This coffee comes from a washing-station at Adado, which is in the kebele, or village, of Shara, in the woreda, or district, of Guanga, in the Yirgacheffe region. This coffee is named after the local tribe, "Adado." In these coffees, typically apricots and peaches with supportive citrus and floral higher tones come together in a delightful cup. The Natural process of these lots really complement the typical profile of the washed coffee beautifully and even shine through the heavy berry overtones in a natural process. 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. The coffee is sorted and processed into lots without retaining information about whose coffee harvest is in which bag or which lot.

Ethiopia - Adado

When it comes to coffee you won't get the hard sell from us. We're big believers in just letting the product speak for itself. Rather than just telling you about how we can help you, we prefer to show you.

The Good Coffee Cartel

Might cop me a Bronco to ride for the summer. 

We are pleased to present our second seasonal espresso blend. This is Bronco. 

BRazil ON COlombia. Bronco. As the name suggests, it habitually bucks. A Pulped Natural Brazil is hazelnuts and chocolate, sugar browning. Washed Colombia brings clarity and character. We're still all about balance baby.  

Bronco - Seasonal Espresso Blend

COJONES /kəˈhəʊneɪz/
noun
1. a man's testicles.
2. courage; guts

Without the awareness that men’s health charities create around testicular cancer, The Good Coffee Cartel might never have existed. When one of our founders was diagnosed with testicular cancer in 2013 it was a tough one to take - but at least he knew what to look for when, at the end of 2019, he was diagnosed again with a new primary cancer. Luckily in both cases the cancer was caught early and after surgery and chemotherapy he made a quick recovery and was back to his normal annoying self relatively fast. This is thanks in no small measure to a strong support network of family, friends and workmates but also to the hard work that men’s health charities put in around mental health and suicide prevention, prostate cancer and testicular cancer.

That’s why, in our support of Movember, we are launching this limited edition coffee: ‘COJONES’. 100% of the proceeds will go directly to men’s health charities doing excellent work in mental health and suicide prevention, prostate cancer and testicular cancer.

We could not have done this without the support of our wonderful green bean partner Falcon Speciality, who have very generously sponsored this coffee. Falcon exists to facilitate the relationship between coffee producers and coffee roasters - providing a clear line of sight between farmers and origin, and you, drinking a cup of coffee in our shop. Falcon’s core values include embracing diversity in all things, treating everyone they interact with, including one another, with dignity and respect, being of service, constantly seeking improvement through innovation, having a positive impact wherever they trade and being a good company to work for, and with. We second that. 

Cojones: Limited Edition Coffee

This is Blueprint. From time to time it's important to reflect on why we do things. Anything. Small things and big things. The day-to-day of life can distract us, so we feel it's important to pull out the blueprint and make sure we're keeping to our plan: to source and elevate beautiful coffees from beautiful origins. We have always wanted to present them to you in a way that reflects the huge respect we have for our producers at origin.

Natural Brazil meets Natural Ethiopia. Expect juiciness. Expect zing. Expect sweetness. Expect one of the most interesting coffee around.  

Blueprint - Seasonal Espresso Blend

In the last few years, Uganda has slowly been establishing a reputation for some very tasty coffees. This is the first lot we have bought from Uganda, and we’re very proud of the behind-the-scenes stuff that happens in getting this coffee to you. A partnership between our green bean buyer, Falcon Speciality and The Coffee Gardens brings us (and now you) this coffee. The Coffee Gardens are a Uganda-based organisation with a mission to offer above market prices, ongoing training and access to finance for farmers, as well as promoting gender equality, environmental protection and full transparency along the supply chain. Heroes. And it’s tasty too.  

VARIETAL  - Nyasaland, SL14, SL28
LOCATION - Lower Bukyabo

Nabiliwa

Speaking from personal experience, naturally processed Ethiopian coffees tend to be the coffees that make people do a double-take and go "what did I just taste?". The complexity of flavour, sweetness & fruitiness all abound in the natural Ethiopian lots we showcase. They're the kind of eye-opening coffees that illustrate the depths and diversity of this product that we love so much. 

VARIETAL - Ethiopian Heirloom
LOCATION  - Sagara, Bensa district, Sidama, Ethiopia

MORE ABOUT THIS COFFEE
This is one of the lots that have come from a group of small farmers in the Sidama region of Southern Ethiopia. With the changes to export laws in Ethiopia, small producers are now able to market their coffee directly, but this is still very challenging, and few have access to capital to make this happen. This group of farmers in Sidama all have between 3 and 12 hectares and all have their own export licenses, however, this year they have assigned Buriso Amaje as their group leader and he coordinated the milling and export of the coffee alongside the Falcon (our green bean partner) team in Addis. Since these producers are small, their main limitation is cash flow, so Falcon prefinanced the coffee in order to ensure they weren’t forced to sell their coffee locally for cash. This group have amazing potential and this year we are seeing some of that, but with the help of Falcon’s agronomist, we plan to train them on-farm management and picking, processing and drying. Bekele Belachew is the owner of 6 hectares of coffee in the Sagara village in the Bensa district of Sidama. Bekele and his six children and wife do all of the work on the farm, where they compost and add manure and have started pruning their trees. The coffee is grown under the shade of the native forest. Bekele and his family grow the 74158 and 74160 varieties which are both selections from the Jimma research centre. These varieties were selected from wild plants in the Metu-Bishari forest in the Illuababora zone in Western Ethiopia. They’re widely distributed varieties across Ethiopia and were selected for their resistance to CBD and high yield. These two selections are known to have very pronounced citrus and floral notes which are prized by coffee buyers. All of Bekele’s coffee is picked by himself and his family and then processed and dried at their family home. Like many small producers in Ethiopia, Bekele is still producing only natural coffee, since that is the tradition and they don’t have access to a pulping machine.

Ethiopia - Bekele Belachew

Sometimes you just want a nice coffee flavoured cuddle. Sugar browning notes and some milk chocolate and pecan flavour characteristics make this a comfort coffee for when the world seems just a bit too mad. 

VARIETAL  - Catuai
LOCATION - Minas Gerais

Brazil - Ãgua Limpia

Big on flavour, low on anxiety levels. 

It’s taken us bloody long enough but here’s a decaf coffee that we actually like, sourced from Cafe Imports. The decaf offerings from Cafe Imports are cupped specifically for their quality and sourced by single-origin, either region or farm. They call them Decaf De Caña because they're custom decaffeinated in Colombia, using a special, natural process that utilizes a solvent of ethyl acetate, which can be derived from fermented sugar. Cafe Imports staff has personally visited the decaffeination plant several times, and were impressed by the process as well as the quality in the cup!

The process works by soaking green coffee in a solution of E.A., which bonds to the salts of chlorogenic acid in the coffee and allows for the removal of caffeine. The coffee is removed from the solvent and steamed at low pressure to remove the E.A. compounds, and the finished product retains its flavour integrity but contains almost no caffeine at all. (The beans will contain a maximum of 0.01–0.03% caffeine.)

Sounds tricky. All you need to know, really, is that this is a very fine Colombian lot that won’t give you heart palpitations. 

DECAF: Colombia Decaf de Caña

Brazil - Sitio Tres Barras

Rwanda - Gitega

Peru - Elvis Tineo Rafael

DECAF: Brazil Onze Mil Campo Alegres

PERU - JOSE LINO MENDOZA VASQUEZ

Another coffee on the extreme end of the flavour spectrum from Peru: fast becoming a favourite origin amongst some of the team here at Cartel HQ. To rip off a famous fizzy drink slogan, you’re looking for a Totally Tropical Taste with flavours of pineapple, mango and strawberry, leading into tamarind and spice notes held up by a velvety body. 

Looking for something interesting to kick off summer? It’s this. This is it. 

FLAVOUR PROFILE - Tropical flavours, pineapple, mango with red berries reminiscent of strawberry, tamarind and deep spice notes in a smooth velvety mouthfeel.

VARIETAL - Catuai
LOCATION - San Antonio, Huaba

Jose Lino Mendoza Vasquez

ETHIOPIA - MUSTEFA ABAKENO

Another one of our coffees returning from seasons past. We really like to see how coffees have improved and developed over the seasons, and we’re warmly welcoming back this natural from Mustefa Abakeno in the Jimma region of Western Ethiopia. 

FLAVOUR PROFILE - Peach, mango and apple with a sweet brown sugar body and velvet milk chocolate
VARIETAL  - 74110, 74112 & Heirloom
LOCATION -  Agaro, Jimma, Western Ethiopia
HOW WE'RE BREWING IT - Aeropress 

POSTAGE 

Currently, we roast every Monday and carry out our quality control, analysis and packaging on Tuesday. We ship everything from Tuesday-Friday and orders placed after 12 noon on Friday will be fulfilled the following week. All our coffees are shipped as whole beans unless requested otherwise in the 'notes' section at checkout. Although we send orders First Class, please bear in mind that all couriers are currently COVID impacted - even Royal Mail - so please allow 7 days for delivery.

For our EU customers - in the wake of Brexit we have been experiencing some delays with deliveries while they - basically - figure all this shit out. Please bear with us. 

MORE ABOUT THIS COFFEE

Mustefa Abakeno is a smallholder farmer who owns 18 hectares of land near to Agaro in the Jimma area of Western Ethiopia. His farm and wet mill are located 2040 metres above sea level and the farm is planted with a variety of coffee cultivars from the Jimma research centre. Mustefa has a small disk pulper, which he uses for half of his coffee, the other half is dried as a natural. Due to a lack of water in the area and limited space to ferment the coffee, Mustefa ferments the coffee for a short period of time before he moves it to his drying beds, and the result is similar to a light honey process. Mustefa has recently registered as an exporter and is now able to sell his coffee directly to buyers, due to recent regulation changes in Ethiopia.

Mustefa has also set up a small wet mill where he processes coffee from his own farm and that of local ‘outgrowers’. We actually had one of these lots in towards the tail end of 2020 - Jamilaa Abakeno - a washed that was very delicate floral, tea flavours with honey sweetness. The outgrowers’ coffee is kept separate and dried on raised African beds. Mustefa’s outgrowers are all neighbours and have between 4 and 10 hectares of land each. He is processing both natural and washed coffee and all of it is semi-shade dried. Direct relationships like this provide a huge opportunity to drive up quality as our partners Falcon Speciality are able to work with Mustefa and his outgrowers on cherry selection, drying and farm management, covering all aspects of quality best practises. By working directly we are also able to make the supply chain much more efficient and maximise the amount of money that goes back to the producers.

We bought this coffee 2 or 3 harvests ago, and along with other coffees we’ve managed to revisit in 2020/2021, like Adado (Ethiopia) or Gitega Hills (Rwanda) it’s a very cool thing to be able to taste the improvements in coffee quality - harvest to harvest - that come from supporting green bean partners who actively invest in sustainability at the farm level as well as the positive reception that we’ve experienced from our own customers here in the UK, which allows us to keep showcasing these origins in the way we want to.  

Ethiopia - Mustefa Abakeno

High comfort levels available with this coffee. Smooth notes of milk chocolate, sugar browning and toffee flavours and a zingy marmalade thing happening there as well. Brazil coffees. This is why we keep coming back!

MORE ABOUT THIS COFFEE

Mauro Riccetto is a descendant of Italians who came to Brazil in the early 1900s aiming to find lands and jobs. They settled in the region of Divinolândia and São Sebastião da Grama, working on coffee plantations. They managed to buy a small farm for their family, where besides coffee, they planted beans, rice, corn, and other crops for subsistence and raised cattle.

Agriculture has been passed down through generations, and Mauro continues to practice everything he learned from his parents and grandparents. He works with his brothers in the fields, where coffee is now the main crop. 

After the harvest, the coffee goes to the patio where it is dried in the sun aiming a more uniform result. After a few days it may go through a mechanical dryer, depending on the weather and the pace of the harvest. Afterward, the coffee is sent to the tulha (wooden boxes) to rest for a few days before being processed. It is then classified before being sold.

Brazil - Sitio Contendas

Summer is here oh hell yeah. Fruity and clean with flavours of blackberry, lychee and strawberry. Kenya, oh how we’ve missed ye. 

VARIETAL - SL28, SL34
LOCATION - Kirinyaga, Central Kenya

POSTAGE

Currently, we roast every Monday and carry out our quality control, analysis and packaging on Tuesday. We ship everything from Tuesday-Friday and orders placed after 12 noon on Friday will be fulfilled the following week. All our coffees are shipped as whole beans unless requested otherwise in the 'notes' section at checkout. Although we send orders First Class, please bear in mind that all couriers are currently COVID impacted - even Royal Mail - so please allow 7 days for delivery.

For our EU customers - in the wake of Brexit we have been experiencing some delays with deliveries while they - basically - figure all this shit out. Please bear with us. 

REDUCE, REUSE, RECYCLE

Our cans are made from tin plate steel and therefore can be reused or recycled infinitely. We encourage you to reuse this can as much as you...can. Get it? 'Can' has more than one meaning. We offer a discount in-store when you refill your can. You can also refill at selected wholesale partners where available. No wholesale partner in your area? Let us know and we'll work on changing that. The cans can also be upcycled, or if you've accumulated too many they can be recycled infinitely. 

MORE ABOUT THIS COFFEE

The Kii factory is located in Ngairiama in the Gichugu division of Kirinyaga district in Central Province. It is one of 3 factories, along with Kiangoi and Karimikui, which make up the Rungeto Farmers Coop Society. This coop was established in 1953 and now has around 3507 members. Each smallholder member has around a hectare of land for growing coffee, typically alongside vegetables for the family. The area has rich and fertile red volcanic soil at altitudes of 1700 to 1900 meters above sea level and receives between 1600 and 1900mm of rainfall annually.

Coffee is handpicked by the smallholder members and delivered to the Kii factory where it is pulped. This initially separates the dense beans from the immature ‘mbuni’s (floaters) using water floatation which means the denser beans will sink and be sent through channels to the fermentation tank. This first stage of fermentation will last for around 24 hours, after which the beans are washed and sent to the secondary fermentation tank for another 12-24 hours. Once the fermentation process is completed, the beans enter the washing channels where floaters are separated further and the dense beans are cleaned of mucilage. The washed beans will then enter soaking tanks where they can sit under clean water for as long as another 24 hours. This soaking process allows amino acids and proteins in the cellular structure of each bean to develop which results in higher levels of acidity and complex fruit flavors in the cup - it is thought that this process of soaking contributes to the flavor profiles that Kenyan coffees are so famed for. The beans are then transferred to the initial drying tables where they are laid in a thin layer to allow around 50% of the moisture to be quickly removed. This first stage of drying can last around 6 hours before the beans are gathered and laid in thicker layers for the remaining 5-10 days of the drying period. The dry parchment coffee is then delivered to a private mill and put into ‘bodegas’ to rest – these are raised cells made of chicken wire which allows the coffee to breathe fully. Coffee is traditionally sold through the country’s auction system, though recent amendments to the coffee law of Kenya have brought about the introduction of direct trading whereby farmers can by-pass the auction and sell directly to specialty roasters around the world. Our green bean partner, Falcon Speciality, uses that system to import this coffee as it brings about better return for the smallholder. 

Kenya - Kii AA

We’ve got another belter of a Brazilian here. This naturally processed Red Catuai is packing some serious tropical noted with hints of cacao nibs and dark chocolate.

VARIETAL: Red Catuai
LOCATION: Divinolandia, São Paulo

POSTAGE 

Currently, we roast every Monday and carry out our quality control, analysis and packaging on Tuesday. We ship everything from Tuesday-Friday and orders placed after 12 noon on Friday will be fulfilled the following week. All our coffees are shipped as whole beans unless requested otherwise in the 'notes' section at checkout. Although we send orders First Class, please bear in mind that all couriers are currently COVID impacted - even Royal Mail - so please allow 7 days for delivery.

REDUCE, REUSE, RECYCLE

Our cans are made from tin plate steel and therefore can be reused or recycled infinitely. We encourage you to reuse this can as much as you...can. Get it? 'Can' has more than one meaning. We offer a discount in-store when you refill your can. You can also refill at selected wholesale partners where available. No wholesale partner in your area? Let us know and we'll work on changing that. The cans can also be upcycled, or if you've accumulated too many they can be recycled infinitely. 

MORE ABOUT THIS COFFEE

This small lot from Beija Flor is the work of Daughter and Father team Viviane Aparecida Quintana & Bernado Quintana Neto. Their farm is just 19 hectares perched at an altitude of 1200m. 

This year’s coffee is exceptional and delivers topical notes of pineapple, supported by toasted walnuts, and has a rich and heavy body. 

Beija Flor translates literally as ‘flower kisser’ which is an elegant description of the beautiful hummingbirds which are common on the farm. The harvest here is 100% manual as would be expected for a farm of this size.  Each lot is separated and marked by each day's picking as it is delivered to the patio where the coffee is turned around 10 times a day to ensure even drying. 

Brazil - Sitio Beija Flor

El Rubi. It’s a gem of a coffee. The perfect coffee for summer rolling in. Super clean, almost effervescent with flavours of peach and honey, and a little green apple zinger just to keep things interesting. Total session coffee. 

VARIETAL: Pink Bourbon
LOCATION: San Adolfo, Huila

POSTAGE 

Currently, we roast every Monday and carry out our quality control, analysis and packaging on Tuesday. We ship everything from Tuesday-Friday and orders placed after 12 noon on Friday will be fulfilled the following week. All our coffees are shipped as whole beans unless requested otherwise in the 'notes' section at checkout. Although we send orders First Class, please bear in mind that all couriers are currently COVID impacted - even Royal Mail - so please allow 7 days for delivery.

For our EU customers - in the wake of Brexit we have been experiencing some delays with deliveries while they - basically - figure all this shit out. Please bear with us. 

REDUCE, REUSE, RECYCLE

Our cans are made from tin plate steel and therefore can be reused or recycled infinitely. We encourage you to reuse this can as much as you...can. Get it? 'Can' has more than one meaning. We offer a discount in-store when you refill your can. You can also refill at selected wholesale partners where available. No wholesale partner in your area? Let us know and we'll work on changing that. The cans can also be upcycled, or if you've accumulated too many they can be recycled infinitely. 

MORE ABOUT THIS COFFEE

This coffee from Finca El Rubi comes from the Acevedo region of Huila where Heiner Lazo has been farming coffee for many years. He acquired El Rubi 25 years ago with his wife Johanna. The farm is named El Rubi by the previous owner who named it this after the precious jewel as it was a present for her when they married many year ago. Heiner and Johanna now see it as their precious ruby.

El Rubi for many years has been grown with caturra, colombia and castillo but in the more recent years they have decided to start experimenting with more exoitic varietals. On the farm they have a variety called papayo (named after the papaya fruit), Sl 28 and also 7,500 pink bourbon trees which they started to plant 3 and a half years ago. Heiner and Johanna are also experimenting with processing and are working with temperature controlled fermentation and anaerobic fermentation.

Cultivated from hybrid of Red and Yellow Bourbon, Pink Bourbon is said to have been first found in Pitalito, Huila. This variety can be hard to grow and cultivate due to the genetic volatility but it is shown to have good resistant to rust and produce exquiste cup qualities. Pink Bourbons have a substantial amount of glucose which has been thought to help give the coffee in the cup its more delicate, soft and complex profile.

Heiner takes great care in the selection of this coffee ensuring it is collected at the optimum point of ripeness before then being pulped and dry fermented over night. After this the coffee is then sun dried for between 7 -10 days depending on the weather down to between 10-11 % moisture.

Colombia - El Rubi

Currently, we roast every Monday and carry out our quality control, analysis and packaging on Tuesday. We ship everything from Tuesday-Friday and orders placed after 12 noon on Friday will be fulfilled the following week. All our coffees are shipped as whole beans unless requested otherwise in the 'notes' section at checkout. Although we send orders First Class, please bear in mind that all couriers are currently COVID impacted - even Royal Mail - so please allow 7 days for delivery.

For our EU customers - in the wake of Brexit we have been experiencing some delays with deliveries while they - basically - figure all this shit out. Please bear with us. 

REDUCE, REUSE, RECYCLE

Our cans are made from tin plate steel and therefore can be reused or recycled infinitely. We encourage you to reuse this can as much as you...can. Get it? 'Can' has more than one meaning. We offer a discount in-store when you refill your can. You can also refill at selected wholesale partners where available. No wholesale partner in your area? Let us know and we'll work on changing that. The cans can also be upcycled, or if you've accumulated too many they can be recycled infinitely. 

MORE ABOUT THIS COFFEE

Finca La Colombia is part of the Cafe Lumbus family who own and run 5 medium to large farms in and around Ciudad Bolivar located in Antioquia. They are focused on producing specialty and high grade coffees from this region with attention to all aspects including the environmental and social aspects of their business. The farm in total is 130 hectares but only 65 hectares are used for coffee production. 30 hecatares  are woodland and another 40 hectares at the top of the farm is a protected nature reserve for the native species and water source. There are 120 families who depend on this water source from the reserve. The farm is fertilised with organic compounds as the main source of amino acids, to increase the productivity and quality of crops. They also implement the planting of leguminous crops by the coffees trees to help fix nitrogen in the soil. On the farm they plant the varieties Caturra, Castillo, Maragogype, Gesha, Bourbon Rosado, Bourbon Cidra and Papayo. As well as having an exotic nursery they are also experimenting with different processing methods from washed through to carbonic maceration. This lot is a maragogype that comes from the Lot “Solidario” where there are 13,000 trees in production. The coffee is specifically hand selected before being taken down to the farm hacienda where it goes through a second additional picking phase by a specialist team of local women. The coffee is then washed again and taken to raised African beds where it is dried for 15 - 20 days at a temperature of 35c until the moisture reaches 11%.

Colombia - La Colombia

Currently, we roast every Monday and carry out our quality control, analysis and packaging on Tuesday. We ship everything from Tuesday-Friday and orders placed after 12 noon on Friday will be fulfilled the following week. All our coffees are shipped as whole beans unless requested otherwise in the 'notes' section at checkout. Although we send orders First Class, please bear in mind that all couriers are currently COVID impacted - even Royal Mail - so please allow 7 days for delivery.

For our EU customers - in the wake of Brexit we have been experiencing some delays with deliveries while they - basically - figure all this shit out. Please bear with us. 

REDUCE, REUSE, RECYCLE

Our cans are made from tin plate steel and therefore can be reused or recycled infinitely. We encourage you to reuse this can as much as you...can. Get it? 'Can' has more than one meaning. We offer a discount in-store when you refill your can. You can also refill at selected wholesale partners where available. No wholesale partner in your area? Let us know and we'll work on changing that. The cans can also be upcycled, or if you've accumulated too many they can be recycled infinitely. 

The Good Coffee Cartel

4.0

The Good Coffee Cartel

🇬🇧 United Kingdom

Coffee Roasts

Brazil - Sitio Beija Flor

Bronco - Seasonal Espresso Blend

Colombia - La Colombia

DECAF: Brazil Onze Mil Campo Alegres

Kenya - Kii AA

Lanterne Rouge - Seasonal Blend

Coffee archive

Blueprint - Seasonal Espresso Blend

Brazil - Sitio Contendas

Brazil - Sitio Tres Barras

Brazil - Ãgua Limpia

Cojones: Limited Edition Coffee

Colombia - El Rubi

DECAF: Colombia Decaf de Caña

Ethiopia - Adado

Ethiopia - Bekele Belachew

Ethiopia - Mustefa Abakeno

Jose Lino Mendoza Vasquez

Nabiliwa

Peru - Elvis Tineo Rafael

Rwanda - Gitega

New Coffee Review