Looking back, I feel incredibly lucky to have had the opportunity to visit Costa Rica back in February. What seemed then to be part and parcel of a life immersed in coffee now seems like the greatest of privileges - to have had the freedom to travel the world in pursuit of knowledge, experience, and a deeper understanding of coffee.

Hosted by our importing partners D R Wakefield, and in the company of some of the finest humans I could have wished to spend two weeks travelling around Costa Rica with, we explored numerous farms, cooperatives and washing stations. We learnt about the strict regulations put in place by the Costa Rican government to ensure a fair wage for all parties involved in the production of coffee, and were recipients of incredible warmth and hospitality.

On the morning of Tuesday 21st February, we were picked up by a convoy of all terrain vehicles. Those of us in the know immediately made a dash for the electric-blue vintage Land Cruiser and piled into the back. After a long and bone-shaking ride on dirt paths we suddenly descended into an isolated valley. A man who I can only describe as the George Clooney of coffee farmers was waiting by a gate to welcome us. It turned out this man was Don Jorge Monge Garbanzo, owner of Finca Las Palomas. When we got out of the Land Cruiser I was struck immediately by two things - firstly, the beauty and tranquility of the valley that we were in, and secondly, that the climate was much cooler than it had been in the neighbouring valley. It was clear looking around that this was well tended land with neat and incredibly healthy looking rows of coffee trees all around.

Sebastien Lafaye of ASAPROAAA, who process the coffee on behalf of Las Palomas, spoke to us in length about production on the farm, before we were treated to a truly memorable barbecue, not only for the delicious food, but also for the equally delicious homemade rum that tasted of pure sugar cane. I don't know if the rum had anything to do with it, but the cup of coffee that followed was simply outstanding, and carried the same incredible sugar-cane sweetness. I knew instantly that this was the coffee I needed to bring home with me.

The wait is finally over, and the coffee is all that I could have hoped for. Incredibly clean, and deliciously sweet - every cup takes me back to that wonderful day at Las Palomas!

We have also bought a bag of the same coffee, but processed by way of the natural process. If you want to see how dramatically different processing can effect cup profile, then why not buy a bag of each!

Producer: Jorge Monge Garbanzo
Variety: Catuai, Caturra

Las Palomas

Red Bank is guided by three core principles - Quality, Traceability and Sustainability. From our base in the heart of the Lake District we source only coffees that are able to satisfy these criteria to roast on our eco-friendly Loring S15 Falcon. Our roasting philosophy is to roast each coffee such that it is fully developed, but to terminate the roast before "roast" flavours start to develop. The ultimate goal is to unlock each coffee's full potential, and to allow it to sing in the cup.

Red Bank Coffee Roasters

We have been eagerly awaiting the arrival of this coffee, and it is with great pleasure that we are now able to share it with you all. Not only is it absolutely delicious, it is representative of a more sustainable sourcing model in Kenya.

The FOB price paid for Kenyan coffee is amongst the highest in the world, but in many instances this money doesn't trickle down to sufficiently compensate the farmers. The result of this has been a gradual decline in the quality of Kenyan coffee, and numerous growers giving up on coffee production. Menno Simons, the founder of Trabocca (our importing partner), travelled to Kenya to meet the Ndaroini group of growers with the aim of finding a solution to this problem.

In 2019 Trabocca signed a contract with the Ndaroini to buy their entire crop for Ksh 100 per kilo as opposed to the average rate of Ksh 60 per kilo before deductions. Today the Ndaroini are the best paid growers in Kenya. Members of the group benefit from the expertise of Dr Bernard Gimichu, a senior lecturer and researcher at the University of Embu, who holds a PhD in Plant Breeding and is a freelance agronomist. Dr Gimichu and his team are able to advise the growers on best agricultural practices, and the 2019/2020 harvest has seen production increase from 600,000 to 950,000 kilos of cherry, with coffee berry disease kept largely at bay. The prospect of a brighter future in coffee has seen the Ndaroini group of farmers grow by 200 members this year.

With such incentives in place, the hope is that year on year the washing station, and the coffee supplied to it, will grow from strength to strength. Our hope is to return to Ndaroini each year to put this to the test.

Ndaroini Kenya

Penny Rock is our Great Taste Award winning coffee from Daterra, one of the most pioneering and inspirational farms in the world. Named in homage to a beauty spot on the shores of Grasmere, our spiritual home, we select Penny Rock from seasonal crop to deliver a cup of coffee that bears all the classic hallmarks of coffee from the Cerrado Mineiro region of Brazil - great body, deep chocolate notes, and stone-fruit sweetness. The coffee is well-developed during the roast to accentuate body and sweetness, but is tempered to allow its character room to shine through and express itself in the cup.

I visited Daterra in June 2019 and was truly blown away by not just the scale of the farm, but by the care and level of detail with which it is managed, and the genuine focus on sustainability and quality that permeates everything that they do. Amongst numerous other accolades, in 2015 Daterra was awarded Prêmio Fazenda Sustentável (Most Sustainable Farm) from Globo Rural, Brazil’s foremost agricultural publication, and in March 2018 it became the world’s first farm to receive Level A certification from Rainforest Alliance. To see this implemented on the ground was a truly inspirational experience, and one that makes me incredibly proud to offer their coffee.

Variety: Mundo Novo, Catuai, Bourbon

Penny Rock

I have been looking forward to sharing this coffee with you for a while. I used to live very close to an amazing taqueria in London called... Taqueria! I fell in love with the vibrant, complex flavours of Mexican cuisine, the rich culture... and the margaritas! Over the ensuing years my obsession with Mexico has grown and grown. A wonderful episode of The Food Programme awakened me to the unbelievable work of Diana Kennedy in documenting Mexico's food heritage. Oaxaca in particular has a special place in my mind as a cornucopia of deliciousness, so when the opportunity to purchase some organically grown coffee from Oaxaca came along, I grabbed it with both hands as an opportunity to immerse myself even more in this fascinating culture.

This particular lot comes from 11 smallholder farmers in the Sierra Sur region of Oaxaca. The coffee is named after Monte Alban, a large pre-Colombian Zapotec ruin that can be seen from the coffee farms hidden in the surrounding Sierra Sur mountains. Coffee growers from this region have been producing coffee for more than three generations in a very traditional, and mostly organic way. This particular lot is certified EU organic. The coffee is fully washed in micro-mills at each farm and is then sun dried on patios and raised beds.

In the cup it is clean and sweet, and reminds us of golden syrup, tangerine and vanilla. If you enjoy it as much as we do, then, once it's safe to do so, I suppose I'll just have to go over there and find some more!

Variety: Bourbon, Typica

Monte Alban

Colombia's Granja La Esperanza is renowned worldwide for its experimental and competition winning coffees. Sweet Valley, a natural-processed colombia variety from Finca Potosi, was one of our favourite coffees last year, so we are delighted to be able to offer it to you for a second year running. If possible, it is even tastier this year - clean, syrupy, and absolutely bursting with fruit flavour. In the cup it reminds us of white grape, mango and retsina.

Finca Potosi started life in 1930 when Israel Correa and Carmen Rosa Vega arrived in Caicedonia by mule from Armenia in the neighbouring department of Quindio seeking unoccupied land. They acquired the land on which Finca Potosi now stands for 4,000 Pesos (about $1.15 USD at the time), and started to plant arabica coffee. Israel and Carmen had fourteen children, and of those children it was their daughter Blanca and her husband Juan Antonio Herrera that were assigned to work on the farm in 1945. Today, Rigoberto Herrera continues the family tradition. Finca Potosi now has 188,725 coffees trees spread over 52 hectares. The farm is split into 10 lots and grows sidra, mandela, san juan, castillo and colombia varieties.

In Don Rigoberto's own words, "I see Café Granja La Esperanza contributing to what we all want in Colombia and the world. The contribution to peace, creating jobs, giving support and good treatment to the people who work in the countryside... That is the future of Café Granja La Esperanza, sowing peace, development and education for people".

Variety: Colombia

Sweet Valley

Our current decaf is comprised of nine lots from eight smallholder farmers located in the Pitalito area of Colombia's Huila Department. The coffee is hand-sorted and processed on each farm before being sent to Descafecol in Manizales for decaffeination by way of the Natural Sugar Cane EA Process. This process involves placing the coffee in a solution of water and ethyl acetate, a naturally occuring compound derived through the fermentation of sugar cane. Aside from resulting in the tastiest decaf coffee we have tried to date, this process also has the best sustainability credentials in comparison to other decaffeination processes that we are aware of. The carbon footprint is kept to a minimum, with the solvent being derived from the domestic sugar cane industry, and the process occuring within Colombia (as opposed to Europe or North America). This also benefits the domestic economy.

Variety: Caturra, Castillo, Colombia

Decaf

This coffee comes from the Reko washing station in Ethiopia's Kochere district, and is sourced via our importing partner Trabocca, who we have come to trust for offering excellent quality, and responsibly sourced coffees, such as Suke Quto and Ndaroini.

The Reko washing station receives coffee cherry from around 850 farmers during harvest season, and has developed a reputation for exceptional quality. The team behind the washing station put this down to the training and education of its staff, and the farmers who supply them, and to the meticulous selection, separation, and lot management of the coffee that is delivered to the washing station.

In the cup it has beautiful stone fruit and berry flavours with a delicious lactic acidity. We think it tastes like peaches with yoghurt and raspberry coulis. Utterly delicious! 

Variety: Kurume, Mixed Heirloom

Reko

The Lake District Search & Mountain Rescue Association (LDSAMRA) provides a vital service here in the Lake District, helping injured and stricken hikers to safety from some of the most remote and precarious places in the country. The vast majority of incidents are safely resolved but there are inevitably a number of fatalities, and without the help of LDSAMRA this number would be much higher.

In order to carry out their work LDSAMRA rely on a team of brave and highly trained volunteers. We are friends with a number of them so are well aware of the great work that they do and the importance of donations to provide them with the kit necessary to do their job effectively.

With this in mind, we donate £1 per kilo of Mountain Rescue sold to LDSAMRA.**

** For the time being we will be splitting the £1 per kilo raised between LDSAMRA and the Rwanda Landslides Appeal more information about which can be found here. 

Our current Mountain Rescue coffee is grown by six smallholder farmers based around the town of San Antonio Huista in Guatemala's famed Huehuetenango region, and has been sourced via our importing partner Primavera.

Primavera was set up by Nadine Rasch who grew up in Guatemala and whose family have had a coffee farm there for four generations. After studying finance in London, Nadine ended up working for a commodities fund where she saw the price for commodity coffee drop sharply. She came to realise that the only way to maintain stable prices for coffee was through quality. After working for one year with speciality coffee importers Mercanta, she moved back to Guatemala to gain experience of how things worked on the ground.

Most of Guatemala's highest quality coffees come from the Huehuetenango region. This is a very remote area of Guatemala, and the farmers' traditional route to market has been through local coyotes who mix all the coffee they collect together a pay the 'market' price. This model leaves no incentive for farmers to practice methods that result in higher quality coffee, such as selective picking and better post-harvest processing. It is Nadine and Primavera's mission to change this. They want to educate farmers to produce better coffee that gives them access to the speciality coffee market, higher prices for their product and a more stable future.

This group of smallholder farmers are just some of the beneficiaries of Primavera's work. They are able to use the premium paid by Primavera to reinvest in their farms and wet mills in the hope of achieving higher yields and better quality coffee in the years to come. The coffee is washed in wet mills on each of the farms then sun-dried on patios. The dried parchment coffee is then transported to Nadine's family farm at Finca el Hato where it is sorted, dry-milled and packed for onward transport to ourselves.

Variety: Caturra, Catuai, Bourbon

Mountain Rescue

Miraflores

Daterra Masterpiece #1

Daterra Masterpiece #2

Vunga

Baixadao

Our current decaf is the decaffeinated version of Mountain Rescue. The coffee is grown, picked, processed and dried in exactly the same way as Mountain Rescue, but is then sent to Descafecol in Manizales for decaffeination by way of the Natural Sugar Cane EA Process.

This process involves placing the coffee in a solution of water and ethyl acetate, a naturally occurring compound derived through the fermentation of sugar cane. Aside from resulting in the tastiest decaf coffee we have tried to date, this process also has the best sustainability credentials in comparison to other decaffeination processes that we are aware of. The carbon footprint is kept to a minimum, with the solvent being derived from the domestic sugar cane industry, and the process occurs within Colombia (as opposed to Europe or North America), which also benefits the domestic economy.

In the cup the coffee is clean and sweet with notes of cocoa, brown sugar and blueberry.

Damian Espinoza Garcia’s farm, Finca La Palma, is located in Alto Pirias, in the Chirinos District of Cajamarca in north-west Peru. The farm occupies 6 hectares, 2.5 of which are secondary forest. On the other 3.5 he grows mostly caturra, but also castillo, catuai and some other varieties. Damian competed in Peru’s 2018 Cup of Excellence and placed 2nd with a washed yellow caturra. We are delighted to have secured another delicious lot of washed yellow caturra from Damian.

In the cup it has a soft, velvety mouthfeel, with notes of white chocolate, chamomile and vanilla.

Damian is one of a number of beneficiaries of an in initiative by our importing partner, Falcon, to improve quality, access to market, support, and remuneration of producers in the region. More typically, producers  have had to sell their coffee to local aggregators for a cheap price. These aggregators mix the coffee they purchase from the various producers together, regardless of quality, before selling it on, either directly to an exporter, or, as is more often the case, to other traders and middlemen. This model remunerates the producers poorly, and provides them with very little incentive to invest in improving the quality of their coffee.

For these reasons, Falcon decided to set up a warehouse in nearby Jaen, and to buy directly from the producers. This has allowed them to control and improve upon existing quality, and to have full financial traceability. You can see how much Damian was paid for his coffee here, and the subsequent chain of costs all the way to ourselves.

This shift in approach will allow Falcon to forge long-term relationships directly with farmers, to improve the coffee quality they can offer from these areas, and to increase producer household income through access to quality based premiums. Falcon now has over 438 registered farmers across the San Ignacio and Jaen provinces, and we look forward to sharing coffees from more of these producers with you over the months and years to come.

Damian Espinoza

We are delighted to bring you another delicious coffee courtesy of our friends and trusted partners at Raw Material. In a similar way to how they operate in Rwanda, Raw Material has teamed up with local partners in Burundi who share similar values and principles to themselves in terms of working to benefit the communities that they support.

The Businde washing station is located in Kayanza province in the north of Burundi, close to the border with Rwanda. It is owned and operated by Zuberi Matsitsi, founder of Matraco Coffee. Around 650 families in the surrounding region provide coffee to the washing station. They receive a premium of 20% above the local market rate for their coffee, whilst the washing station staff earn almost 60% above the average labour rate. The waste coffee pulp produced during processing is distributed to the producers for use as an organic compost, and seedlings are distributed to the farms to increase their yield.

The coffee itself is a natural processed red bourbon. In the cup it is tart and snappy, with great body, and notes of grapefruit, lemon tart and tamarind.

Businde

Our current decaf is grown in the hills surrounding Herrera by the 58 members of the Association of Specialty Coffee Growers of Alto Saldana. The coffee is washed and sun-dried on each farm (average 4.5 hectares), before being sent to Descafecol in Manizales for decaffeination by way of the Natural Sugar Cane EA Process.

This process involves placing the coffee in a solution of water and ethyl acetate, a naturally occurring compound derived through the fermentation of sugar cane. Aside from resulting in the tastiest decaf coffee we have tried to date, this process also has the best sustainability credentials in comparison to other decaffeination processes that we are aware of. The carbon footprint is kept to a minimum, with the solvent being derived from the domestic sugar cane industry, and the process occurs within Colombia (as opposed to Europe or North America), which also benefits the domestic economy.

In the cup the coffee is clean and sweet with notes of cocoa, brown sugar and blueberry.

Sugar Cane Decaf

Rafael Amaya's farm, Finca La Virginia, is located at 1,700-1,800 MASL near the town of Timaná, in Colombia’s Huila department. In 2010 Rafael decided to focus his production on speciality grade coffee, and as a result he was able to sell 20% of his coffee at a significant premium. This was quite a feat at a time when Colombia’s speciality market was relatively small.

Since then Rafael has been constantly striving to learn, and to improve the quality of the coffee that he grows. In 2014 he joined SENA, which provides free agricultural training, and with the assistance of his teacher, he started experimenting with different fermentation techniques. 7 years on, and the results have been dramatic. Rafael is now able to sell 90% of his production as micro-lots of sensational quality.

This particular lot is a caturra that was hand-picked at peak ripeness. The coffee is first floated, and hand-sorted, before being dry-fermented for 100 hours inside GrainPro bags at 20 degrees Celsius, thereby increasing the concentration of lactic acid. It is then pulped, washed and dried on raised beds.

In the cup the coffee is clean, crisp and sweet, with a syrupy mouthfeel, and notes of green apple, pear drops and plum yoghurt.

Rafael Amaya

This coffee is grown predominantly by Danu, and some Pa-O hill-tribe smallholder farmers in the remote mountains surrounding Ywangan, in the Taunggyi district of Myanmar. In the cup it is rich and wild, with notes of white-chocolate, morello cherry, and orange wine..

Mandalay Coffee Group (MCG) was established in 2014, and is owned entirely by citizens of Myanmar. It works with these smallholders, providing support, and processing their coffee to bring it to market. This season MCG worked with over 50 smallholder farmers, each of which cultivate between 0.25 and 3 acres of land, with coffee being intercropped with the like of avocado, jackfruit, papaya and macadamia.

The ripe hand-picked coffee cherries are dropped off by the smallholder farmers at local collection points, where it is inspected, graded and purchased by an agent working on behalf of MCG. The coffee is then transported to MCG’s processing mill in Pyin Oo Lwin, about 5 hours’ drive away, where it is hand sorted to remove under-ripe and over-ripe cherries, before being laid out to dry on raised beds.

Ywangan

This coffee is grown by smallholder farmers located around Malabe, a village in the Ermera municipality in the west of Timor-Leste. The coffee here grows in the forests; shaded, untouched, and organic by default. The lot is made up of hibrido de timor and typica varieties that are hand-picked when ripe, and collected daily for processing at Raw Material’s wet mill and processing centre in nearby Atsabe.

Having found its sovereignty in 2002, Timor-Leste is one of the world’s youngest countries. As its oil reserves begin to run dry, the development of the agriculture sector is rapidly becoming an important pillar for the structural transformation of the country’s economy, and coffee is set to become Timor-Leste's most vital export.

The municipality of Ermera is home to the largest coffee production volumes, but almost 60% of the municipality's population live below the poverty line. Productivity, however, is extremely low, alongside profitability which is both low and volatile. This is because almost all coffee is sold on the commodity market for a discounted “C” price. Our importing partner, Raw Material, met with groups of producers in villages across Atsabe to learn how the coffee market has served them in recent history.

On the back of these meetings, Raw Material and the producers developed a plan for a more prosperous future, that included: (1) sustainably raising and maintaining the quality of Atsabe’s coffee predictably above 80 points, (2) connecting with those roasters who want to commit long-term, and (3) systematically solving the many challenges that can obstruct the route to the speciality market, including financial, legal, cultural, infrastructure, and technical challenges.

Raw Material built its first custom wet mill and processing centre in Atsabe in April 2018, with a view to improving the quality of the coffee grown, and allowing the farmers to access the much higher prices commanded by the speciality coffee market. Raw Material drew on their experience working in other coffee-producing countries to combine elements that would most likely improve Ermera’s coffee quality given the unique set of challenges facing the region.

Each section of the mill uses materials that are local, and readily available. The mill uses gravity to move coffee through the various processing stages, which means no double-handling, and no unnecessary machinery. he mill serves not only as a central hub for processing the cherry of the producers Raw Material work with across Ermera, but also as a meeting point for the village chiefs and neighbourhood leaders. It also serves as a hub for training courses in both cultivation, picking, and processing for local producers.

The result in this instance is a beautifully clean and balanced coffee, with notes of cocoa, golden raisin and green apple.

Malabe

ORIGIN  Daterra
COUNTRY  Brazil
ALTITUDE  1,150 MASL
CERTIFICATION  Rainforest Alliance
PROCESS  Tree Dried Natural
VARIETY  Red Bourbon

Daterra is one of the most pioneering and inspirational farms in the world, and we are proud to always have one of their coffees underpinning our offering.

We select Penny Rock from seasonal crop to deliver a cup that bears all the classic hallmarks of coffee from the Cerrado Mineiro region of Brazil. The coffee is well-developed during the roast to accentuate body and sweetness, but is tempered to allow its character room to shine through and express itself in the cup.

This year we have selected a tree-dried natural processed red bourbon from the farm. In the cup it is clean, sweet and full-bodied with notes of toffee, double-cream and almond butter.

ORIGIN  Diego Samuel Bermudez Tapia, Finca El Paraíso, El Tambo, Cauca
COUNTRY  Colombia
ALTITUDE  1,700-1.950 MASL
PROCESS  Extended Anaerobic Fermentation / Washed (Thermal Shock)
VARIETY  Castillo

For many of you, Diego Samuel Bermudez Tapia will need no introduction. In recent years he has gained a reputation as one of Colombia's most innovative producers. He is responsible for some of the most memorable coffees that we have tasted over the past couple of years, so it gives us great pleasure to have secured some of what has become a stone-cold classic - his extended anaerobic fermentation, washed thermal shock castillo. In the cup it is tropical and complex, with notes of passion fruit, lychee, peach and rose.

The coffee first of all undergoes anaerobic fermentation in cherry for 28 hours in tanks with relief valves at a temperature of 19°C. The coffee is then pulped, before undergoing a similar fermentation, this time for 40 hours at 21°C. The coffee is then washed with water at 40°C, and then again with water at 12°C, a process that Diego refers to as ‘thermal shock’. The washed coffee then undergoes a controlled drying at 42°C and relative humidity of 25% until a bean moisture level of 10-11% has been achieved. The resulting cup is just rewards for the care and attention paid by Diego and his team during processing.

Diego was born in Bolivar, Cauca, and has dedicated the last 13 years of his life to growing coffee. He works on his farm, El Paraíso, with his wife, two brothers, and two daughters, and has a seemingly insatiable thirst for learning, improving, experimentation, and pushing the boundaries of what can be achieved with the coffee that he grows. He built a laboratory at the farm, in the first instance to learn about cupping and roasting, facilitating real-time feedback on the success of his experiments, and has since gone on to develop fermentation protocols that have seen the farm go from strength to strength, producing some of the world's most exceptional and distinctive coffees, and winning multiple awards in the process.

Red Bank Coffee Roasters

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Red Bank Coffee Roasters

🇬🇧 United Kingdom

Served in Coffee Shops

Coffee Roasts

Bookkisa

Damian Espinoza

Diego Bermudez

Eli Espinoza

Ichuga

Mountain Rescue

Penny Rock

Sugar Cane Decaf

Sweet Valley

Yoloxochitilan

Coffee archive

Baixadao

Businde

Daterra Masterpiece #1

Daterra Masterpiece #2

Decaf

Decaf

Las Palomas

Malabe

Miraflores

Monte Alban

Ndaroini Kenya

Penny Rock

Rafael Amaya

Reko

Vunga

Ywangan

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