varietal –  Red Catuai
Location – San Marcos, Tarrazu
Importer - Horsham Coffee Roaster

This is a bespoke micro-lot that we helped to process and is based on a method of producing washed coffee that we've found to be common in Rwanda and Kenya but seldom found in central and south America. 

We are super excited to be sourcing our Costa Rican Tarrazu coffees directly. We source our Costa Rican coffees directly in partnership with Selva Coffee, a small exporter representing a select group of coffee producers that we visited in February 2020.

These producers are located in the West Valley, Central Valley, and Tarrazu region of Costa Rica. This is now the second year that we have bought coffee from La Karola. You can read more about our direct trade coffees in our Transparency Report. 

Farm Overview
This stunning washed coffee comes from the La Pastora farm owned by the Montero family. Carlos Montero has been producing fantastic coffees from his own farms for many years and was one of the pioneers of the small independent micro mill. Carlos bought his first farm after saving up working in restaurants in the USA. He first worked as a member of a local co-operative selling coffee cherry to be processed as part of a regional blend. Ten years ago he set up his own mill that now produces fantastic natural, honey, and washed coffees under the family name. Carlos has three children, Marianela, Jacob and Maria Jose. Marianela is the co-founder of Selva coffee and Jacob is in charge of post-harvest processing. 

Harvesting and Processing:
Coffee was hand-harvested from trees at high altitude on the La Pastora farm located at 1900-2000masl. This is one of the highest farms in Costa Rica and benefits from fantastic soil and a stable climate. After harvesting the coffee was transported in the evening to the Don Eli micromill and left to rest overnight for processing the following day. 

I was fortunate to have been able to help with the processing of this coffee and Jacob was happy to try out a method that involved a fair amount of extra work! This the processed used to produce this wonderful microlot:
1. Coffee was pulped using a Penagos eco-pulped set to remove just the outer skin of the coffee cherry.
2. Coffee was covered and left to ferment dry for 24 hrs.
3. The coffee was washed several times with fresh cold water to remove all remaining fruit.
4. After washing the coffee was left to soak in fresh cold water for 12 hrs overnight.
5. Coffee was then moved to raised drying tables and dried in shade for 5 days.
6. After initial shade drying the coffee was moved to sun drying on raised African beds.

This multi stage process is a fairly common method used in countries like Kenya and Rwanda but not typically found in Costa Rica. It's certainly much more labour intensive we has resulted in a wonderfully complex washed coffee that tastes very different to most washed coffees from Costa Rica.

Tasting Notes:
This is a great example of an extended ferment coffee that shows more complexity than most Costa Rican washed coffees. Post harvest fermentation can make a significant positive contribution to the final flavours found within the coffee. In Costa Rica producers tend to focus on honey and natural processed coffees. Washed coffees are often produced using low water methods with no or little post harvest fermentation. The Don Eli micromill benefits from the supply of fresh spring water and they are able to process washed coffees using methods more often found in Africa. This bespoke microlot tastes quite different with wonderful notes of crisp apple, dried fruits including date and prune and a milk chocolate body. We also get a fantastic caramel like sweetness. 

La Pastora

Varietal –  SL28Location – Serenje, Zambia
Importer - InterAmerican Coffee

We are very excited to bring you our first ever Zambian coffee! Zambia is not a well know coffee producing country and has only been commercially exporting since the mid 1980s. Production volumes are much lower than than the well know African coffee-producing countries. As a comparison, Kenya produces around 50000 tons per year while Zambia produces just 2500 tons per year. 

Farm Overview
Kachipapa farm covers a total area of 350 hectares and is family-owned. The farm altitude is around 1450 masl. The total coffee-producing section of the farm covers 60 hectares with 40 hectares of mature coffee-producing trees and 20 hectares of young trees expected to produce coffee in around 2 years time. 

All the coffee is under irrigation, meaning sufficient water throughout the dry periods.
The climate in Serenje Zambia will normally have one wet season (November – April) and one dry season (May – October) with the hottest months being September to November. The average rainfall is around 1,200mm per annum. The farm not only produces coffee but has also intercropped with macadamia’s, the trees are actively mulched by means of using the natural grass and anything that is pruned off the trees. This mulch helps retain moisture in the soil by slowing down evaporation, essential during the hot summer months.

At Kachipapa Farm one of the main responsibilities is to improve the quality of life for the staff and the local community. There have been 25 new houses built for the permanent farm employees with recently installed new clean water piping systems providing the community with clean water. They are also able to fund the local school for teacher employment as well as provide medical assistance and malaria prevention to the local communities.

Harvesting and Processing:
Coffee is hand-harvested separating the different varietals. They grow SL28, Catimor and Costa Rica and we've selected the SL28 varietal. After harvesting coffee is pulped, fermented, washed and graded and dried on raised African beds. 

Tasting Notes:
This is a great coffee with a bright acidity but wonderful balance. There are elements of flavour that remind us of coffees produced in Rwanda but with more blackcurrant like fruit notes typically found in the SL28 varietal grown in Kenya. You can expect juicy fruit flavours that include blackcurrant, orange and a wonderful sweet caramel finish.

Zambia - Kachipapa Farm

Varietal –  Red and Yellow Catuai
Location – San Pedro, Tarrazu
Importer - Horsham Coffee Roaster

We are super excited to be sourcing our Costa Rican Tarrazu coffees directly. We source our Costa Rican coffees directly in partnership with Selva Coffee, a small exporter representing a select group of coffee producers that we visited in February 2020. These producers are location in the West Valley, Central Valley and Tarrazu region of Costa Rica. This is now the second year that we have bought coffee from La Karola. You can read more about our direct trade coffees in our Transparency Report. 

Farm Overview

This stunning natural comes from a small 1 hectare plot of land planted with red and yellow Catuai trees. The farm is owned by the Mora family and covers an area of 4 hectares in total split into different farm sections. The farm has been owned by the family since 1960 and is now managed to Steven Mora. It's a family operation and his parents and sisters are also involved in the production of their coffee. 

The 4 hectare farm is planted mainly with the Catuai varietal although they are experimenting with some other varietals in small amounts. They are very focused on working in harmony with nature and don't use any pesticides or herbicides on the farm. When we visited in February we were so impressed by the amount of wildlife in and around their farm and spotted many bird nests in the coffee trees which is always a great sign!

Harvesting and Processing:

We've selected a small microlot harvest from a 1 hectare section of the farm know as 'La Karola'. They believe that this section of the farm produces the best quality cherry with high sugar content due to the unique microclimate on this particular side of the La Cruz mountains. Although they are not organic certified no chemicals or pesticides are used on the farm.

This is the year they have produced their own microlot coffee on their farm. Previously they would delivery their cherry for processing at a local mill but the family decided that they would like to keep their coffees seperate for full traceability 

The coffee was harvested by hand and floated using a water based system that removes defects.

Cherry was then laid out to dry on raised beds under a solar dryer, a type of open sided greenhouse. This protects the coffee from harsh direct sunlight and keeps it dry just in case of rain. The drying process took 25 days and during daytime hours the coffee was turned every 45 minutes and any noticeable defects were removed by hand. Once dried the coffee was packed into large platics bags and stored for 1 month before the fruit was removed.

Tasting Notes:
This is a great example of a clean, juicy, sweet natural processed coffee from Costa Rica. The drying has been done to minimize intesnse fermentation resulting is a very clean tasting natural. You can expect a lovely caramel like sweetness with notes of dried fruits that include fig, raisin and red grape.

La Karola

Varietal – Marsallesa
Location – Naranjo, West Valley

This is a truly unique and distinctive coffee produced specifically for us by our friends at San Juanillo and the Patalillo micro mill. The carbonic maceration process involves fermenting coffee in large containers with a one way valve. This enhances the fermentation process and helps to create some incredible flavours. 
 
Costa Rica is one of our favourite coffee producing countries, and we love being able to trade directly with producers via the help of Selva Coffee. Selva is a small export business based in Tarrazu with their own cupping lab and direct connections to some of the best coffee producers in the country. Costa Rica is a beautiful country know for its focus on environment and sustainability, and this is very evident in the coffee industry. Coffee from Costa Rica can showcase many different processing styles and flavour profiles from wild, juicy natural process coffees to soft, delicate honey processed coffees. Some small producers and co-operatives also produce washed coffees, and experimental processes like anaerobic fermentation have also become very popular. 

We first bought coffee from San Juanillo farm in 2019 and managed to fit in a visit in February 2020 just before Covid-19 put a halt to all international air travel. 

Farm Overview:

Tomas Gutierrez and Allan Vargas bought the farm in 2007 intending to regenerate the landscape, soil and to plant new and exciting varietals. The farm was originally planted with Caturra and Catuai trees. Tomas and Allan were keen to try out new varietals that showed better resistance to disease and those that show interesting cup character. They now grow a range of varietals including Marsellesa, H1 Centroamericano, Caturra, Catuaí and a small amount of Geisha. In 2018 they purchased their neighbours' farm increasing their total farm size to 12 hectares, and they are Rainforest Alliance certified. In 2015 they placed 19th in the Cup of Excellence competition with a coffee from their H1 hybrid varietal.

Harvesting and Processing:

This coffee was hand-harvested from the Marsallesa varietal trees on the farm. Tomas and Allan employ a team of highly skilled pickers who are paid a premium for selecting only the ripest cherry. Many of these pickers travel to work in Costa Rica from Panama and Nicaragua. They are highly valued for their hard work and dedication during the harvest. 

After harvesting the coffee is transported to the Patalillo micro mill. The coffee cherry is floated in a fermentation tank to remove any defective cherry and then placed into sealed drums with a one-way pressure release valve and fermented for 48 hrs. The coffee was then moved to raised drying tables inside a polytunnel to dry as a natural processed coffee. 

Tasting Notes: 

Post-harvest coffee processing can contribute some incredible and unusual flavours. This is an example of a coffee that tastes so incredibly different due to the carbonic maceration process. The results are truly stunning! This is a natural processed coffee with vibrant acidity and incredible sweetness. It's like super-ripe pineapple, tropical fruits, juicy fruit syrup and a hint of red grape.

San Juanillo

Varietal –  Geisha
Location – Boquete, Panama
Importer - Mercanta

The Geisha varietal grown in Panama has become incredibly sought after over the last 10 years. Panama produces some incredible coffees but generally at a fairly low volume output with total production at less than 0.5% of the global coffee market. Rather than focusing on volume coffee producers in Panama have concentrated on varietal separation combined with advance and very focused processing methods. We are incredibly excited to have been able to find a pair of outstanding Geish varietal coffees from the Kotowa farms in the famous Boquete region.

Farm Overview:

The Kotowa farms (which include Finca Don K – where this particular Geisha coffee was grown) were named by Alexander Duncan MacIntyre, a Canadian who settled in the Boquete region in 1918. Inspired by the high, cool climate of the area, he used the name ‘Kotawa,’ meaning "mountain" in the local Ngobe language to designate the land that currently composes the Kotowa estate.

While in Canada, Alexander had read a newspaper article about a mountainous region called Boquete, an unexplored region in Panama located on the slopes of a mysterious volcano. The stories captured his imagination and led him to visit the region, where he fell in love with the magic of the valley and its people. Four generations on, and Alexander's family are still cultivating and processing coffee in the same traditional way. On the volcanic slopes of the farm, you can see the distant Pacific Ocean on one side and the near-by rugged mountains of the continental divide on the other. This area is naturally blessed with a climate where the perfect combination of rain, wind, sunshine, clouds and temperature.

Finca Don K is located at 1700 meters above sea level and is right in the middle of Panama - only 40 km from both the Pacific and the Atlantic oceans. As well as benefiting from the rains from both oceans, the land receives a cool dry breeze from the Atlantic and the moisture from the Pacific. Furthermore, Finca Don K. is situated on the rich, nutritious slopes of the Baru Volcano. Temperatures range from 12°C at night to 25°C during the day. This variation in temperature triggers the formation of sugars in the coffee cherry, and the volcanic minerals make for the development of full and complex fruit flavours.

The farm endeavours to protect the forests surrounding the plantation, ensuring that there are no fires in the dry season and that there is no hunting or degradation of the environment. The area is the natural habitat of many birds, both local and migratory. To ensure that this rich biological diversity continues to thrive, Kotowa has planted more than 500 indigenous trees that produce fruits and nuts on which the birds feed. Because of its geographic location and small size, Panama has more bird species than all of North America and Europe together. For the people that work on the farm, there is the provision of free medical attention and, for the children of workers, a nursery providing both meals and a school program. These social programs have earned Kotowa Farm recognition from UNICEF nine years in a row.

Harvesting and Processing:

Once the coffee has been picked, sorted, washed and pulped, the coffee is added to the fermentation tanks. Here, the processing team add yeast to stimulate the fermentation process. Once the fermentation is complete, the coffee is washed and sorted again, before being moved to the drying area. The coffee is dried using a 3 stage process:

Firstly, the parchment coffee is left for 2 days to rest covered under jute bags.
The coffee is moved to an area shaded by trees, to dry for another 3 days.
Finally, the coffee is moved into the direct sun to be dried for a further 15 days.

Once the cherries are dried sufficiently, they are then milled. The coffee is then carefully separated and selected by size, weight and colour. 

This is a stunning high cup score coffee (think 88 -90 points!) with wonderfully complex clean flavours and very different to the natural process version. We get notes of juicy raspberry, strawberry and intense floral aromas.

Panama - Kotowa farms

Varietal –  Geisha
Location – Boquete, Panama
Importer - Mercanta

The Geisha varietal grown in Panama has become incredible sought after over the last 10 years. Panama produces some incredible coffees but generally at a fairly low volume output with total production at less than 0.5% of the global coffee market. Rather than focusing on volume coffee producers in Panama have concentrated on varietal separation combined with advance and very focused processing methods. We are incredibly excited to have been able to find a pair of outstanding Geish varietal coffees from the Kotowa farms in the famous Boquete region.

Farm Overview:

The Kotowa farms (which include Finca Don K – where this particular Geisha coffee was grown) were named by Alexander Duncan MacIntyre, a Canadian who settled in the Boquete region in 1918. Inspired by the high, cool climate of the area, he used the name ‘Kotawa,’ meaning "mountain" in the local Ngobe language to designate the land that currently composes the Kotowa estate.

While in Canada, Alexander had read a newspaper article about a mountainous region called Boquete, an unexplored region in Panama located on the slopes of a mysterious volcano. The stories captured his imagination and led him to visit the region, where he fell in love with the magic of the valley and its people. Four generations on, and Alexander's family are still cultivating and processing coffee in the same traditional way. On the volcanic slopes of the farm, you can see the distant Pacific Ocean on one side and the near-by rugged mountains of the continental divide on the other. This area is naturally blessed with a climate where the perfect combination of rain, wind, sunshine, clouds and temperature.

Finca Don K is located at 1700 meters above sea level and is right in the middle of Panama - only 40 km from both the Pacific and the Atlantic oceans. As well as benefiting from the rains from both oceans, the land receives a cool dry breeze from the Atlantic and the moisture from the Pacific. Furthermore, Finca Don K. is situated on the rich, nutritious slopes of the Baru Volcano. Temperatures range from 12°C at night to 25°C during the day. This variation in temperature triggers the formation of sugars in the coffee cherry, and the volcanic minerals make for the development of full and complex fruit flavours.

The farm endeavours to protect the forests surrounding the plantation, ensuring that there are no fires in the dry season and that there is no hunting or degradation of the environment. The area is the natural habitat of many birds, both local and migratory. To ensure that this rich biological diversity continues to thrive, Kotowa has planted more than 500 indigenous trees that produce fruits and nuts on which the birds feed. Because of its geographic location and small size, Panama has more bird species than all of North America and Europe together. For the people that work on the farm, there is the provision of free medical attention and, for the children of workers, a nursery providing both meals and a school program. These social programs have earned Kotowa Farm recognition from UNICEF nine years in a row.

Harvesting and Processing:

The coffee cherry is hand-harvested with careful focus on selecting on perfectly ripe cherry. This is then delivered to the mill location where the coffee is laid out to dry on raised tables and turned regularly to ensure even drying. The total drying stage takes about 14 days. Once complete the coffee is rested in climate-controlled silos at a cool temperature of 15 degrees C and a humidity of 65%. At the farm, extensive testing has been done and they have found that this stable resting stage helps to develop complex and balanced flavours.

This is a stunning high cup score coffee (think 88 -90 points!) with wonderfully complex clean flavours. We get notes of juicy tropical fruits that include melon, mango and incredible sweetness. 

Panama - Kotowa farms natural

Varietal –  Various
Location –Planadas, Tolima

During the course of the year, we regularly feature fantastic small individual farmer micro-lots brought to us by The Green Collection. Many of these fantastic coffees are produced by small-hold farmers who are using organic farming methods but might not be certified. Within their coffee-producing communities, there are many farmers who have chosen to certify their farms as organic.

This coffee is an excellent example of a juicy but well-balanced coffee from Colombia and is produced by farmers from the Planadas area of Tolima. These farmers are grouped together into associations, this helps to consolidate costs and allows farmers to work together to produce larger lots with full organic certification.

Each small-hold farmer will hand harvest from their trees often on farms less than 5 hectares in size. After harvesting ripe cherry the coffee is rested then pulped and fermented before drying on patios or raised tables. Some producers might not have space or equipment to process and dry their own coffee. In this case, they will deliver harvested cherry to a centralized washing station for processing, similar to the harvesting and processing process in east Africa. 

Once dried to a moisture content of about 11 the coffee is taken for milling and farmer lots are combined and prepared for export.

Tasting Notes: 
Chocolate, gentle orange acidity and brown sugar and caramel sweetness. ﻿This is a lovely well rounded and balanced coffee that is great both with and without milk. 

Planadas Community

Varietal –  Red Bourbon
Location – Near to Kibuye, Lake Kivu

Our coffees from Rwanda are directly traded with producers and we are able to offer full transparency and detailed information on these coffees. For more information on how we source coffees take a look at our Transparency Report. 

For every kilo of Rwandan coffee sold we will ensure a tree is planted in the Gishwati-Mukura forest in Rwanda. For more information visit our OneTreePlanted page.

We first visited Rwanda in 2014 and over the last few years we've developed some very close relationships within the Rwandan coffee community. We first visited Bwishaza co-operative in 2015 and have been buying coffee from them every year since our first visit.

Producer Overview:

Bwishaza co-operative is located north of Kibuye close to lake Kivu. You can view the exact location via the link to google maps. The co-operative produce a wide range of coffees with their main focus on clean, juicy, bright washed coffees. They also produce a range of natural processed coffees specifically for us.

Harvesting and Processing:
Coffee is delivered daily during the harvest period (February to June) by small hold farmers. Usually, they deliver anything between 10 and 100kg depending on the size of their farm.

After delivery coffee is floated in water. Defects tend to float and the good quality cherry will sink. After flotation coffee is pulped to remove the fruit and then fermented dry in tanks for about 12 hrs

After fermentation, the coffee is washed and graded in channels to remove mucilage and to separate coffee by density. It is then moved to raised tables to dry.

Drying takes place in two stages. The first stage is done undercover to allow hand sorting to take place and gentle drying to avoid parchment cracking. After 48hrs of shade drying the coffee is moved to raised tables to dry in the sun until reaching 12% moisture. Each days processing is kept separate to create separated lots. 

After the coffee has dried it is stored in a cool stored room and samples are sent away to be roasted, cupped and graded in Rwanda and also sent to us to be sampled. Once we've selected the lots we've like to purchase the coffee will be dry milled. This process involves removing the parchment layer and further sorting to remove defects.

Tasting Notes: 
Orange, Caramel, Black Tea.  A lovely well balanced coffee that is great as espresso and filter and works well with and without milk.

Bwishaza Lot 4

Varietal –  Catuai
Location – Campos Altos, Cerrado Mineiro

Brazil produces around 1/3 of the entire worldwide production of coffee. This ranges from low grade robusta to high cup scoring microlots. We've always loved coffee from Brazil and our favourite coffees tend to showcase nutty, chocolate notes with sweet gentle stone fruit flavours. 

Inhame produces some of the best Brazilian coffee, about 500 x 60kg bags of speciality grade coffee every year. We were able to purchase almost half their total production for the most recent 2019 harvest. By working directly with producers we are able to ensure that our purchase makes a real difference, and that we are paying a sustainable price with the majority of the money making its way back to the farmer. 

Farm Overview

Brazil Inhame is a small family farm with 28 hectares of coffee trees located near to the town of Campos Altos. We were introduced to the farm by Bruno Souza, owner of Academia do Cafe, a Q Grade, coffee farmer and one of the most experienced coffee professionals in Brazil. 

The farm is owned by Marco Aurelio and is managed in partnership with his son Bruno (an agronomist). They have a strong environmental focus concentrating on preservation of local water sources and indigeonous fauna and floral.

Harvesting and Processing:

Harvesting of Brazilian coffee is typically done using a combination of mechanical and manual picking. They use a selective mechanical approach that does a great job of picking cherry that is ripe and leaving unripe cherry on the trees. After harvesting the coffee is dried on concrete patios until reaching 30% moisture content. The coffee is then moved to mechanical driers that gently reduce the moisture content down to 12%. This method helps to free up drying space on the concrete patios as it can be challenging to find enough drying room during the peak harvest time.

After drying the coffee is milled to remove defects and contamination and packed in a new type of bag. The inside is a plastic liner that protects the coffee from moisture and ensures it remains fresh. The outer liner is an eco paper bag (similar to large potato sacks) and we make sure this is recycled.

Tasting Notes:
We love the traditional flavour profile of this Brazilian coffee. It is clean with hazelnut, milk chocolate and some gently dried fruit notes. 

Fazenda Inhame

Workhorse Coffee Beans is built around the concept of consistency and reliability. The blend and roast style make this coffee suitable for all brew methods including espresso. 

These coffee beans feature our Rwanda relationship coffees produced by farmers in Rwanda that we've visited. This gives us consistency over the course of the year enabling us to provide a reliable and dependable taste profile. From time to time the ingredients will change but we aim to substitute similar coffees when changing this blend.

Our Workhorse blend is a light roast espresso and perfect if you like a bright, juicy but well balanced espresso. If you are looking for a traditional Italian style espresso take a look at our Nova Blend. 

Rwanda Liza Washing station, 50% (relationship coffee)
Varietal: Red Bourbon
Process: Washed
Altitude: 1650+masl

We first visited Rwanda in 2014 and over the last few years we've developed some very close relationships within the Rwandan coffee community. We first visited Liza washing station, owned by Jean Paul, in 2018. You can read more about this via our transparency report. 

Liza washing station is located in the south west close to the border with the Congo. Liza is owned by Jean Paul, far left in the picture below. Liza works with around 500 farmers who hand harvest coffee from Red Bourbon trees at 1600-2000masl. Coffee is delivered daily and processed as washed coffee then dried on raised tables.

Brazil Inhame Farm 50%
Varietal: Catuai
Process: Natural
Altitude: +-1200 masl

Brazil Inhame is a small family farm with 28 hectares of coffee trees located near to the town of Campos Altos. We were introduced to the farm by Bruno Souza, owner of Academia do Cafe, a Q Grade, coffee farmer and one of the most experienced coffee professionals in Brazil. 

Workhorse Coffee Beans

Our Organic coffee blend brings together two fantastic coffees from small hold producers in Peru and Colombia. Roasted to highlight sweet, chocolate notes making this a perfect coffee for espresso brewing or if you enjoy coffee with rich chocolate notes and good body. Great both with and without milk!

Peru - Cafe femenino co-operative 40%
Varietal –  Various
Preparation – Washed
Location – Lambayeque region
Altitude –+-1600 masl

Cafe Femenino is a project set up to support and empower women coffee producers around the world. It's been many years since we last had their coffee and we are very pleased to welcome this one back.

The coffee is produced by around 800 women coffee producers. They grow a range of different varietals including Typica, Bourbon and Villa Sarchi. Coffee is hand-harvested and delivered to local collection centres and taken for processing at a wet mill. Coffee is pulped to remove the fruit, washed and then sun-dried. This is a really great example of clean, juicy and well balanced organic coffee produced in Peru.

The following is taken from the Cafe Femenino website and explains a bit more about the project:

'Women in remote and rural coff­ee communities face a host of challenges that keep them trapped in poverty.  Many of these isolated women live in male-dominated societies and have very little financial control or decision-making power.

In 2004, 464 women farmers in northern Peru decided to change this dynamic by separating their coffee production from the men’s. In that moment, for the first time, this group of women created their own product and income. Their coffee cooperative CECANOR joined their commercial partner Organic Products Trading Company (OPTCO) to create Café Femenino—a gender-focused program to support social justice and empowerment for women coffee producers worldwide.'

Colombia - Planadas Community 60%
Varietal –  Various
Preparation – Washed
Location – Planadas, Tolima
Altitude – +-1600 masl

This coffee is an excellent example of a juicy but well-balanced coffee from Colombia and is produced by farmers from the Planadas area of Tolima. These farmers are grouped together into associations, this helps to consolidate costs and allows farmers to work together to produce larger lots with full organic certification.

Each small-hold farmer will hand harvest from their trees often on farms less than 5 hectares in size. After harvesting ripe cherry the coffee is rested then pulped and fermented before drying on patios or raised tables. Some producers might not have space or equipment to process and dry their own coffee. In this case, they will deliver harvested cherry to a centralized washing station for processing, similar to the harvesting and processing process in east Africa. 

Once dried to a moisture content of about 11 the coffee is taken for milling and farmer lots are combined and prepared for export.

Organic Blend

Nova Espresso blend is our new take on a more tradition high quality Italian style espresso blend. Based around a really good quality coffee from Brazil, this blend is roasted a touch darker than our Workhorse blend. We've developed the blend and roast style to suit espresso extraction and it's easy to work with and fairly forgiving. It also tastes great in milk and the dark chocolate notes really cut through, even in an 8oz latte. If you are looking for a bright, juicy espresso we'd suggestion our Workhorse blend.

Rwanda Liza Washing station, 40% (relationship coffee)
Varietal: Red Bourbon
Process: Washed
Altitude: 1650+masl

We first visited Rwanda in 2014 and over the last few years we've developed some very close relationships within the Rwandan coffee community. We first visited Bwishaza co-operative in 2015 and have been buying coffee from them every year. You can read more about this via our transparency report. 

Liza washing station is owned by Jean Paul (far left in the above picture). He is a second-generation coffee farmer who has worked for many years as an agronomy consultant both in Rwanda and the Congo. His farm has about 6000 trees and he processes coffee from his own farm and from several hundred local small-hold farmers within the community. The quality he produces is outstanding and this is due to his dedication and commitment to training local farmers and focusing on very careful hand sorting at the washing station. Jean Paul produces a variety of different micro-lots specifically for us, these include washed coffees and bespoke experimental process coffees.  We've selected this lot for our Workhorse blend and feature other coffees from Bwishaza as single origins in our Relationship coffee collection. 

Brazil Inhame Estate 30%
Varietal: Catuai
Process: Natural
Altitude: +-1200 masl

Brazil Inhame is a small family farm with 28 hectares of coffee trees located near to the town of Campos Altos. We were introduced to the farm by Bruno Souza, owner of Academia do Cafe, a Q Grade, coffee farmer and one of the most experienced coffee professionals in Brazil. 

The farm is owned by Marco Aurelio and is managed in partnership with his son Bruno (an agronomist). They have a strong environmental focus concentrating on preservation of local water sources and indigeonous fauna and floral. Brazil Inhame is also available as a single origin coffee

Brazil Oberon 30%
Varietal: Mundo Novo, Catuaí and Bourbon
Process: Natural
Altitude: 950-1250 masl

Brazil Oberon is a small farm regional blend from the Cerrado region, Minas Gerais. The multi-farm coffee is perfect for our Nova blend due to the low acidity profile with a focus on chocolate and nuts.
Ideal for: Espresso. Works very well in milk based drinks. If you like dark roast filter coffee or cafetiere with lots of body, and tend to use milk, then this will work well too.

Nova Espresso Blend

Varietal –  Various
Location – Veracruz state, Mexico
Importer - DR Wakefield

Finding great tasting organic decaf coffee can be challenging. Quite often these are produced using poor quality coffee that isn't traceable to farm or co-operative. We've managed to find a great tasting Swiss Water Decaf process organic coffee from a group of producers in Veracruz, Mexico.

Producer Overview:

This coffee is grown and harvested by farmers who have an average farm size of about 20 hectares. Rather than processing their own coffee they delivery cherry to a local wet mill. The mill will sort and process this as washed coffee by pulping the cherry to first remove the fruit. After the outer layer of the fruit is removed the coffee is fermented then washed and dried.

All producers are organic certified.

Coffee is then sent for decaffeination by Swiss Water, a chemical free decaffeination process that retains as much flavour as possible.

Organic Decaf Coffee

Varietal - Castillio and Caturra
Location - San Agustin, Huila

These Colombian Decaf Coffee beans come from small-hold farmers that live in San Agustin, Huila. They grow Castillio and Caturra at an altitude of 1600-1800m. Quite often substandard coffee is selected for decaffeination resulting in a product that is noticeably inferior to good speciality coffee. In this case, the coffee has been selected at origin for its quality and then decaffeinated at the E.A. Sugarcane facility in Colombia using locally grown sugarcane. The results are excellent and this particular decaf has great tasting notes of chocolate and peach.

This Colombian coffee has been decaffeinated using the sugarcane process. The solvent used to remove the caffeine is created by fermenting sugarcane grown in Colombia. You can read more about how the process works at the Cafe Imports website.

We've been selling Sugarcane decaf coffee beans for several years and, in our opinion, this is one of the best methods of decaffeination that we've discovered. We also love the fact that these decaf coffee beans are produced from a great quality coffee and not selected from lower grades. This means you can enjoy great quality decaf coffee without having to compromise. 

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