The Wolichu Wachu washing station was founded in 2017 and serves 4,500 local smallholder producers in and around the town of Haro Wachu, in the Urga district of Guhi in the Oromia region of Ethiopia.

The average producer here farms on half a hectare of land, and delivers coffee in cherry form to the washing station, where it is processed as necessary.

Coffees in Ethiopia are typically traceable to the washing station level, where smallholder farmers—many of whom own less than 1/2 hectare of land, and as little as 1/8 hectare on average—deliver cherry by weight to receive payment at a market rate.

Wolichu Wachu

Pelicano Coffee Roasters

Rwanda - Nyarusiza, Umurage & Remera

Costa Rica - Aquiares Estate Entre Rios

Finca Santa Clara

Smokey Bird Espresso Blend

Huila - La Plata

Country: Uganda
Region: Northern Uganda -West Nile region
Farm: Various smallholder farmers
Variety: SL 14 & Catimor

Uganda - White Nile

Country: Brazil
Region: Serra do Cabral, Minas Gerais
Farm: Ecoagricola
Variety: Yellow Catucaí

Brazil – Ecoagricola Serra do Cabral Tropical Fermentation

This very special Natural lot placed 19th at the first-ever (2020) Ethiopian Cup of Excellence Competition.

Gemeda Elias Dube has been around coffee all of his life.

Having grown up living on his father’s farm, at the age of 15, Gemeda first began helping tend the trees and learning the art of coffee production.

Gemeda has grown his 7 hectare plot to span an impressive 86 hectares. As well as managing his land, Gemeda helps to manage a collective of 103 farmers encompassing a further 490 hectares. As well as providing support to the farmers, Gemeda helps to provide improved seedling and technical support, ensuring quality of production.

For this particular lot, the local Variety Kurume is used. A commonly known variety among farmers in the Guji and Gedeo Zones, including Yirgacheffe.

It is important to note that varieties in Ethiopia fall within two main groups -----regional or local landraces (of which there are at least 130) or JARC varieties. It is still very hard to tell but it is highly likely that this lot contains a great percentage of JARC 7410 and 74112 varieties, developed in 1974 by the JARC, which are directly descended from local landraces indigenous to the Gedeo Region. Most farmers have a mix of both the improved and the indigenous landrace varieties on their farms.

Gemeda processes both natural and washed coffee, which is auctioned through Ethiopian commodity exchange ECX.

For the 2020 Ethiopian Cup of Excellence Competition, Gemeda submitted multiple coffees, managing to place two natural coffees in 19th and 24th, with scores of 87.79 and 87.43.

Country: Ethiopia
Region: Oromia Region, West Guji Zone
Farm: Gemeda Elias Dube
Variety: Kurume

Ethiopia - Gemeda Elias' Farm - Cup of Excellence 2020

THE GRINDSTONE

Waking up and going to work is never an idea we want to get used to.

That is untill we created the GRINDSTONE!

The ultimate wake up and go blend for all the daily grinders out there.

Finally a good reason to go to work!

Seasonal blend currently using colombian and Guatemala

Roasted as always to medium to light but still packing a punch!

The Grindstone

Santos’ farm, named Mitad del Corazón (translating as ‘The Middle of the Heart’ in English) takes its name after the farm's heart like shape. Like many other farms in the region, the name is representative, reflecting the distinguishing characteristics in the surrounding area. More so in the case of Santos, as the name is chosen as it expresses passion; a force regularly found at the farm. Coffee production is currently Santos’ only means of income, with any fruit trees, livestock or other produce grown reserved only for personal consumption.

Peru - Santos Romulo Huancas Chinchay

Beginning in 2018, Ipanema began their ‘PremierCru’ range: a selection of very small-batch, handcrafted lots from the highest altitudes of the Estate’s oldest farm, Rio Verde. This range of Premier Cru coffees is packed in cutting edge nitrogen-flushed vacuum-packed 20kg cartons.

The method of nitrogen flushing, common with roasted coffee, stabilises the product by removing all traces of oxygen. Taking such care with green coffee is practically unheard of, even in specialty.

The method speaks to the exceptional quality of these lots, which push the boundaries of what specialty coffee in Brazil can offer.Rio Verde is a large farm of 1,566 hectares. Much of the farm lies between 700 and 1,000 metres above sea level. However, just over 260 hectares of the farm rise above 1,000 metres. This part of the farm, which rides several peaks, is separated into 32 ‘glebes’ (plots), all of which have different altitudes and sun faces, soil composition and a single varietal each (A=Acacia; B=Yellow Bourbon; C=Yellow Catuai). It is from these ‘glebes’ (ranging from .65 to 20.13 hectares in size) that the Premier Cru range is carefully harvested.

Brazil- Ipanema Premier Cru

Kabunyeria Farmers Cooperative Society operates its own factory, where 324 smallholder farmers deliver their cherry. These farmers own a collective 50 hectares of coffee farm land.

Coffee in Kenya is typically traceable down to the factory, or mill level: Most farmers own between 1/8 to 1/4 of a hectare, and often grow crops other than coffee as well, which means they rely on a central processing unit for sale and processing of their coffee. Producers deliver in cherry form to a factory, where the cooperative will sort, weigh, and issue payment for the delivery. The coffee is then blended with the rest of the day's deliveries and goes on to be processed. Because of this system, which serves many hundreds to several thoughts of smallholder farmers per factory, there is limited traceability down to the individual producers whose coffee comprises the lots.

Country: Kenya
Region: Nandi Hills, Nandi
Farm: 324 smallholder farmer
Variety: SL-28, SL-34, Batian, Ruiru 11

Kenya - Nandi Hills - AA

Isacio Javier Albir Vilchez has an 87.73-hectare farm called Agua Sarca, where he grows coffee on 73.95 hectares. He has several varieties planted, including Caturra, Catuai, Catimor, Obata, Maracaturra, and Gesha. After harvesting the coffee, Isacio makes sure it's depulped the same day, then it's fermented dry for 18–24 hours. It's washed clean of mucilage, then dried in patios with plastic walls for about 10–12 days. The first 2 days are under full sun, and the rest is done under shade.

Country: Nicaragua
Region: Dipilto, Nueva Segovia
Farm: Agua Sarca
Variety: Maracaturra

Nicaragua - Isacio Albir - Finca Agua Sarca

yamungo Estate is a 170-hectare coffee farm growing Bourbon, KP 423, KP, F6, and Kent varieties. The farm has 215 permanent employees and up to 2,100 seasonal employees during the harvest. About 75 percent of the employees are women. About 80 percent of the coffee is processed at a central processing unit and dried on raised beds, while the remaining 20 percent is dried in parabolic dryers. The farm has been Rainforest Alliance–certified since 2014.

Country: Tanzania
Region: Moshi, Kilimanjaro
Farm: Lyamungo Estate
Variety: Bourbon, KP 423, KP, F6, Kent\

Tanzania - AA Lyamungo

The Testi West Arsi Washing Station was established in 2010 and serves about 850 smallholder producers in the area, the Nansebo woreda. The farmers deliver their cherry to the washing station, where it is depulped, fermented for 24–48 hours, and washed before being dried on raised beds for 12–15 days.

Country: Ethiopia
Region: Nansebo
Farm: 850 smallholder farmers
Variety: Heirloom Ethiopian varieties

Ethiopia - Nansebo

The Ndundu Factoryis located in the Central Highlands of Kenya sharing a border with Nakuru and Kajiado to the West, Murang’a and Nyandarua to the North and Nairobi to the South. Mills in Kenya are known as factories.

Together with a few other factories, Ndundu is part of the Thiririka Farmers Cooperative Society founded in 1996. The name is derived from the Thiririka river flowing nearby. Additionally, the word Ndundu is a local kikuyu word for agreement, which influences the community members to work together. Members of the Cooperative are required to purchase seeds from the Kenya Coffee Research Institute, whilst adhering to specific rules and guidelines for planting and cultivation. A field committee visits each farm to maintain these standards and provides support to producers.

The factory also employs a specific “Cherry Clerk” to inspect every delivery of cherries to ensure that the utmost quality is taken in for processing. 

The coffee is grown throughout the region on healthy deep red volcanic soils high in nutrients and organic matter. This soil is ideal for coffee production and give the trees the necessary resources to allocate energy to high-quality coffee production. Harvest generally occurs amongst the cooperative members between October and December. In some cases, early crop can be harvested between April and July. 

The coffee trees are carefully monitored and picking ensues only when the cherry is at the ideal level of ripeness. Picking occurs in the morning and buckets of bright red coffee cherries are carried to the mill. As the sun traverses across the sky into the afternoon, the cherries are piled high as underripe cherries and foreign objects are removed from the gleaming pile. The cherries are then poured into a hopper located just above the pulping station.

From here, clean water is drawn upwards and directed into the hopper to cover the coffee cherries. This force pushes the cherries down a chute into the pulping house. Here, the outer pulp is removed thanks to the work of two rotating abrasive slabs. The de-pulped coffee is then moved via the force of a water channel towards a fermentation tank. Along the way, floaters, or lower quality coffee beans, are removed to ensure only the highest quality continue along the process. The denser beans are funnelled through a hole where they land into a fermentation tank to rest for the evening. 

The following morning, workers assess the feel of the sticky mucilage remaining on the coffee. If it has reached the ideal level, water is placed over the beans to give them a final wash. From here, sluice gates open to move the coffee into washing channels where the coffee slides down a gently sloping tiled channel. Wooden shunts used by workers are manually placed into the coffee to separate the denser beans from the lighter beans. 

Next,the coffee is evenly dispersed onto raised tables, under careful surveillance. If it is too sunny, or rain is in the forecast, the parchment is carefully covered. Moisture is regulated until the target of 10-12% is reached. The parchment is bagged up and transported to the dry mill.

After being hulled, the coffee rests and is soon filled into 60kg hermetically lined Jute export bags.

Kenya –Ndundu AA

When it comes to Agronomy, the team at Chanjul believe the quality of the coffee is the result of a fundamental attribute: the warmth of the soil.

Their soil is characterised by a high content of organic materials, perfect for producing high-quality coffee. Along with the soil the perfect conditions of the altitude, latitude and climate, with average annual temperatures of 26°C and annual rainfall of 2500mm, this means that Chanjul is well situated to producing fantastic quality lots. 

Pruning is only conducted intermittently, using selective or block pruning mainly in non-productive areas. When a plantation reaches 20 years old, the plot is completely renovated, removing and replanting with new trees. For varieties, 40% of the farm is made up of hybrids such as Mundo Maya (Hybrid H16); an F1 hybrid developed by ECOM & CIRAD as high-yielding, high cup quality options with higher resistance to coffee leaf rust. Teddy also populates his land with a mix of Marsellesa (40%) & Starmaya (20%), both selected for their high production rate and resistance to leaf rust. 

For processing at Chanjul, Coffee cherry is handpicked over three to four passes, only selecting the ripest cherries; the aim being to achieve the highest concentration of sugars in the cherry. Once they have been picked, the coffee cherries are delivered to the wet mill, some 50km away. Here, the cherry is initially cleaned and floated in freshwater to remove any floaters known as "vanos". Next, the coffee cherry is transported to raised beds to dry. Once here, close attention is paid, with thermometers used to control ambient temperatures and relative humidity. Coffee cherry will remain on the beds for up 8-10 days, slow drying at a temperature between 16-24 ° C. 

Finally, once a moisture content of below 12% is recorded, the coffee cherry is packed and driven to the mill some 900kms away to Veracruz on the other side of Mexico; selected due to its proximity to the export port

Mexico - Chanjul Estate

Victor Calderon represents the 5th generation of coffee farmers from a family that has been in coffee for more than 100 years; El Tambor, however, is a relatively new addition to the rich mosaic of farms dotting this region of Guatemala, just outside of Guatemala City. Founded as a cattle farm in the 1930s,ElTambor’s previous owner had converted the farm’s steepest,highest slopes to coffee during the 1960s.

However, as price volatility worsened during the late 1980s and early 1990s, he ceased to focus on coffee farming and instead granted mineral rights to a mining company, whichbegan speculatively mining in various locations within the farm’s 700 hectares. 

Throughout the 1990s, the farm was slowly abandoned apart from these exploratory excavations –that is, until Victor took control of the land. Victor bought the farmat the beginning of 2001 with the aim of moving out of Robusta cultivation (in which his family had previously specialised) and into Arabica.

The bottomwas fallingout of the Robusta market at the time, and while Arabica wasn’tparticularly stableeither, he had a dream of finding a farm that lay at 1,500 metres or above so that he could specialisein high-quality, speciality Arabica production. 

He was so committed to this vision that he sold hishouse and car in exchange for El Tambor, and upon signing the documents immediately set about renovating the coffee plots, expanding areas under coffee and improving the farm’s small wet mill. 

However, Victor is a true iconoclast when it comes to coffee farming and refuses to accept conventional wisdom or accepted practices in farming. Nowhere is this more apparent than his approach to controlling coffee leafrust on his farm.

When coffee leaf rust became truly apparent on El Tambor, Victor was concerned about using the chemically based fungicides widely recommended in Guatemala. Realising that fungi favour acidicenvironments, he hadtried several alkaline solutions to apply the plants –everything from lemonade to orange juice –looking for one that worked. In his research, he read that clay –particularly from volcanic regions –is very alkaline, and his thoughts returned to El Tambor’s brief mining history.

Prizes: #7 Guatemala Cup of Excellence-2010
               #17 Guatemala Cup of Excellence-2015
               #25 Guatemala Cup of Excellence-2017

Pelicano Coffee Roasters

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Pelicano Coffee Roasters

🇬🇧 United Kingdom

Coffee Roasts

Ethiopia - Gemeda Elias' Farm - Cup of Excellence 2020

Ethiopia - Nansebo

Finca Santa Clara

Guatemala–Finca El Tambor

Huila - La Plata

Kenya –Ndundu AA

Mexico - Chanjul Estate

Smokey Bird Espresso Blend

The Grindstone

Coffee archive

Brazil – Ecoagricola Serra do Cabral Tropical Fermentation

Brazil- Ipanema Premier Cru

Costa Rica - Aquiares Estate Entre Rios

Kenya - Nandi Hills - AA

Nicaragua - Isacio Albir - Finca Agua Sarca

Peru - Santos Romulo Huancas Chinchay

Rwanda - Nyarusiza, Umurage & Remera

Tanzania - AA Lyamungo

Uganda - White Nile

Wolichu Wachu

New Coffee Review