Episodes
Saturday Aug 26, 2017
Saturday Aug 26, 2017
From the same region in Costa Rica that gives us the wonder of Finca Licho (i.e. the Western Valley in Lordes de Naranjo, in case you're wondering), I'm so excited to have Finca La Casa Vista al Valle back for 2017 to share with you once more.
Located between 1,500 and 1,600 metres above sea level and owned in partnership by Oldemar Arrieta Lobo and Marlene Brenes Morera, the name 'Vista al Valle' translates as 'view of the valley'. I'm sure you'll understand why if you take a look at some of the pictures on the left of this page.
Oldemar and Marlene are also processing this coffee using a virtually brand new micro mill, which is in only its fourth year of production. They both learnt their skills while working for other people, but now they have a mill of their own. They own three farms: this one surrounds the home where they live, and the other farms are called Zapote and Fidel. Fidel won the Costa Rican Cup of Excellence two years ago!
The varietals on this farm are Villa Sarchi and Caturra. They use the sun-dried processing method in their poly tunnel, and the Yellow Honey process.
In the cup this coffee starts out with both the texture and taste of single cream, and then shifts to sweet segments of mandarin. On the aftertaste the cream returns to round out a very well balanced cup.
- Country: Costa Rica
- Region: Western Valley
- Micro-region: Naranjo, Lourdes
- City: Naranjo de Alajuela
- Farm: Finca La Casa
- Micro mill: Vista al Valle
- Farmer: Oldemar Arrieta Lobo and Marlene Brenes Morera
- Farm size: 20 hectares
- Coffee growing area: 15 hectares
- Altitude: 1,500–1,600 m.a.s.l.
- Varietals: Villa Sarchí and Caturra
- Drying method: Poly tunnel, sun dried
- Processing system: Yellow honey
Saturday Aug 19, 2017
Saturday Aug 19, 2017
The story of Hasbean and Finca Limoncillo has been told many many times, but it's one that I really love to share. So much of where we are today has come from this relationship, and I'm super proud of everything that's happened in the past, as well as amazingly excited for where we can go in the future.
My relationship with Finca Limoncillo began in 2007, and back then we were buying their delicious coffee as part of a buying group. I loved it from the very first time I cupped it, and it was a coffee I just had to get. It was only after the auction closed that I discovered it was owned by a family in Nicaragua who were already good friends of mine, and indeed probably the only people I know from the whole country!
The following year I visited the farm with our importers and spent the whole trip begging them to bring the coffee in for us. Eventually, they caved in (possibly just to stop me pestering them!) and kindly did so.
This setup worked well for a time, but we received notice a couple of years ago that the importers were not going to be buying the coffee again (and for reasons other than the cup quality). This led to some frantic phone calls and a thorough search down the back of the sofa for loose change to fund buying twelve months’ worth of coffee all at once. There were many, many obstacles in the way of doing this deal, but we were lucky in that we were able to pull everything together in a very short amount of time.
The upside of all of this is that we now work directly with Finca Limoncillo instead of going via anyone else, and this is a relationship I’m super happy to have. This coffee has gone from a one-off Cup of Excellence buy to a fantastic long-term relationship.
Finca Limoncillo is located in Matagalpa and, at 171 hectares, it. is. huge! Situated at an amazing location, it boasts 9 waterfalls within the farm and is owned by the Mierisch family; as I have already said, they’re good friends, and also well-respected producers in Nicaragua. They’re known for their experimental processing, varietal work, and exceptional coffee.
The fact that the family are friends helps us drill down into the details of what they do for the people who work for them, and the information continues to prove to me that good people grow good coffee.
On the farm, the family:
- Pay their staff 30% more than what is typical minimum wage.
- Provide free housing for 60 families.
- Provide free electricity and running water for their workers' homes.
- Provide free food for all workers.
- Provide free daycare facilities for families to use.
- Provide free healthcare facilities.
- Employ on-site teachers who educate the staff and teach other skills, such as pottery and weaving. The goal is to help staff diversify their skills. The teachers are also paid twice the wages they would receive in the cities.
The coffees we receive from Limoncillo are fantastic and they come from a fantastic relationship. Erwin Mierisch has visited Stafford many times, and it's always a pleasure to have him around. Last time he was over he ended up at a Weird Beard tap takeover in Manchester, talking to two Weird Beards about crazy brewing / coffee farming ideas! A coffee from Finca Limoncillo (the 'Funky Red Pacamara') is used in two of Weird Beard's beers: Black Perle and Double Perle, both of which are mighty delicious beers!
This is a Pacamara varietal coffee, but a Pacamara with a bit of a twist (more on that in a mo). Pacamaras are a little crazy on the cupping table. Pacamaras are exciting. I like Pacamaras! I could ramble on about Pacamaras for a while ... oh, wait a minute, I did! If you'd like to know more about this fantastic varietal, make sure to have a look at the article I wrote...
As well as being a big ol' Pacamara this is also a lil' ol' Peaberry, a thing that's normally big is a little smaller than you might expect. An interesting mix of unusual sizing that I hope you'll enjoy.
Normally the seed of the coffee fruit grows into the green bean we all know and love from 2 fertilised seeds inside each fruit, but sometimes things are a little different a Peaberry is born. When only 1 of the 2 seeds is fertilised it produces a smaller bean that looks like a shrunken version of what we'd normally know as a coffee bean because only 1 seed has grown instead of 2.
Some say Peaberrys are sweeter and more delicious than their regular cousins, some people even come to us specifically looking for them because they crave them so much! I'll let you be the judge.
In the cup orange and cinnamon meet in a wonderful way. There’s orange acidity with hints of grapefruit and a blackberry hit whilst being thick and gloopy with a spicy aftertaste.
- Country: Nicaragua
- Municipality: Yasica Norte
- Region: Matagalpa
- Farm name: Limoncillo
- Farmer: Dr. Erwin Mierisch
- Farm size: 171 hectares
- Coffee growing area: 109 hectares
- Diurnal temperature cycle (average): High 28°C, low 20°C
- Altitude: 1,200 m.a.s.l.
- Varietal: Pacamara Peaberry
- Processing method: Washed
Saturday Aug 12, 2017
Episode 457 on Monday the 14th of August, 2017. Kenya Othaya Chinga Natural
Saturday Aug 12, 2017
Saturday Aug 12, 2017
Back in 2014 I took my very first trip to Kenya, my aim was not to meet producers but rather to get an insight into how the market works, and into how we can improve the quality of the coffee we buy from Kenya.
Much of Kenyan coffee comes from cooperatives, which means it's tough to go to visit a person or build a long-term relationship. That said, it is possible to get something interesting going and to work on projects together by speaking with the leaders of the co-ops and washing stations.
Othaya Farmer's Cooperative is based at the Gatuyaini Wet Mill, where they have a cupping room (and talented QC person) as well as their latest addition - a small roastery (where they hope to develop a market for their coffee inside Kenya). Othaya owns a number of wet mills, but we get our lots from the Chinga mill.
Chinga wet mill is managed by the rather tall Gary John, who we have asked to process a Natural lot for us. This was particularly difficult to get this year as the mill expected to be 75% down on cherries compared to the previous year (a problem all over Kenya this year, but particularly tough here). The Chinga mill is located near to the town of Othaya just east of the Chinga Dam. It's approximately 5 KM southwest of the town, and is in the Nyeri county part of Kenya.
The mill has some 783 members and each member only owns a small piece of land of an average 0.3 acres. They harvest the coffee themselves and then sell it to the mill, where it is processed and sent to the government auction.
The 'project' part of this coffee was that back in 2014 we asked the growers if they would naturally process a batch for us. They kindly agreed to do so, as long as we promised to buy it regardless of the final cup.
As you might have guessed that coffee was a big success and so here it is back for another year! They thought I was crazy because only the poor quality coffee in Kenya gets naturally processed, and they couldn't understand why I wanted only the best-quality coffee processed in this way. But they did it, you're welcome! ; )
In the cup this natural just keeps getting cleaner and cleaner year after year. Think alcoholic ribena with a rum and raisin finish (rumbena!) and a creamy, silky body.
- Country: Kenya
- Province: Nyeri
- District: Othaya
- Affiliated to: Othaya Farmer's Cooperative
- Farm: Chinga
- Processing: Natural
- Varietals: SL28 & SL34
- Average rainfall: 1,200–1,500mm
- Altitude: 1,795 m.a.s.l.
- Drying method: Sun dried
- Harvest method: Hand picked
- Coordinates: 0°34'45.4"S 36°55'35.2"E
- Soil: Rich volcanic loam
Sunday Aug 06, 2017
Sunday Aug 06, 2017
This coffee comes from a farm that's actually two farms, but the two farms exist as one farm. They do produce coffee independently, though. Exciting, huh?
Overall the farm is called Finca 'Sumava de Lourdes' Lourdes de Naranjo and is located in Lourdes de Naranjo in the western valley of Costa Rica between 1,670 and 1,790 metres above sea level. The farm is made up of two farms called Finca 'Monte Llano Bonito', which has nine plots of land, and Finca 'Monte Lourdes', which has six plots of land and this coffee comes from Finca 'Monte Llano Bonito'.
There are ten permanent workers who live on the farm in a custom built workers' camp. All of them receive accommodation as part of their employment.
Finca 'Sumava de Lourdes' Lourdes de Naranjo adheres to strict agronomic practices and ensure the minimum use of herbicides and pesticides. They use MMs (Mountain Microorganisms) and minerals from natural origins as much as they can for their farming.
It's a farm where the owners enjoy growing many different varietals. If you wandered around the farm, you'd see Pacamara, Mokka, SL 28, Geisha, Caturra and Villa Sarchi all growing around the farm.
In the cup this coffee starts out with caramel, dark chocolate and a creamy body, but it finishes on a crisp white grape acidity with a deliciously refreshing apple aftertaste.
- Country: Costa Rica
- Location: Lourdes de Naranjo, western valley
- Farm: Finca Sumava de Lourdes
- Sub farms: Finca Monte Llano Bonito and Finca Monte Lourdes
- Altitude: 1,670–1,790 m.a.s.l.
- Varietal: Villa Sarchi
- Processing system: Yellow honey