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

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.

Monte Alban

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Monte Alban