The Costa Rican coffee from CoopePalmares is a fully pulped natural sun dried coffee. The project to produce an African natural style coffee involved 12 growing districts, approximately 20 coffee growing families per district. Additionally 20 international coffee roasters were invited to Costa Rica to witness the process, cup the coffees, and critique the results.
This is an incredibly clean coffee, clear with the flavor of chocolate malt and deep sweet cherry. When hot the coffee seems deceptively sweet, as it cools the flavor develops a more round and robust character. A strong sharp distinct taste of ripe coffee cherry pervades the entire cup. The aroma is particularly fresh sweet cherry, imagine sniffing a freshly opened cherry coke cola and biting a chocolate malt-ball, and you have an idea of what I'm talking about!
Chapada Diamantina is grown in the Bahia state in northeast Brazil, and the coffee is Certified Organic - in fact it is is Demeter Biodynamic certified. What distinguishes a Demeter certified Biodynamic® farm from a certified organic farm is that, in its entirety, a Demeter Biodynamic farm is managed as a living organism. This is the fundamental principal of the Biodynamic farming method. The Chapada Diamantina region is the largest biodynamic coffee producing region in Brazil with over 600 workers and their families involved in this form of agriculture.
Chapada Diamantina is "dry Procceced", popularly known as “pulped natural”. With this style of processing, the ripe harvested beans are passed through a mechanical device which removes the cherry and most of the mucilage as well. The coffee is then dried for 7 to 12 days on raised mesh bottomed “African” beds. The farm is a fascinating mix of shade and fruit trees, coffee, and harvestable timber on fairly steep hillsides. While the entire farm encompasses over 300 hectares, only 43 are under coffee cultivation.
The pulped natural method as practiced at Chapada Diamantina is rare in that little to no water is used. This leaves more residual mucilage or “honey” on the beans than normally occurs with this processing style. In fact, the dried pergamino still has a sticky consistency, and smells like maple, honey, and tropical fruit. These same flavors stay with the coffee after processing and roasting, resulting in one of the most unique coffees from Brazil I have ever tasted. This coffee works very well for espresso, it produces a huge head of soft velvet crema.
Produced only 25 km from the city of Guatemala, the highest standards of quality are used in preparing and exporting Palo Alto Azul. The farmers insist on honoring the old traditional ways without the use of machinery, preserving 150 years of history. Palo Alto Azul is a diverse farm, with a dairy and ornamental plant nursery and fully 75% of the land is set aside as a nature preserve.
Shade-grown coffee is one of the most environmentally benign crops in the world and is perhaps the ideal agro-forestry crop. The use of large trees for shading coffee is a Guatemalan coffee-growing custom and is said to have been developed here. Coffee grown under the proper level of shade takes longer to develop, which favors the development of rich and complex flavors. This is an exceptionally sweet, delightful coffee, flavorful without being overpowering.
Having a troubled past plagued by some of the gravest of human tragedies of recent times, Uganda has been more commonly known for its history of human rights abuses, political repression, ethnic persecution and an AIDS epidemic which affected 30% of the population during its peak in the 1990s. A nation of great natural beauty and abundant resources, Uganda was once called "the pearl of Africa" by Winston Churchill but was sadly mired in civil war and economic catastrophe.
Agriculture forms the backbone of Uganda's economy with small family owned landholdings of less than 1 hectare accounting for over 93% of an estimated 500,000 farms. Traditionally, coffee cultivation has always been a major preoccupation and one of the few sources of income available to rural families. Landholdings are passed on from one generation to the next with farms producing both food for consumption and traditional cash crops. Endowed with a varied climate, ample fertile land and regular rainfall, Uganda has one of the best environments for agricultural and coffee production in sub-Saharan Africa.
Practicing traditional farming methods, Uganda's farmers plant their coffee trees in between food crops such as banana trees for shade. During harvest time families get together and selectively hand pick ripe cherries from the trees which are then laid out to dry on specially made papyrus mats under the hot equatorial sun. This adherence to tried and tested techniques, on naturally fertile soils produce arguably some of the best coffees in Africa, if not the world.
KIRI – Is a Kikuyu name meaning “where there is.” MARA – Is a Kikuyu name referring to the glacier at the top of the mountain.
Kirimara is in the Central Kenya region on the windward side of Mount Kenya facing the glacier, 18 miles as the crow flies to the peak of Mt. Kenya close to an ancient elephant migration corridor connecting this mountain with the Aberdare Mountain Range. These areas are significant water catchment and wildlife habitats. There has been no recent cutting of trees, and the bush, trees and rivers are home to various wildlife species including birds, fish, insects and worms. Coffee pulp from the estate is used as recycled manure. The farm also uses organic animal manure in average quantities. The estate is covered by a variety of trees including Acacia, Eucalyptus, Grevillea, Albizia, Jacaranda various Fig Trees, and indigenous bushes.
Kirimara Primary School is located on the edge of the farm on land that was jointly contributed by neighboring farms (Kirimara Estate included). All young children of school going age in the country are required to attend free primary school. Kirimara Estate does not employ children. Youth between ages 14-17 years are allowed to work during school holidays but only if accompanied by parents or guardians.
Kenyan coffee enjoys a celebrated reputation for its bold and distinctive flavor. Thanks to drying in "african beds" there is the sweet aroma of honey, a vibrant wine-like acidity, giving way to a citrus acidity and flavors reminiscent of plum and apricot. In the cup you will find deep fruit tones of currants and berries, an intense lemon peel essence and a penetrating complexity of flavor that reveals itself slowly from first sip to last.
This is an unusually huge Peaberry. You’ll taste the velvety body and a smokey, nutty sweetness in the cup. This is an extremely satisfying rich and full-bodied coffee.
NOTE: This is an intense, clean, shocking classic. If you enjoyed the Bali Blue Krishna, this is your cup of coffee!
Harvested just north of Lake Tawar in the Bener Meriah region from old coffee trees, this Sumatra is labeled by the growers as an authentic "Retro Classico". Grown in the sweet black volcanic earth, this coffee delivers a rich and buttery cup that amazes with it's powerful, unmistakably strong body. Also noteworthy is the unusually large bean size. A "well-endowed" Indonesian in every way, this is one of the biggest, baddest beans we've handled in a long time!
Sumatran coffees are processed in a unique way. From the point the coffee is picked and the cherry skin pulped off, the process follows the way it is done for most washed coffees produced around the world. As with these other washed coffees, fermentation is complete when the mucilage or fruit surrounding the parchment (or pergamino) has dissolved and the fruit-free parchment rinsed off. At this point, the bean within the parchment still has very high moisture content.
In almost all washed coffee origins throughout the world, before the parchment is hulled, it is dried, either in the sun or in machine dryers, until the moisture content is down to around 15-13% at this point the coffee is ready to ship, store and roast.
So herein lies the difference; in most places, the bean is dried in the parchment and the parchment or pergamino is milled off the beans when they are dry… not in Sumatra.
In Sumatra, the bean is still very wet when the parchment is hulled. The bean comes out of the parchment quite soft, white, and spongy. These wet soft beans are then sundried. Typically, the drying conditions in Sumatra include on-and-off sessions of fierce tropical sun, interrupted regularly by torrential thunder showers. This slow inconsistent drying is in large part what provides the essence of a Sumatra Mandheling, both in flavor and appearance.
El Salvador Pipil El Espino is grown in the Apaneca-Ilamatepec Mountain Range. Pipil Co-Op is part of the Ucraprobex Association and became the first certified organic coffee farm in El Salvador in 1993. Ucraprobex is an association of cooperative coffee farms, in which the land is both cooperatively owned and collectively farmed. The association stresses environmentally sound production methods and strives to improve the quality of life for its members, through improved health care, education, housing and recreation. Ucraprobex is a member of Itzalco, whose members form the Fine Coffee Association of El Salvador.
Most of these small producers are of Aztec decent and continue to grow and harvest their coffee with religious respect for the environment. The growers of Pipil practice organic cultivation based on the following goals and guidelines: to protect biodiversity by means of shade and associated crops, to practice the ecological management of soil by using protection and organic nutrition measures, to practice pest management without use of chemicals, to abide by strict quality control standards and to offer tracking and certification, ensuring traceability.
The coffee is organically grown under a rich canopy of shade trees, making the farms a sanctuary to many migratory birds and other endangered local species. Allowed to mature slowly and naturally, the ripe coffee cherries are harvested, wet processed and then sun dried. This is a strong coffee with a rich flavor and fragrant aroma, a pleasant earthiness and a hint of cocoa and cinnamon. In the hot cup, I taste smokey roasted chestnuts, once the cup cools I taste dried prunes. This is a very solid Central American coffee, as close to a "French Roast" in flavor as you will find from the Americas.
Pluma Altura is one of the most renowned classifications of coffee in Mexico. Grown by a group of small Oaxacan farms, Tres Oros (three gold stars) is the mill name given to this coffee. Oaxaca is a beautiful region of Mexico, with a rich heritage of Zapotec, Mixtec, and other native cultures.
Cupping this coffee is delightful, there's a bright fresh nose to the cup, lots of cherry to the aroma. My first sip is bright and spicy, with a good snap and a clean finish. It's the fresh clean aroma and taste of coffee cherry that distinguishes this cup. This is undoubtedly best Mexican coffee roasted in my shop in years, it's very exciting!
New Guinea is Earth's second-largest island. It lies just north of Australia and is divided down the center between the country of Papua New Guinea (on the east) and Indonesia's Irian Jaya province (on the west. Richly endowed with natural resources, Papua New Guinea has one of the most rugged and spectacular topographies on earth; Mountain peaks close to 4,000 meters (12,000 ft), active volcanoes, frequent earthquakes and annual rainfall exceeding six feet. Much of the seedstock on Papua New Guinea is planted from the Jamaican Blue Mountain var. typica arabica, and with the Arushi typica varietal from Tanzania. Some are more modern hybrids or the Indian "Kent" varietal. The majority of quality coffee grown in Papua New Guinea comes from larger estates, such as the Kimel Plantation, located in the famous Highlands region.
This Kimel offers a taste of caramel and cream, rounded out with an undertone of a cappuccino flan flavor - an intriguing, hearty Indonesian coffee. You will find this coffee has tons of body with a touch of sweetness; heavy, but finishes clean and smooth. The cup is initially a rounded dark honey sweetness with malted chocolate. As the cup cools the complexity begins to reveal itself in an array of flavorful spice: cinnamon, sassafras, and sandalwood with black tea aspects lingering in the finish.
In the very north of Toraja are the highest growing areas, where coffees are brought by the farmers down to the local markets of Sapan and Minanga to sell to collectors for the larger mills. A lot of the cup quality of Sulawesi coffees is the result of the post-harvest process, the wet-hull method, called "Giling Basah".
Sulawesi rivals the best Sumatran coffees, with deep-toned flavors and maple-syrupy body that results in a stunning, clearer taste profile. Classic Sumatran earthiness is there, but at lower levels, allowing a hint of chestnut or other nuttiness to come through. There's a mossy, foresty aspect here, wet earth, humus, a walk in the woods. The darker roast levels are where this coffee really begins to develop intense, thick oily body and dark chewy cup flavors. The aromas of this coffee conjure up images of the rich compost from a forest floor - moss, crushed leaves, and wild mushrooms - offset with a sweet butterscotch finish and almost chewy body.
This year much of Colombia experienced very heavy rains that are causing landslides and challenging the flowering of the trees. Altogether this year, production is down 18% according to the FNC. (National Federation of Coffee growers, Colombia) However, we’re hearing from our exporters that the actual figure for parchment (green bean in it's early, un-milled state) collection is down 30%. If you haven't enjoyed a cup of Colombian coffee in recent memory, put this newsletter down right now, go to the website or pick up the phone and put in your order.
I fell in love with this wonderful Estate grown Colombian Cauca Suarez/Qulichao - so sweet, with lovely flowers and caramel, great body, and citrusy acidity. An excellent Colombian brimming with bright, lively new crop acidity. Medium to full bodied with sweet flavor notes of walnut and semi-sweet chocolate. The cup is very crisp, clean and well defined. There's a reason Colombian coffee carved out it's niche in the specialty coffee marketplace - Your first specialty coffee was more than likely a Colombian, and it's sure to be a contender for years to come.
