Kenya Chorongi

Kenyan coffee has always been very popular with coffee drinkers. Blessed with great terroir and good processing methods, coffees from this country seldom fail to impress. This year however, proved to be a little more challenging to source Kenyan coffees due to the local geopolitical situation that unfolded in the earlier part of the year in the Nyeri region where most good coffee come from within the country. Due to our small buying volumes from Kenya and countries within the continent, we have always depended on our friends from Nordic Approach to find the best of the gems that they can find. These guys does all the hard work on the ground, travelling to the same origin during every harvesting season, sometimes more than once a year to ensure that everything is prepped and ready for the new harvest.

Chorongi is derived from the name of this coffee factory (also known as washing station) which is one of the 7 factories that make up the Mutheka Coffee Farmer’s Society. Smallholder farmers around the factory have an average of 250 coffee trees each, which is really a very small number compared to many other parts of the coffee producing regions in the world. Besides coffee, they also grow maize, bananas and beans to supplement their income.

Chorongi is a new addition to our lineup this year. This coffee shines immediately the moment one grinds the beans; the lovely aromatics simply fill the air. The initial taste might remind you of a typical Kenyan profile, but let it cool a little more and you will find the complexity of the layers within. Blackcurrants, rosehip, blackberries and raspberries, rounded up by a superb mouthfeel.

• Producers: ~ 5600 smallholders in the surrounding areas deliver cherries to the wetmill. 
• Wetmill: Chorongi
• Region: Nyeri, Kenya
• Altitude: 1500 masl
• Varietal: SL 28, SL 34 and Ruiru 11
• Processing: During harvesting season, the farmers deliver cherries to the factory where they are hand sorted for unripes and overripes. A disc pulping machine then removes the skin and pulp and the coffees are graded by density in to 3 grades by the pulper. Grade 1 and 2 go separately to fermentation. Grade 3 is considered low grade and is usually sold to the local market. The coffee is then fermented for 16-24 hours under closed shade. After fermentation the coffees are washed and again graded by density in washing channels and are then soaked under clean water for 16-18 hours. Drying is done on African dry beds for 7-15 days and the coffees are covered in plastic during midday and at night.

Ethiopia Dumerso

As November arrives, two of the filter coffees came to an end last week. While we are sad to see Gitesi (Rwanda) and San Jose (Nicaragua) disappearing from our retail rack, we are excited to roll out another Ethiopian coffee from the Yirgacheffe region.

This new coffee is from a private wetmill in the local community of Dumerso in Yirgacheffe. Mr. Sorafi, who owns and runs the wetmill, works closely with BNT, an exporter in Ethiopia in order to  increase quality through systematic work at the wetmill. They are actively working on traceability, lot separation and quality improvement. The coffee from this wetmill is limited in amount and only a selection of the highest qualities are now sold through our sourcing partner, Nordic Approach.

Yirgacheffe is well-liked for its clean and floral washed coffees. In this area, there are mainly small family plots of both recently planted trees of improved varietals and traditional old varieties. These smallholders sell their coffee cherries to Mr. Sorafi, who processes and dries the coffee and sells it in the market.

In the cup, expect floral aromatics of jasmine followed by juicy apricots and peaches. Subtle citrus acidity is nicely balanced by honeycomb sweetness. Lavender flavours is complemented by a lovely silky texture.

• Producers: ~ 700 smallholders in the surrounding areas as well as remote farmers.
  
• Municipality: Dumerso
• Region: Yirgacheffe, Ethiopia
• Altitude: 1850 - 2100 masl
• Varietal: Ethiopian Heirloom
• Processing: The coffee are hand picked by the farmers and their families. After selling the coffee cherries to Mr. Sorafi the good coffee cherries are separated from the inferior ones. The cherries are depulped and the beans are fermented under water for 24 – 36 hours. After fermentation the coffee gets washed, graded and soaked. The coffee gets further sorted for defects while drying on raised beds for about 15 days.

The Return of the Naturals

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Switching out from series of African coffees, we have launched a new coffee from a farm that some might find familiar. Santa Petrona belongs to our dear friends of the Pacas family from El Salvador, 6th generation producers and counting.This is also the second year that we are working with Federico and Lily Pacas as we have always had high respect for how they treat their coffee, their workers and also their community. When we visited them again at the beginning of this year, some parts of the farm were affected by the coffee leaf rust disease. Fortunately, with the application of preventive measures many months back, the farm was not as badly hit as many others.

In general, the natural processed coffees that we have cupped do not have as much of a “clean cup” characteristic as fully-washed coffees. This is the reason why we find it difficult to find good natural processed coffees. But if one is to find a lot that is extremely well-processed, then one can also expect to have a coffee that is extremely fruity and sweet, usually with a bigger body to compensate for a lower acidic cup. When we first cupped this new coffee, we were surprised by how clean this coffee was. We think it all boils down to the great job done at Beneficio Tuxpal. Federico manages the beneficio with the help of the mill manager. As he explained to us, the first was to pick just the perfect ripe cherries. Next,  the cherries are directly put in patio with someone constantly moving it to dry for 16-18 days. The coffee  is then rested at the warehouse for 45 days till it reaches 11.5% of humidity. The dry process took place just before shipping, it was sorted 100% by hand and bagged immediately in grain pro bags to keep as much freshness as possible.

Being a natural-processed coffee, expect bags of brown sugar sweetness in the cup. Jammy dark cherries and mature grapes comes to mind next and hints of pistachio nuts lingers at the back. We really enjoyed this coffee both as a filter and espresso, seems to hit the right spot for either but with slightly differing yet tasty results. If you have not tried a natural-processed coffee, maybe this is just the right time for one!

• Farm: Santa Petrona
• Producer: Pacas Diaz family
• Region: Santa Ana, El Salvador
• Wet/Dry Mill: Beneficio Tuxpal
• Varietal: Red Bourbon
• Altitude: 1480m asl
• Processing: Natural

Brazil Fazenda Santa Rosa

Following some Africans that were rolled out in recent weeks, it is nice to have a change in our offering this time round, with a new Brazilian coffee showcased as a single origin espresso.

Fazenda Santa Rosa is located in the tropical climate of Soledade de Minas, 15 km from Carmo de Minas. The farm enjoys the perfect conditions for specialty coffee with a relatively high altitude, and well-drained fertile soil. Since purchasing the undulating hills of land that was to become his farm Santa Rosa in 1986, Samir Matuck has worked tirelessly to build his farm from the ground up. Now coffee plantations occupy the hills and stretch for over 150 hectares. This lot is pure Yellow Bourbon. The farm is also planted with Acaiá, Catuaí, and Yellow Icatú varieties. 

The processing of cherries at Santa Rosa has been gradually built on and improved over the past 20+ years. Today the facilities encompass washing channels for the separation of unripe cherries, paved drying patios for preliminary drying, and 10 wooden silos for the control of individual production lots. The coffee produced on the estate is laid to rest in the silos before final dry processing.

The way these coffees are processed is known as pulped natural. Pulped natural coffees are mechanically processed to remove the pulp, or flesh, of the cherry. This process, which was introduced in Brazil in 1991, is very common in the country besides sun-dried or also commonly known natural-processed coffees, where the coffee cherries are harvested and dried directly.

Most Brazilian coffees tend to suffer from astringent and “peanut-ty” flavours due to the way the cherries are harvested mechanically in a massive way. Santa Rosa turned out to be surprisingly clean and elegant, a result of a high degree of sorting and pickings to remove the unripes. We taste delicate sweet plums and stone fruit acidity with warm spices to round up the cup. This espresso has creamy yet balanced and exhibit plenty of caramel coated nuts to the coffee. This is one comfort cup for those who just want to enjoy a nice clean Brazilian coffee.

• Farm: Santa Rosa
• Region: Carmo de Minas, Brazil
• Town: Soledade de Minas
• Altitude: 1140m asl
• Producer: Samir Matuck
• Varietal: Yellow Bourbon.
• Processing:  Pulped Natural

Ethiopia Kochore

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Following the quick run of Chelelektu, we are rolling out another Ethiopian coffee for those Yirgacheffe lovers.

This lot comes from a washing station in the Kore village, situated in the Kochore woreda (district), south of Yirgacheffe town. There are many private and cooperative stations in this area and as one of the official designations of the Ethiopian Commodities Exchange, many coffees can be sold as Kochore/Kochere .This coffee is from one washing station very close to the main commercial town of Chelelektu. The station buys coffee cherry at prices that ranged from 11 to 15 birr per kg of cherry in the past season, quite a lot more than other zones in Ethiopia where farmers are paid as little as 5 birr. Coffees in this area are grown at very high altitudes with many farms above 2000 meters. The coffee is delivered down from these high altitudes to the washing station where it is traditionally wet-processed and laid to dry on raised beds.

Carrying the characteristics of Yirgacheffe coffee, this Kochore is blooming with floral notes. Bouquet of lavender and jasmine aromatics invites you to savour this honeyed lemon and peach tea concoction slowly and enjoy the candy sweetness as it cools.

• Producers: Small-holder producers in the Kore community
• Municipality: Kochere Woreda
• Region: Yirgacheffe, Ethiopia
• Varietal: Heirloom varieties
• Altitude: 1800 - 2000+ masl
• Processing: Fully washed