Did we mention? We’re from Walthamstow. And there’s a little bit (OK, a lot) of our home in everything we do. With that in mind, it makes sense that we’d put a bit of home in our hero coffee. Meet our Forest Blend – named after London’s best borough, Waltham Forest.

To make this signature specialty brew, we seasonally source top grade beans and roast them with a little Walthamstow love, to create a coffee that works any way, with milk or without. Tasting notes, quality and consistency remain the same, meaning a cup of Forest Blend always tastes like a warm welcome home.

Forest Blend

At Perky Blenders, we like to think of ourselves as one big family. That’s because family is in the very foundations of our business: we were family-formed back in 2015 by brothers Tom and Adam Cozens, along with Adam’s wife, Victoria. And even back then, operating as a humble little coffee cart outside St James’ Street station, we had the same aims as we do now: to be responsible, friendly and accessible to all. It’s still us here. Hello. And though we’ve since stretched our latte-fuelled legs beyond that converted three-wheeled Piaggio Ape, we’re the same coffee up-and-comers waxing lyrical about single origin beans to the good people of Waltham Forest. A few years on, we now have four shops within the borough, and we supply our coffee to over 50 stores – including Wholefoods, the award-winning Eat17 Spar shops and big chill. In the last few years, we’ve been featured in the Indy Best’s ‘Best Coffee Subscription Services,’ and have recently won two Time Out Awards as the ‘Best Coffee Place’ within three London Postcodes. And we’ve opened our second roastery, with a state-of-the-art 20kg Petrocini Specialty Roaster that we’re pretty proud of, and plenty more space to swing cats/coffee sacks. When all this is over, we’d love you to drop by for a visit. These are strange times, but one bonus is that we’re meeting lots of friendly new (virtual) faces via the subscription side of our business.

Perky Blenders Coffee Roasters

This producer group is part of the Cooperativa de Caficultores de Alto Occidente de Caldas which was established in 1964. The San Lorenzo indigenous group is based in the Rio Sucio municipality of Caldas where there are 11,500 inhabitants with 1,150 farmers growing and producing coffee within the 21 communities. This region until recently was heavily inhabited by paramilitary groups and guerrillas who looked to control this central corridor in Colombia. This region has not been known for specialty production but as the tensions ease and access has improved it is now possible to demonstrate the quality of the coffees available.

The indigenous inhabitants believe in the Pacha Mama where they 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 Ha of land in which they have about 2500 coffee trees.

During the harvest the families will work with their neighbours to select ripe cherry before de-pulping in micro-beneficios where they will then de-pulp and ferment the coffee in water. The coffee is then washed and put out to dry on small drying patios on the roofs of the houses where they will dry it for one to two weeks depending on the weather. They then deliver it to the Cooperative where it is assessed and categorised before being allowed to rest and then milled for shipment.

Single Origin

About the coffee

This coffee is produced by an association of small producers from El Caracol, a small village in the San Pedro area of the Copan department. The producers contributing to this lot own on average between 3 and 5 hectares of land and they mostly grow Catuai, Parainema, IHCAFE 90 and Lempira varieties. The area has an ideal climate for coffee growing, nestled between mountains the cool night time temperatures prolongs the maturation of the coffee cherries and the soils are still rich with nutrients.The coffee was picked by the producers and their families themselves and processed at a centralised wet-mill before being dried on raised beds. These producers haven't yet produced micro-lots, but this blend was intended to incentivise them to improve picking and processing in order to gain quality premiums.

Water Decaffeination Process

This process was first discovered by a scientist called Kurt Zosel at the Max Planck Institute for Coal Research in 1967 as he was looking at new ways of separating mixtures of substances. In 1988, a German decaffeination company called CR3 developed this process for decaffeination whereby natural carbon dioxide (which comes from prehistoric underground lakes) is combined with water to create ‘sub-critical’ conditions which creates a highly solvent substance for caffeine in coffee. It is a gentle, natural and organically certified process and the good caffeine selectivity of the carbon dioxide guarantees a high retention level of other coffee components which contribute to taste and aroma.

The process

The green beans enter a ‘pre-treatment’ vessel where they are cleaned and moistened with water before being brought into contact with pressurised liquid carbon dioxide. When the green coffee beans absorb the water, they expand and the pores are opened resulting in the caffeine molecules becoming mobile.

After the water has been added, the beans are then brought into contact with the pressurised liquid carbon dioxide which combines with the water to essentially form sparkling water. The carbon dioxide circulates through the beans and acts like a magnet, drawing out the mobile caffeine molecules.

The sparkling water then enters an evaporator which precipitates the caffeine rich carbon dioxide out of the water. The now caffeine free water is pumped back into the vessel for a new cycle.

This cycle is repeated until the required residual caffeine level is reached. Once this has happened, the circulation of carbon dioxide is stopped and the green beans are discharged into a drier.

The decaffeinated coffee is then gently dried until it reaches its original moisture content, after which it is ready for roasting! 

Decaf

About the coffee (Colombia)
The Colombian coffee component of this blend was produced by 52 smallholder coffee producers from the region of Inzá, a municipality located in the corner of the Department of Cauca and looking out to the west over the Pacific Ocean. The farmers are members of an organisation called ASORCAFE (Asociación de Productores de Café del Oriente Caucano) that represents some 450 producers from across the Department. This specific lot, however, has been selected only from growers hailing from the neighbouring sub-municipalities of Pedregal and San Antonio for it's very high cup quality. 

About the coffee (Costa Rica)
San Francisco is the name of one district in the ‘Cordillera Central’ also called ‘La Zona de los Santos’ but it is also the name of the farm of Edgar Fallas Solis, his wife Ligia and their son Willian. The family owns 10-12 hectares of coffees intercropped with avocados, citrus and banana trees. Edgar is the second generation working on this 55-year-old farm. Willian, the son, took coffee brewing classes for 4 years and is now competing and won a national championship. He knows a lot about the coffee supply chain and quality and will take over the farm when his dad retires.

Blend of the Month (February 2021)

https://shop.tastycoffee.ru/coffee/china-jeng-yan-pin

This was my first and it was really good! 🖤 

The story behind this blend

The Ethiopian coffee is produced by a washing station located in Kantite, an area in the southern part of the famous Sidamo province. The station collects coffee cherries of various local varieties from around 1200 small scale farmers of the area that are then floated, depulped, fermented, washed and finally dried before being hulled and prepared for export. This coffee displays the classic floral and delicate characteristics of washed Ethiopian coffees that brings elegance and refinement to this blend.  

The El Salvadorian coffee is produced at Finca Bonanza. The 10 hectares farm owned by Joe Molina is located close to the Santa Ana Volcano in the Western part of El Salvador. Once picked the cherries are then taken to the El Borbollon mill just outside the city of Santa Ana to be washed and milled. This Red Bourbon lot is creating the base layer of the blend with it's sweet, creamy and chocolaty flavours.    

varietal: Heirloom and Red Bourbon
origin: Ethiopia (Kantite) El Salvador (Finca Bonanza)
location: Sidamo + Santa Ana

Acacia Blend

Coffee Of The Mounth - Thousand Hills

Sow Blend

Personalised Coffee

Every month we introduce a new coffee. We do this to shine a light on coffees from around the world that we've found and loved. This month it's particularly special. This is a UK exclusive, no other roaster in these fair isles is offering this coffee. We're also collaborating with denim giants Levis all month on a range of cool stuff- so we've called the coffee five o one. 

About the coffee: 

It's from the South American country of Ecuador. 

In his "Las Terrazas Del Pisque" farm located in the northern province of Pichincha, Arnaud Causse has created a full ecosystem to grow his coffee in. Taking over the farm in 2012, he started by planting a forest in an arid desert area to shelter his coffee trees with more than 25 different tree species. He then installed beehives for the production of honey, honey plants so that bees can take up residence there, fruit trees which have become a refuge for birds and leguminous plants which enrich the soil with nitrogen. These solutions for crop diversification, shade, bio-diversity and soil enrichment allow him to grow his coffee with no pesticides, using essential oils produced from his plants to treat coffee trees naturally. Originally from Aveyron in France, Arnaud juggles preparation processes and variety experiments in his farm. His background as an agricultural engineer and his international experiences in coffee growing make him a coffee producer with a unique perspective. 

This washed coffee, a blend of different varieties grown at the farm (mostly Bourbon and Caturra), is a great example of the unique characteristics of Ecuadorian coffees. Creamy, sweet and filled with tasty berry flavours ! 

Coffee Of The Mounth - Five O One

Back in our offering for the second year is this fantastic Typica from Wilmer Martinez Terrones. Wilmer owns a small two hectares farm that sits at very high altitude in the Santa Rosa de la Yunga district in northern Peru. He grows and process his coffees himself and deliver them to Falcon, our export and import partner's warehouse in the city of Jaen. Peru has gained a reputation for good quality coffee in recent years and we believe this one is another stellar example of the high quality coffees produced in the country.  

varietal: Typica
origin: Peru (Wilmer Martinez Terrones)
location: Cajamarca

Single Origin (May 2021)

This coffee is a blend of Red & Yellow Catuai produced by two Brazilian farms : Onze Mil Virgens in the Cerrado Mineiro region and Campo Alegre in the Sul de Minas region and decaffeinated using the CO2 process. It displays all the classic chocolaty and nutty flavors we would expect from great Brazilian coffees. Its not only delicious, but you can feel pure and healthy drinking decaf too. 

How we make it decaf:

The CO2 process of decaffeination uses liquid Carbon Dioxide (CO2), a highly selective solvent for caffeine. The green coffee is soaked in water to open the bean’s “pores”, beginning the decaffeination process whereby caffeine molecules are able to move in and out of the beans. The coffee is then placed into a compression tower, where it is brought into contact with pressurized liquid CO2. The pressure transforms the CO2 into a supercritical state, where it is part liquid and part gas. By circulation through the coffee, the carbon dioxide bonds with the caffeine, drawing it out from the beans. The CO2 is then separated into an evaporator, where the caffeine precipitates from the CO2, which means the caffeine can be collected and used to resell. After this, the CO2 is pumped back into the vessel containing the green coffee for a new cycle. When the required caffeine level is reached, the CO2 circulation is stopped and the coffee is discharged into a drier where it is gently dried until it reaches the original moisture content. The coffee is then ready for roasting. 

varietal: Red + Yellow Catuai
origin: Brazil (Onze Mil Campo Alegres)
location: Cerrado + Minas Gerais

Decaf (May 2021)

The Ethiopian coffee component of this blend is produced by a washing station located in Kantite, an area in the southern part of the famous Sidamo province. The station, operated by a company called Daye Bensa, collects coffee cherries of various local varieties from around 1200 small scale farmers of the area that are then floated, depulped, fermented, washed and finally dried before being hulled and prepared for export. This coffee displays the classic floral and delicate characteristics of washed Ethiopian coffees that brings elegance and refinement to this blend.  

The Rwandan coffee component is produced by Nkara, a washing station located in a district called Gakenke in the rugged northwest of the country. The station is operated by Musasa Dukunde Kawa, a company operating multiple stations in the area. During the harvest, Nkara collects ripe cherries from over 2000 small scale farmers of the area. They then handle all the depulping, washing, drying and sorting. In addition to the great work the cooperative does with quality improvement, they also run various social programs that contribute to the livelihoods of the members (school fees, medical insurance and even free cows as bonus payment for quality cherries). This Red Bourbon lot is providing its honey sweetness and berry flavour to the blend.  

varietal: Heirloom and Red Bourbon
origin: Ethiopia (Kantite) Rwanda (Musasa Nkara)
location: Sidamo + Gakenke District

Acacia Blend (May 2021)

We're really proud of our new sow blend. It's a blend with a lot of body, a creamy texture, and warm flavours- think brown spices and dark sugar. 

This is perfect for someone who loves a strong European style coffee- its great as an espresso and with milk. We've been having flat whites with this blend at the roastery for a while now, and its proving hugely popular. 

Where the coffee comes from: 

The Brazilian coffee component of the blend is produced by Fazenda Caxambu. The farm is owned by the Chaves de Brito, a family that has been producing coffee in the Sul de Minas region for over a century. This specific lot is 100% Arara, a hybrid variety that has been making making a name for itself in Brazil in recent years for it's good productivity, resistance and remarkable sensory characteristics. Naturally processed, this coffee provides a lot of toffee sweetness to the blend.  

The second coffee in the blend, Luoka, is from Papua New Guinea. It takes its name form the two districts in which the coffee is grown, Lufa and Okapa. Both districts are know for being some of the remotest parts of the Eastern Highlands and are well know for the quality of their coffees. Over a hundred small scale farmers are contributing to this lot, with a farm size average of just two hectares. After harvesting, the cherries are typically pulped, washed and dried at the farm and then sold to Mr Peno Kavori, a local entrepreneur who's collecting the coffees (paying premium prices for high quality coffees) and prepare them for export at his dry mill. This coffee is bringing spicy, herbal and nutty characteristics to the blend.       
 
varietal: Arara + Typica + Arusha
origin: Brazil (Fazenda Caxambu), Papua New Guinea (Luoka)
location: Minas Gerias + Eastern Highlands

Sow Blend (May 2021)


About this coffee: 

This decaffeinated coffee is a blend produced by over 50 farming families from a village called San Fransisco and located in the district of Huabal, in the northwest of Peru. The main varieties grown in this high altitude region (over 1600 meter above sea level) are Caturra and Catimor and most producers have their own hand pulping machine and fermentation tank to process their own coffee. When the coffee is dried, it is then delivered to Falcon's warehouse - our sourcing & import partner - in the city of Jaen where the coffee is tasted and graded before being milled and prepared for export. 

How we make it decaf:

The CO2 process of decaffeination uses liquid Carbon Dioxide (CO2), a highly selective solvent for caffeine. The green coffee is soaked in water to open the bean’s “pores”, beginning the decaffeination process whereby caffeine molecules are able to move in and out of the beans. The coffee is then placed into a compression tower, where it is brought into contact with pressurized liquid CO2. The pressure transforms the CO2 into a supercritical state, where it is part liquid and part gas. By circulation through the coffee, the carbon dioxide bonds with the caffeine, drawing it out from the beans. The CO2 is then separated into an evaporator, where the caffeine precipitates from the CO2, which means the caffeine can be collected and used to resell. After this, the CO2 is pumped back into the vessel containing the green coffee for a new cycle. When the required caffeine level is reached, the CO2 circulation is stopped and the coffee is discharged into a drier where it is gently dried until it reaches the original moisture content. The coffee is then ready for roasting. 

About the coffee

Finca Veracruz is the smallest farm of the Santa Barbara estate, a group of 5 farms established in the 1980s by Sr. Pedro Echavarria in the department of Antioquia. In recent years, Pedro's son (also named Pedro) has become more involved in the running of the farm. With Leonardo Henao Triana, Santa Barbara's Coffee Director, they took the already high-quality coffees produced at Finca Veracruz to the next level with a mix of experimentation and increased monitoring of every stage of the production. This coffee is a blend of Colombia and Caturra cherries picked over five days. Each day, pulped cherries were added to a fermentation tank with the previous days pickings. With this method of "extended" fermentation, each consecutive batch is raising the ph (acidity) level of the fermentation tank, permitting longer fermentation times without tainting the coffee with acetic acid produced by bacteria at lower ph levels. Once washed, dried, milled, sorted, and carefully roasted, this coffee creates a juicy cup filled with tropical fruit and berry flavours. 

Single Origin (May2 2021)

It's from the East African country of Tanzania. 

This washed coffee, a blend of N39, Bourbon and Kent varietals, is produced at Itende JKT through the Tanzanian Army’s National Youth Program. The National Service, or Jeshi la Kujenga Taifa (JKT) in Swahili, offers alternatives to young people who have neither the opportunities nor the resources to access higher education. The programme is voluntary, and young people who inscribe are taught life-skills that enhance their ability to gain employment and income in areas such as agriculture, masonry, carpentry and entrepreneurship.
While the programme has multiple ‘camps’ across the country, the Itende one is special in its focus on agriculture - coffee in particular - and its plantations extend across 80 hectares. Considering the rural environs, it is surprising that Itende is located only 1.5 km from the city centre of Mbeya. A feature that makes it attractive to the young people from all over the country to attend the programme, usually for 3 to 6 months. Those who show initiative can apply for employment immediately after finishing their training. In addition to training in coffee cultivation, they also learn skills in farming other agricultural crops like maize, beans and sunflower.

We are sourcing this coffee through our partner Mercanta, who's exporting partner in Tanzania has been central in helping the camp’s leaders to develop a coffee-growing programme that will secure access to speciality coffee markets. In addition to providing training in agronomy and marketing, the programme receives training on all aspects of cultivation and processing in order to build the foundations for higher quality coffee and increased yields in this often overlooked coffee-growing area of Tanzania. All Itende JKT’s coffee is sold through the auctions and the income generated through the activities of the camp is then fed back into the programme so that it can continue to function.

Perky Blenders Coffee Roasters

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Perky Blenders Coffee Roasters

🇬🇧 United Kingdom

Coffee items

Acacia Blend (May 2021)

Coffee Of The Month - F45 Training Brew

Decaf

Forest Blend

Single Origin (May2 2021)

Sow Blend (May 2021)

Coffee archive

Acacia Blend

Blend of the Month (February 2021)

Coffee Of The Mounth - Five O One

Coffee Of The Mounth - Thousand Hills

Decaf

Decaf (May 2021)

Personalised Coffee

Single Origin

Single Origin (May 2021)

Sow Blend