Flavour profile: A very sweet, juicy cup and a little bit funky with notes of blueberries and a hint of dried raspberries and passionfruit. A lingering aftertaste of bergamot.
Colour: Dark blue
Category: Adventurous
Producer: Israel Degfa, of the company Kerchanse
Washing Station: Adola. A privately owned, communal washing station.
The number of delivering farmers: about 2000 smallholding with an average of 1-2 hectares per farm.
Harvested: December to January 2021
Varietal: Indigenous local varietals
Processing: Natural processed
Area: Guji Zone in the Oromia region
Altitude: 2100 masl
Roast Style: Light to medium to enhance the light, juicy mouthfeel with loads of fruity and floral notes.
Why a primary school is needed at Adola
When you visit Ethiopia, what you remember the very most is all of the children. With a fertility rate of 4.14 children born per woman, there are indeed children everywhere.
Although public education is free at primary, secondary, and tertiary levels in Ethiopia, only about 60% of the children go to school. Approximately 2.6 million children of primary school age are not in school, of which 43 percent are boys and 57 percent girls. Only 25 per cent of secondary school-aged children are enrolled in secondary school. Traditional gender norms, a high burden of domestic work, especially for girls, long distances to school are some of the barriers to education. Many of the out-of-school children are from pastoralist, internally displaced or refugee communities (Unicef).
About the primary school at Adola
An entire 10% of the profit of Israel Degfas company, Kershanse, goes into a non-profit sustainability company called Nakala. With Nakala, Israel is exclusively doing sustainability projects, such as clean water supply and electricity instalment, but also building roads and other urgent needs for the community. The NGO is controlled by the local government.
Through the NGO, Israel has also invested in schools within the local communities. At Adola, Israel has built a school for the children living in the area.
As we visited in 2018, the year the school was ready built, but the government had not been able to supply the furniture to the school as planned so the school was totally empty inside. We decided to buy all of the furniture for the school from Drop Coffee. In total there are about 150 children going to school today. In the year to come, we bought educational books and learning materials for the pupils.
About Israel Degfa and Adola
Israel is one of the warmest people we know and also very successful in the business. He was born near Sidamo, Yirgalem, and his parents were both in coffee in different ways. His mum sold coffee at the bus station and his dad was a farmer. This is where he found his love for coffee. He went to primary school in Yiralem and went to high school and college in Addis Abeba.In 2013 Israel founded the company by Kerchanshe trading company that is named after the nearest town, Kerchanste town (fondly referred to as Kercha). Today he has 26 washing stations and a few dry-mills; the guy is 34 years old and has only had the business for 8 years, talk about impressive.
At Adola, local farmers are delivering their freshly picked coffee cherries to the washing station, most of the farmers only have 1 to 2 hectares of land. The days they are not delivering coffee, many of them are working at the washing station. Most of the coffee being delivered to Adola is organically produced, but not everything.
Sustainability
Besides the school, you are contributing towards by buying this product, we have also chosen to work with Israel to support Israel Degfa's work on sustainability for Ethiopian farmers and communities, aiming to get farmers out of poverty through coffee that goes through all of the work set up.
Adola is one of four of his washing stations where the producers are being certified and given a second payment, based on the premiums.
As part of Drop Coffees transparency and the ongoing coffee price crisis, we want to share our FOB prices for the coffee we buy. This coffee has been paid 3USD per pound. The farmers are paid directly when they deliver the cherries during harvest in December-January, paying more than the recommended prices from the government. On top of that, the farmers are given a premium on 10 cents per kilo in July and August.
An entire 10% of Kershanse's profit goes into a non-profit sustainability company, that is investing in schools within the local communities among other things. At Adola Israel has built a school for the children living in the area. Drop Coffee has contributed by buying some furniture for the school.
]]>FACTS
Flavour description: A berrylike and intense aroma of blackberry. This coffee is acidity driven with high phosphoric acidity. Chorongi has flavour of pink grapefruit, vanilla and strawberry jam, and a long-lasting vibrant acidity in the finish. The coffee is jam-like mouthfeel with a medium body.
Location: Nyeri, Kenya
Farmers: About 1000 smallholders in the surrounding areas deliver cherries to the Chorongi Factory (washing station). The farmers are organized in Cooperative Societies that act as umbrella organizations for the factories, where the smallholders deliver their coffee cherries for processing. Chorongi is connected to the Mutheka Coffee Farmer’s Society, which is consisting of more than 5600 active farmer members in 2021.
Factory:
Varietals: SL28, SL34
Harvest: Nov-January 2021
Elevation: 1300 masl
Soil: Deep, rich volcanic soil
Our current espresso recipe: 18g / 27 se/ 42 g (TDS about 9%, extraction around 19%).
Our current filter coffee recipe: Coffee ground slightly finer than powdered sugar. Use 32g to 500 ml of coffee, for about 2:30 min brew time.
Price transparency: The FOB price paid for this coffee was 4,63 US$/lb, which is 10.20US$/ kg.
The first Kenyan coffee of the year! Chorongi AB! There is quite no coffee as coffee from Kenya, and every year it is one of our absolute favorite taste profiles. You know that we at Drop Coffee are huge fans of clarity and vibrancy and are not afraid of acidity, well in this cup you will get it all!
In Kenya, the washing stations and process stations go by the name factories, hence Chorongi Factory. Know for the country's coffee, we get an exceptionally washed processed coffee as well as well sorted and clean dry milled. And this clarity truly shines through in the cup! The smallholders surrounding the Chorongi factory mainly have SL28 and SL34 varietal, known for their black currant vibrant flavour. This truly contributes to the intense taste profile of pink grapefruit this coffee has.
Nyeri is a famous region for its vibrant acidity in coffee. About 1000 smallholders are delivering coffee from the surrounding areas of the Chorongi factory. It is a mixture of small to medium farms. The ones that don’t have their own processing equipment such as a pulper delivers the coffee cherries to their local Cooperative. Many of the farmers are surrounded by several wet mills. They are free to choose where they want to deliver their cherries as members. Due to the traditional auction system in Kenya, quality is rewarded with higher prices. The better factories will then attract more farmers by producing coffee getting the highest prices, as well as giving a high payback rate to the farmers. This can in some cases be about 90% of the sales price after the cost of marketing and preparation is deducted.
At the Chorongi factory, the coffee cherries are being pulped and wet fermented for 16-24 hours under closed shade, graded in washing channels, soaked under clean water for 16 to 18 hours, and dried on raised beds for up to 15 days.
The coffee is being graded into AA, AB, and PB which refers to the bean size, where AA, as this coffee, is the larger beans and AB the second-largest beans. The coffee farms surrounding Chorongi are not grown at a super high altitude, 1300 meters, which gives a slightly more mature character compared to e.g the coffee Kamwangi, that you may have had from us (also back soon).
As a part of our price transparency work, we share the FOB price for all coffees. This coffee was 4,63 US$/lb, which is 10.20US$/kg. The price paid to the Farmer Cooperative Society was 7.90US$/kg of sorted green coffee.
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About Muiri AA - Organic
Flavour description: A refreshing, juicy cup with notes of black currant and fresh strawberries. A long-lasting vibrant grapefruit like acidity.
Colour: Light purple
Category: Adventurous
Producer: Mugiai Family
Estate: Muiri Estate
Varietal: SL28, SL34, K7, Ruiru 11
Harvested : October to December 2018
Region: Thika district in the central province
Certifications: Organic
SCA score: 86
Years of relationship: First year
Volume purchased: 1140 kg
Altitude: 1530 meters above sealevel
Process: Fully washed. The coffee cherries go through a de-pulper and are fermented for 48 to 72 hours, depending on weather conditions, before being washed and separated by density in channels. The coffee beans are dried for 15-21 days on raised beds.
Roast style: The coffee is roasted with a lot of energy to bring out the acidity in the coffee. Light to medium roast level.
This is a brand new coffee for us at Drop! As well as our first organic certified coffee from Kenya. Kenyan coffee is one of our favourites, for its high acidity and berry like sweetness. However, the taste profile we have associated with Kenyan coffee is becoming a bit scarce, due to coffee diseases and climate change. We have been looking for an organic certified coffee from Kenya for a long time and here we have it! Muiri Estate is certified organic and committed to biodiversity. We are very excited to have this coffee in for the first time, for the organic aspect and the flavour profile reminding us of that classic Kenyan coffee profile. The Muiri estate gives us a juicy cup with settled notes of black currant and fresh strawberries.
About Muiri Estate
Muiri Estate is owned by the Mugiai family, it was founded in the late 1970’s, and is named after a local tree species called pruners in the Kikuyu language. Muiri is a fairly big estate, with an on-site wet mill for processing, a dam and storehouses. The farm also has cottages for the pickers and the staff working at the mill. This year the estate holds about 156,000 trees in production, and is actively experimenting with other varietals and crops as well, to be ready for changes in the weather and striving to find excellent taste profiles.
After the coffee is processed at the Muiri Estaste, the coffee is separated by the size of the beans, AA, AB and PB. This is the biggest selection of the bean, which in Kenyan coffee grading is called AA.
Production on the farm is a bit more fragile while working completely organically. The Mugiai family is carefully looking after the trees on the estate, pruning and stumping the trees regularly.
Sustainability
For as long and we have been visiting Kenya, a lot of pesticides are used. This makes the soil less healthy, but is necessary in order to protect the coffee trees from the dry climate, insect attacks and coffee diseases and fungi. The past few years Kenya’s coffee production has been struggling a lot with coffee berry disease (CBD) and tough weather conditions due to climate changes. This has led to more people planting the varietal Batian which is more resistant than SL28 and SL34 for eample. However, the Batian plant is not always as high in acidity or as intense as the Kenyan coffee we have had the last decade that Kenyan coffee has been known for. The soil and the weather is changing due to climate changes. All of these reasons combined is why it feels extra important to support an estate that is working fully organic.
At the estate the family Mugiai just built a new facility where they are have 55 cows for dairy production for the staff, for retail as well as fertilizer for the plants and for the organic compost.
The FOB prices for this coffee is 6.25 USD a pound. The current world coffee market price is currently under 1 USD a pound, which is not covering for the coffee’s production cost and gives no profit for the farmers.
]]>About the coffee
Flavour description: A sweet and delicate cup, reminding of dark chocolate, notes of passionfruit and florals, with a hint of sugar plums and a fudge like finish.
Category: Adventurous
Colour: Dark purple
Producer: Eleane Mierisch
Farm: Las Delicias
Varietal: Java (Longberry)
Process: Natural
Location: Lipululu in Jinotega region
Harvested: December to February 2019
Farm size: 20 manzanas (about 13 hectares)
Altitude: 1450-1500 masl
Roast style: Light to medium to enhance the natural flavours of the coffee.
We would like to introduce the Chirstmas Coffee of 2019! Maybe you remember the Las Delicias from last year, the super tasty Java from Nicaragua. This year not only are we are getting it in again, but we are also getting a few bags of it naturally processed, and we thought that would make for a super tasty holiday treat!
About Eleane Mierisch and Las Delicias
The Mierisch family are producing very diverse coffees with dozens of different varietals, trying different processing methods with accurate and thorough processing. This coffee is not just great, it is delicious. But as you know, delicious coffee does not just happen. The owner of Las Delicias is Eleane Mierisch. Eleane is one of the leading lights in coffee processing in Nicaragua. Much of the reason the coffee from the family Mierisch is tasting so clear and sweet, is thanks to their great processing, and Eleane is the one in charge of it. Head of processing is a job title dominated by men in Nicaragua. She is coming from a well-established coffee family that have several farms in Honduras and Nicaragua, but Las Delicias is the first one that is hers alone and this coffee is just the second harvest coming out of her farm. The mouthfeel and sweetness reminds us of the Bolivian taste profile, almost like drinking chocolate. From the Java variety we get more vibrancy and notes of citrus and apricot, but with the natural processing we are tasting more passion fruit, and fudge.
Las Delicias is located in the region of Jinotega at an average altitude of 1450 metres above sea level, which is considered very high for Nicaragua. It is located next to another Mierisch farm, so Eleane knows the area very well, as well as the land and what it's capable of producing. Above her knowledge of the region, there is her passion for coffee, and then you can start to understand why she wanted to produce coffee on a farm of her own. The farm is 20 manzanas (about 13 hectares) and all of it is planted with coffee. Eleane is working with a lot of respect for nature and "to be grateful to mother nature" as she says it herself.
The coffee growing at Las Delicias is the mother plant to the Java we are buying from La Linda in Bolivia. Seedlings from Las Delicias were brought to Roudriguez' La Linda to try out new varietals in Bolivia as it gives such a delicate yet sweet cup in Nicaragua. The varietal is often called Longberry as that is just what it looks like - the berries and the seeds (beans) are long and slim. However, it is commonly known as Java. Common for Nicaragua, the coffee is washed and separated by density directly at the farm, before it is taken by truck to the process station. At the processing station the coffee is dried on raised beds in the fruit.
Sustainability
The Mierisch family are very active in social projects around the farms. Not only do they have a full time kitchen team at their farms to make breakfast and lunch, 1000 tortillas going out every day. They also have built daycare centers and schools for the workers, located at the farms. Children helping their families at the farms is common in Nicaragua, but instead they are asked to go to the school or leaving the kids at the caretaker as they are working. The workers are also offered help with family planning and medical advice from specialized staff.
The FOB price paid for this coffee is USD per pound 4,75 USD/lb
]]>Category: Curious
Colour: Maraschino Red
Producer: Gloria Rodrigues with family
Farm: Finca Nejapa
Lot: Roma
Varietal: Pacamara
Process: Washed
Region: Ahuachapán, Santa Ana
Harvested: March to April 2019
Altitude: 1550 masl
Sustainability project: Installed new solar panels and filter for clean water at the farm.
Roast style: Light to medium to enhance the natural flavours of the coffee.
Cupping this Pacamara at Gloria's coffee lab in Ahuachapán during the ongoing harvest last year, I was speechless. Me (Joanna), Stephen, as Gloria and her son in law, Luis, all cupped it between 90-91,5. And as familiar, I am not throwing out 90's often. This is a top-end, complex and clear coffee!
If you have had other coffees from us from Finca Nejapa before, you have had the tastiest milk chocolate bar. The Pacamara from here is more intense. Instead of the normal red apple notes we have in the coffee from Nejapa, we get Maraschino cherries and hints of papaya and hints of florals. The Pacamara from Finca Nejapa is a very small lot, so get your hands on it while you can!
The story of Finca Nejapa
The success of Finca Nejapa, owned by Gloria Rodrigues, is the result of a strong family unit. Their hard work and skills have really paid off in the quality of their product. By working together, they can maintain and potentially improve the working conditions as well as the cup profile. We will have three different varieties from the Roma lot this year, this is our second release, the washed Pacamara. We are proud of another year with coffee from a stunning producer and dear friends.
The farm was inherited by Gloria’s father, José María Rodríguez Herrera in the ’50s, at that time the property was devoted to dairy cows, and it was José Maria who started growing coffee of the Bourbon variety. Little by little, he noticed coffee was extremely productive in that area, and that is where the story begins.
Nejapa still farms 7 hectares reforested with cedar trees, approximately 10 years old. The farm also has a diversity of shade trees, which helps maintain and preserve both the soil conditions and a wide variety of birds and small mammals that can be seen in that region. The Finca Nejapa farm is on the slopes of the Laguna de Las Ninfas (Waterlilies lagoon) with a spectacular sight over the Apaneca-Ilamatepec mountain range. Every year, Gloria establishes nurseries with selected seeds to keep her farm in good shape, balance production and secure future crops.
Tablón Roma, that Drop Coffee is buying everything of, is located in the western side of Finca Nejapa but was left unplanted until 10 years ago when Gloria obtained a loan through a local investment bank to redevelop and replant this area.
Mainly on the land, Gloria has planted Red Caturra and Yellow Caturra planted. The Pacamara is a small area of the lot that has been kept separated for us. The Pacamara is a very big sized bean, as the coffee cherries are bigger. Pacamara is a hybrid of the Maragogype and Pacas varietals. It was developed in El Salvador in 1958 by the Salvadorian Institute for Coffee Research. It took about 30 years of scientific research to create and was not released to coffee producers until 1980. The Pacas is a natural mutation of the Bourbon varietal. It is shorter and has more compact foliage which means it can endure tougher climate conditions such as high winds, sunlight and drought. It is a tough plant which is resistant to diseases, adapts to many growing conditions, and has high production yields. The Maragogype is a mutation of the Typica varietal. The trees grow very tall, and produce some of the largest coffee beans, the cup quality is high, but the yields are not. As you have probably figured out, the idea behind the Pacamara hybrid was to get the best out of the two varietals; resistance to diseases, adaptable to different growing conditions, high yields, with a high cup quality. There is a small problem using Pacas and Maragogype in a hybrid because they both have dominant genes, so around 20% fail to become Pacamara and remain one or the other.
Sustainability
As a charity project, we did a dinner with WINETRADE and Mathias Dahlgren where all the money went straight to installing electricity and water filters at the Roma lot. Visiting years after this, it is great to see the families living by the plot of the farms improved living conditions. See more in my chat to Gloria and Luis Roudriguez about it here .
The FOB prices for this coffee was 4.5 USD per pound.
We have brought home coffee from San Cayetano in El Salvador that has been processed in three different ways. The Yellow Honey, Washed and Natural processes will each highlight different aspects of the coffee.
This is the Yellow honey version of the coffee, meaning that the pulp of the cherry has been removed, but the mucilage has remained on while drying the beans. The mucilage is very sticky and honey-like, hence the name. The “Yellow” just indicates how much of mucilage is left on, red honey being the most and yellow the second least. The honey processed gives a creaminess to the coffee, you will also find notes of marzipan, red apple and clementine zest acidity in the aftertaste.
About Rafael and Carmen Silva Hoff
This coffee is from Rafael and Carmen Silva Hoff who are based in Ahuachapán in Santa Ana. The couple has a processing station, Sicafe, where they process coffee for surrounding farmers. Carmen is doing all of the logistics not only for our purchases, but also for other farmers for whom they process coffee. At the processing station, Rafael is working hands-on for several hours each day, but the turnout at the processing station is also of a higher standard than we've seen elsewhere in El Salvador, e.g they have a separate room for the crew to sit and have lunch and rules about washing their hands and hygiene around the coffee. Staff onsite also only turn the coffee by hand, log the moisture at different stages of the drying process, and have access to a great cupping lab with a well-trained crew in taste and routines.
About San Cayetano
This coffee is from Carmen and Rafaels farm, called San Cayetano. It’s located in extremely steep and windy conditions where the leaves get blown right off the trees, making them weaker and less productive. The neighbouring farms to San Cayetano are suffering badly from leaf rust which can easily be transfered to the plants at San Cayetano by wind. For these reasons, the yield has been lower the last couple of years. But Rafael and Carmen have built more windbreakers to sheild their plants and the manager of the farm, Marco Roudrigues, has put in a lot of effort and many hours applying sulphate and fertilizers. Visiting the farm earlier this year it was more lush and had a much larger crop. Last year they had a lot of the farm that was badly affected by the roja and Marcos have applied opera and zink (helps the leaves). They also apply natural organic fertiliser made at the farm. San Cayetano looks really healthy and lush.
About the varietal Red Bourbon
The Red Bourbon trees are fairly tall and have thinner spines. Every year Rafael talks about planting Caturra instead of Red Bourbon at San Cayetano. The Caturra is shorter and bolder and would be more resistant to the wind. But Rafael loves the flavour characteristics of the Red Bourbon. In general in El Salvador I think the different kinds of Bourbon taste very sweet and complex.
The Bourbon varietal was first discovered on the Bourbon Island, hence the name, and has been spread and is now grown all over the coffee growing world. Originating maybe on the island of Bourbon or perhaps Ethiopia, this varietal has many sub-varietals: Yellow-, Orange -and Red Bourbon. Because of its generally low yield, Bourbon tends to produce a very high-quality cup (there is evidence that the lower the yield the higher the quality as the plant can use its energy more efficiently). Typical cup characteristics for Red Bourbon in El Salvador are a low-medium body, balanced, chocolatey, low-medium acidity with a typically sweet profile; this is a very general description of course.
About the Yellow Honey process
This is the Yellow Honey version of the coffee, meaning that the pulp of the cherry has been removed by pulpung the coffee, but the mucilage has remained while drying instead of washing it off as in the washed process. The mucilage is very sticky and honey-like, hence the name. Yellow just indicates how much of mucilage that is left on the beans, red honey being the most and yellow the least. The coffee has been dried directly under the sun for the first few days and then in the drying house on raised beds, consistently moved by hand for even rotation and drying. Every day-lot is being kept separated and removed in layers. As a honey-process, the coffee is being dried for a total time of 16-22 days.
Drop Coffee and San Cayetano
This is the fourth year we are buying the coffee from Carmen and Rafael. The family is so professional to work with and are so hardworking and the friendliest people. They have full control from the farm throughout the process and export to us. The last few years, we have had the San Cayetano as Christmas Coffee. So, let's just say that Christmas came very early this year.
FACTS
Producer: Rafael and Carmen Silva Hoff
Farm: San Cayetano
Process station: Sicafe
Region: Ahuachapán, Santa Ana
Varietal: Red Bourbon
Picked: February to March 2018
Process: Yellow Honey
Elevation: 1550 masl
Flavour description: A creamy coffee, with notes of marzipan, red apple and clementine zest acidity in the aftertaste.
Flavour description: This is a sweet cup, with medium body, and a heavy mouthfeel like a mature red wine. Notes of milk chocolate, with the sweetness of pink apple, and a lasting aftertaste reminding of mature red wine. That the coffee is processed without water makes the coffee sweeter and more berry-like than the other washed processed coffee we have from Bolivia.
Colour: Light Orange
Category: Curious
Producer: Pedro- Pablo, Daniela and Pedro Rodriguez
Location: Aguarica in Samaipata region, Bolivia
Variety: Caturra
Processing: Washed processed without water
Harvest: July-August 2018
Elevation: 1550 - 1700 masl
Roast: Light to medium to present the natural characteristics of the coffee.
This is the first time that Drop is buying coffee from this region in Bolivia, but the producers are our familiar exporters Pedro- Pablo, Daniela and Pedro Rodriguez. They have been producing coffee in Samaipata for 4 years now, and this year is their first harvest! The extreme weather, and higher elevation give this coffee very different characteristics than the other Bolivian coffees that we are buying. In this coffee you find a mouthfeel and long aftertaste reminding of a mature red wine. There is still the apple like sweetness, and even a bit of crunch, like a fresh crisp apple.
They have been experimenting with different varieties at Samaichacha as well, they have planted Bourbon, Caturra as well as some Java. We have taken some of the Caturra this year, as it really showcases how different the coffees are tasting from different regions within Bolivia.
The Rodriguez Family and Sustainability
This is a very important relationship for us at Drop, and one we are very proud to have. We go to their farms for a visit every year during harvest, and stay at the mill, they have also made their way up to Stockholm to visit the team at Drop. We, as friends have been growing together for a few years now.
If it weren’t for the Rodriguez, Bolivian coffee would look a lot different today. They work under the name Agricafé as exporters, and we are buying all of our Bolivian coffees through them. They also have a sustainability project ‘Sol de Manana’, where they are working with other producers, providing them with fertilisers and plants, and advising, with their agronomical expertise. They also process the coffees from all of the producers we are buying from at their washing stations and dry mill. On top of all of this, they have farms of their own, including Alasitas, La Linda and Samaichacha.
Pedro Roudriguez started sourcing coffee from small coffee producers in 1986. His family own mills, and they process and exports coffee for other farmers in the Caranavi and Sud Yungas region. However, in the Samaipata region they are only processing their own coffee at their wet mill El Fuerte, washing without water, and dried for 95 hours. Without people like the Roudriguez family working in coffee in Bolivia, the future of Bolivian coffee would be at risk of disappearing, but with the steady decline of coffee production, the sustainability of their export business is in jeopardy.
In April 2019, the Roudriguez family received sustainability award from the Speciality Coffee Associations for Most Sustainable Business Model.
Samaipata Region
Just last year we visited this region for the very first time, therefore this is the first year we have bought any coffee from this region. Generally, this part of Bolivia is known for its tropical climate, nature and broad agricultural culture. There is a big difference between here and Caranavi, with weather as well as culture, it almost feels like another country.
The weather varies quite a bit, with temperatures during the day being around 25-30 degrees, and around 8 degrees in the night, which is considered very cold. This causes the cherries to take a longer time to ripen, and their mucilage becomes very thick, and the cascara is even more sweet.
In Samaipata there is a lot of magnesium in the soil, which is great for growing coffee, it means that the coffee plants are less susceptible to roja, or other fungi. All of these things contribute to a very unique taste profile.
Read more about Bolivia as a coffee producing country here.
]]>This year we are welcoming back coffee from Mugaya, a washing station in Mutira, Kirinyaga, Kenya. We are excited to be expanding our selection of Kenyan coffees again this year!
Everyone in coffee admires coffee from Kenya. Producers on the other side of the continent wish they could produce coffee more similar to how it is in Kenya. Roasters love how even the coffee is, baristas love how consistent it extracts, and the drinker will surely remember the clarity and acidity in the cup. For many of us, a coffee from Kenya has been the first eye-opener to what coffee can taste like and still today it is nothing that resembles the coffee from Kenya. The coffee from Mugaya is vibrant and juicy, dominated by strawberries, black currant and a finish of gooseberry.
Mugaya is a coffee we have bought before and now we are bringing it back. It is a factory (term used for washing station in Kenya) that no less than 1032 farmers are delivering coffee cherries to as members of the cooperative that owns the station. The average member delivering coffee to Mugaya has a farm of about half a hectare in size. At the factory, the coffee is divided by size, where the AA selection is the biggest sized beans.
The AA is traditionally known to be the highest quality selection of beans. I find that to not always be true. The AB and the AB, can be as amazing. But it is true that the beans are different in flavour from each others depending on size. The AA is often more intense in the taste profile. In the case of Mugaya, we found the coffee very sweet and with a high and vibrant acidity.
Facts
Producer: Mugaya Factory
Location:Mutira division of the Kirinyaga district
Varietal: SL28, Ruiru 11, Batain
Picking period: October 2017 to December 2017
Drying: On metallic raised beds in 12-20 days.
Cooperative: Mutira Farmers Cooperative Society
Elevation: 1550 masl
Soil: Mainly Nitisol, red volcanic soil. Nitisols occur in highlands and on volcanic steep slopes. They are developed from volcanic rocks and have better chemical and physical properties than other tropical soils.
Processing: Fully Washed. Cherries are hand sorted to pick out unripe and overripe ones by the farmers before they go into production. A pulping machine removes the skin and pulp. The coffees are graded by density into 3 grades by the pulper. Grade 1 and 2 go separately to fermentation. Grade 3 is considered low grade. The coffee is fermented underwater for 16–24 hours before being washed three times.
Flavour Description: A vibrant, juicy cup, dominated by strawberries, black currant and a finish of gooseberry.
This is the very first time we have coffee from Finca La Pira, after many years of visiting the breath-taking farm in Tarrazú. At La Pira, Carlos Ureña Ceciliano is working with mainly biodynamic guidelines combined with his science and accuracy. The Red Honey of the Caturra is first frozen by rainwater overnight before the skin is chopped off in the pulper with 75% of the mucilage left on the beans when drying. As the sugars in the mucilage crystallises, it gives another kind of sweetness to the cup, reminding of pink apple. The coffee from La Pira brews a crisp cup with a silky mouthfeel. Flavour notes of pink apple, jasmine, white sugar and a finish of black tea.
About Carlos Ureña Ceciliano
How I have wished to ever sit here and write a spread sheet for this coffee. There are people you meet in coffee that you know from the first second you meet them, that you want to work with them. Sometimes it just takes a few years. This year we got a limited amount(just 300kilos) of this coffee. I will try not to drink it all myself.
Carlos is an interesting mixture of silence and biodynamic. He is going out in the morning to hear where the birds are singing, telling him what is going on where among the coffee trees, analyzing the farm by nature. What birds are where gives him an indicator of ripeness, flowering and challenges at the farm. Visiting La Pira and walking the farm, you never want to leave. You want to hear more about Carlos harvesting methods and turn upside down on more theories. Carlos is also roasting the coffee himself, delivering it in cooling bags to the local café as that is the way he prefers the coffee being kept fresh.
Sustainability
After inheriting the family farm, Carlos worked for many years as a certified organic coffee producer, but he realized doing so was just not possible on this farm. Organic coffee is good, but not possible for everyone. The yield was very, very affected by leaf rust a few years back. So Carlos looked for alternatives, while still holding organic and biodynamic principles very close to his heart. For instance, instead of using chemicals to control the weeds, sheep roam freely amongst the coffee plants and eat the weeds (and strangely leave the coffee plants alone). They work as automatic and mobile 'fertilisation units' (nature’s a wonderful thing). This has eliminated the need for herbicides. This is the kind of thinking Carlos has about coffee.
Salary for pickers are generally good in Costa Rica, but many farmers are using workers from neighbouring countries, paying cheaper salaries and sometimes working harder and better living conditions during the harvest. Carlos is using local workers and paying the workers over the government established prices.
About the Red Honey process
Honey process means that the pulp of the coffee cherry has been removed by pulping the coffee, but the mucilage has remained while drying instead of washing it off as in the washed process. The mucilage is very sticky and honey-like, hence the name. White honey just indicates how much of mucilage that is left on the beans, red honey being almost all of the mucilage is left on the bean, or about 75% of it.
Last time we visited, Carlos had improved his resting time of the cherries before processing. Carlos had, inspired by Michelin chefs, done research on the idea of freezing the mucilage before chopping off the outer skin in the pulper. The Red Honey of the Caturra is first frozen down over night by rain water before the skin is chopped off in the pulper. For the Red Honey about 75% of the mucilage is left on the bean when the coffee is drying. As the sugars crystallise this gives another kind of sweetness to the cup, reminding of pink apple.
Short facts of the Red Honey Caturra from La Pira
Farm: Finca La Pira
Producer and owner: Carlos Ureña Ceciliano
Region: Tarrazú
City: Santa María de Dota
Farm size: 7 hectares
Altitude: 1,650 m.a.s.l.
Harvested: Mid-January to February 2018
Varietal: Caturra
Processing system: Red Honey process. Carlos is freezing down the mucilage before chopping off the pulp of the coffee cherry and drying with 75% of the mucilage left on the beans for about 25 days on raised beds which are covered up overnight.
Flavour profile: A crisp cup with notes of pink apple. Light to medium body. A hint of raspberry, sweetness of candy-floss and a finish of black tea.
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Flavour description: This is an elegant cup with light to medium body, notes of jasmine, nutmeg, agave syrup and black tea
Colour: Lilac
Category: Curious
Producer: Pedro-Pablo, Daniela and Pedro Rodriguez
Location: Bolinda, Caranavi, Bolivia
Varietal: Java
Harvest: July to September 2018
Elevation: 1650 masl
Processing: Fully Washed
Roast: Light to medium to present the natural characteristics of the coffee.
This is the fourth year in a row, we are proud to present this coffee; it has even been a favourite of our baristas at Drop, in the past was even used in the Swedish Brewers Cup competition. Java is an exciting variety, despite what the name may make you think. It makes a nutty and elegant cup with white floral notes. It does not produce a big yield at La Linda, and the risk for leaf rust is high, but the cup profile is worth the time put in on the small crop.
La Linda was purchased in 2014, the Rodriguez family bought land in Caranavi region to showcase their practises and educate other producers in sustainable farming, as well as increasing the overall volume at their mills. They prepared the land on 20,6 hectares and planted Red Caturra, Java and Gesha. This part of the lot is named after its’ beauty - La Linda.
About the Rodriguez Family and Sustainability
Pedro-Pablo, Daniela and Pedro Rodriguez are our exporter for all of our coffees coming from Bolivia. They have their own processing mills, where they process coffees for other farmers in the Caranarvi and Sud Yungas region, before exporting it. Together the family has been sourcing coffee from small coffee producers for more than three decades. They have seen the steady decline of coffee production, which has put the sustainability of their export business in jeopardy.
Without the intervention of people like the Rodriguez family however, the future of Bolivian coffee production is at risk of disappearing. To help this, they have planted several plantations of their own in the Carnavi, and Samaipata regions. They also have a sustainability project Sol de Mañana where they are helping other producers by providing them with fertilisers, and seedlings, as well as giving them advice with their agronomic expertise; their three mantras are economical sustainability, social understanding, and environmental awareness. They are helping more farms produce higher quality as well as larger quantity of coffee in a sustainable way, which they process, and help export.
For all of the coffee we are buying through the Roudriguez, 20% of the price we pay them goes directly to the farmers delivering the coffee to the mill. These numbers are completely transparent, and available for all of the producers. On top of all of this, they have farms of their own, including Alasitas, La Linda and Samaichacha.
For a little more on the producers a Q&A with them on our last visit, watch it here.
About the Java (Longberry) Variety
The Java growing at La Linda is brought in from Nicaragua, from a producer at Las Delicias whom we are also buying coffee from. Java taked the nickname Longberry because of the long, slim look of the cherries and beans. The Java gives a smaller crop than expected at La Linda, some areas of the farm are being replanted because the yield is just too low. However the coffee is tasting amazing! Elegant, notes of nutmeg and white sweet florals with the Bolivian typical caramel syrup note to it.
We’re very proud to present this Bolivian coffee to you, for the impact it will have on the Rodriguez family’s livelihoods and the future of Bolivian specialty coffee, but also for the sugary, clear taste profile.
]]>Here is the last Kenyan being released from the last harvest, from Karagoto. As you know we love the vibrant taste profile from Kenya. But what also makes this coffee so unique is the accuracy in processing, that truly brings out the character of the coffee and is very consistent to work with as a coffee for both roasters and baristas. The small holding farmers around Karagoto are growing mainly the SL28 and SL34 varietal, from here you can expect a warm cup with high acidity with notes of lime, hibiscus, yellow grapefruit and the black currant note typical for coffee from Kenya.
About coffee production at Karagoto
In Kenya a mill/washingstation/process station is called a "factory". This is just a different culture and wording, but just to clarify that Karagoto is the place where the coffee is being processed.
During the months of harvest, November to January, the farmers are delivering the coffee to Karagoto factory on the same day as they have done the picking, either by foot or bike. Arriving to Karagoto they are sorting the cherries by hand, separating mature beans from immature beans, this is the first sorting of the beans. All the coffee will be used, but just for different quality. After this the coffee starts to get processed, first being depulped where the outer skin of the cherry and most of the mucilage is removed. The coffee is then fermented, washed and dried on raised beds. What makes coffee in Kenya even more consistent to work with is that the coffee is separated by size, where AA is the biggest and PB the smallest. This doesn't say anything about quality per say, but the different sizes will of course taste different from each other. This is the AB, meaning the second biggest size beans from Karagoto.
About Karagoto
The Karogoto factory is located quite close to Kieni near the town of Karatina, Nyeri. It's owned by the Tekangu Coffee Farmers’ Cooperative Society, which got its name from combining the names of their three mills: Tegu, Karogoto and Ngunguru. It has seen success in recent years to secured some really great prices for the farmers that deliver their coffee cherries there. Karagoto is managed by Ephraim Maina Muthee, who showed us around when we visited in 2016.
The mill is split in half by a road, with the sorting shed and fermentation tanks on the lower side and the drying beds on the upper slope of the hill. Both sides are pretty steep, with a great view of the valley and weaver birds making their homes in the trees around the mill.
SHORT FACTS ON KARAGOTO
Mill: Karagoto
Owners: Tekangu Coffee Farmers’ Cooperative Society
Contributing farmers: 1700+
Altitude: 1700 m.a.s.l.
Nearest town: Karatina
Varietal: Mainly SL28 & SL34
Size of beans: AB, the second biggest selection of beans
Processing method: Washed
Average rainfall: 1500 mm
Temperature range: 12–27°C
Soil type: Well-drained red volcanic soil rich in phosphorus
Flavour colour: Pink
Flavour profile: Karagoto is a floral and vibrant cup, with a lot of citric acidity. Flavours of yellow grapefruit, black currant and hibiscus. Despite the high acitidy, Karagoto also has a warm character and roundness reminding of good Merlot wine.
About the Coffee
Flavour profile: A very sweet juicy cup and a little bit funky with notes of blueberries and a hint of dried raspberries, and passionfruit. With a silky mouthfeel, and a lingering aftertaste.
Colour: Dark blue
Category: Adventurous
Producer: Israel Degfa, of the company Kerchanse
Washing Station: Adola. A privately owned, communal washing station.
Number of delivering farmers: about 2000 smallholding with an average of 1-2 hectares per farm.
Harvested: November 2018 - January 2019
Varietal: Indigenous wild varietals
Processing: Natural processed
Area: Guji Zone in the Oromia region
Altitude: 2100 masl
Roast style: Light to medium to enhance the light, juicy mouthfeel with heaps of fruity and floral notes.
Natural coffee from Ethiopia, funky and fruity! Letting the coffee dry in its cherry is the traditional way of processing coffee for personal consumption and for commodity coffee in Ethiopia. It is a sensitive process that can give the coffee a fermented taste profile, unless it is done carefully. At Adola, the grade one coffee cherries are carefully sorted and dry for over 25 days. The natural process suits the floral yet citric profile of Ethiopian coffee very well and keeps more vibrancy in the coffee that shines through the sweet flavour that the natural process adds to the cup.
This is the fourth year in a row that we are buying coffee from Israel Degfa, the only private producer we are working with in Ethiopia. Israel has become a good friend of ours and we want to support his work on sustainability.
Ethiopia is one of our favourite origins. Its’ taste profile and culture are both diverse and interesting. The Arabica coffee plant was first found growing wild in Ethiopia and Yemen, and then Ethiopia became the motherland of coffee. About 6,6 million bags are produced in the country every year, of which almost half is kept in the country for local consumption.
We hope you will enjoy this sweet adventurous coffee that is a little bit out of our safe zone! :)
About Israel Degfa
Israel is one of the warmest people we know and also very successful in the business. He was born near Sidamo, Yirgalem, and his parents were both in coffee in different ways. His mum sold coffee at the bus station and his dad was a farmer. This is where he found his love for coffee. He studied primary school in Yiralem and went to high school and college in Addis Abeba. In 2013 Israel founded the company by Kerchanshe trading company that is named after the nearest town, Kerchanste town (fondly referred to as Kercha). Today he has 26 washing stations and a few dry-mills; the guy is 32 years old and has only had the business for 6 years.
Israel visited us at Drop the first year we worked together, in 2015. From then we have been visiting each other every year. Obviously, Drop Coffee is a tiny buyer to all of Israels 26 washing stations, but coffee buying is about relationships, shared quality goals, and trust - and in that, we see eye to eye, and are important to each other. Israel is continuously improving his standards of coffee. This year the total percentage of production that was specialty coffee by Kerchance has almost doubled, this year the specialty coffee is close to 10% of all the coffee. Higher quality means more money for the farmers delivering to the washing stations.
At Adola, local farmers are delivering their freshly picked coffee cherries to the washing station, most of the farmers only have 1 to 2 hectares of land. The days they are not delivering coffee, many of them are working at the washing station. Most of the coffee being delivered to Adola is organically produced, but not everything.
Israel has been traveling to other coffee origins, such as Brazil, where he has been inspired in ways to improve the coffee processing. Isreal is always investing in better systems and putting better protocols in place at his washing stations.
Sustainability
We want to support Israel Degfa's work on sustainability with the farmers aiming to get them out of poverty through coffee and he is producing some really stunning coffees. Adola is one of four of his washing stations where the producers are being certified and given a second payment, based on the premiums.
As part of our transparency and the ongoing coffee price crisis, we want to share our FOB prices for the coffee we buy. This coffee has been paid 2.80 USD per pound. An entire 10% of Kershanse's profit goes into a non-profit sustainability company, that is investing in schools within the local communities among other things. At Adola Israel has built a school for the children living in the area. Drop Coffee has contributed by buying some furniture for the school.
]]>About the Coffee
Flavour description: Medium body with a creamy mouthfeel. Flavour notes of white grape, caramel, black tea with a note of buttercup flower (smörblomma).
Colour: Buttercup Yellow
Category: Curious
Producer: Carmelita Urduvi
Location: Copacabana, Caranavi, Bolivia
Farm Name: Carmelita
Farm size: 3 hectares
Varietal: Caturra & Catuai
Harvest: August to September 2018
Elevation: 1550 – 1850 MASL
Processing: Fully washed
Fermentation: Full wet for 16 hours, first 8 with no water, then 8 hours with water.
Drying: Mechanical for 46 hours after the professor Favio Borem's guidelines with a quicker drying phase in the beginning and a slower process towards the end of the drying.
Roast: A fairly long profile landing in light to medium roast level. Roasted to present the natural characteristics of the coffee.
This is the second year we are getting coffee from Carmelita Urduvi, and it is only her second harvest of her new crops, and we are buying half of it, with the other half going to Australia. After being hit with Roja a few years ago, she joined the sustainability project Sol de Mañana, and started growing new plants of Caturra and Catuaí. Carmelita’s farm is three-hectares, triple the size it was before the Roja hit, located 1550-1850 masl in Copacabana, Bolivia.
Carmelita Urduvi
We visited Carmelita for the first time four years ago. Her hard work and dedication to the farm impressed us greatly. She had less than a hectare, which had a low yield, after being hit with Roja, which is why she decided to become part of the sustainability project “Sol de la Mañana”, which is run by our exporter Pedro Rodriguez with family. When we met, Carmelita had just prepared her land for a second hectare, and was ready to start planting her new Caturra and Catuaí seedlings from her nursery. This time she wanted to do everything right from the beginning, with help of the agronomists in the Sol de la Mañana project.
Carmelita Urduvi has been working in coffee for 40 years. Originally she is from Omasuyos, near the lake called Titicaca. She moved with her husband to Caranavi when a government led to reform and gave the land back to thousands of indigenous families. Since then they had 8 children. Carmelita raised their children while running the farm after her husband disappeared. Carmelita told us that the management of the farm is her greatest achievement, and yes we are all impressed by her extraordinary producing standards and the farm is always clean, tidy and in great shape. Her oldest son works full time on the farm throughout the whole year, another two of her sons work for our exporter Rodriguez Buena Vista farms.
Unique to anyone else we have met in Bolivia, she is known to clean each cherry after picking and before putting it into her bags and delivering it for processing at the Rodriguez mill. By producing a better quality coffee she is able to earn more money and have a better future for her and her children. She believes that joining the program has helped her to better understand what she needs to do in order to produce better coffee and keep her crops stronger and healthier.
About Drop Coffee and Carmelita
Since the first time, we met Carmelita we had a strong feeling that we were going to work together. She is driven, light-minded and super focused on quality. One of our big muses and inspirations.
We have to say we love her work from the first time we visited four years ago. Finally getting to taste her coffee last year was an absolute pleasure, as maybe you would agree, and we are so proud to buy half of her production (sharing it with Melbourne Coffee Merchants), we have a European exclusivity on Carmelita's coffee and have a feeling this will continue to be one of our strong relationships for many years to come. We love the floral-like coffee added to the big and sweet profile we get from the Bolivian coffees.
Watch an interview we did with Carmelita while in Bolivia here.
]]>Flavour profile: A juicy yet complex cup. Notes of clementine, jasmine and caramelized sugar. A refreshing finish of lemonade with a cooling aftertaste.
Colour: Drop turquoise
Category: Adventurous
Producer: Pedro-Pablo, Daniela and Pedro Rodriguez
Location: Bolinda, Caranavi, Bolivia
Varietal: Gesha
Lot: Mirador
Harvested: July to September 2018
Altitude: 1580 masl
Processing: Fully washed. The Gesha at Alasitas is picked very maturely for a high sweetness. It is processed in small day lots; the beans are depulped then soaked overnight and dried on raised beds for about 20-25 days.
Roast: Light to medium to present the characteristics of the coffee.
*Nano lot!*
Finally time for the Alasitas washed Gesha, it is just a nano lot, we only have 40 kilos of it! The Gesha trees at Alasitas give a small quantity, but the quality is phenomenal.
The Rodriguez family has planted two kinds of Gesha at their farm, one from Hawaii and one from the well-known Hacienda La Esmeralda - that is the best Gesha growing in the world. This coffee is from the seeds of Hacienda La Esmeralda, planted at Alasitas in 2014. Gesha is a hard varietal to grow and it takes a lot of attention to details. Every year the plant is another year older, and in the case of Gesha we often find it better as the plants are older, and there is no exception at Alasitas. The exceptional quality is also because Rodriguez continuously strives for higher quality, and excellence in coffee production. Previous years, our baristas have competed with the Alasitas washed Gesha in the Swedish Barista Championships and Mikki Suzuki from Japan placed second in the world barista championships with this coffee.
About the Rodriguez family
Those of you who been buying Bolivian coffees from us, already know Pedro, Daniela and Pedro Pablo quite well. The Rodriguez family own their own mills, processing and exporting coffee for farmers in the Caranarvi and Sud Yungas region. Since 1986, Pedro has been sourcing coffee from small coffee producers, but the steady decline of coffee production has put the sustainability of their export business in jeopardy. Without the intervention of people like the Rodriguez family however, the future of coffee production in Bolivia is at risk of disappearing. The family has taken on the challenge of increasing the production of coffee in Bolivia by planting their own new coffee plantations.
In 2014, they bought land in Caranavi region to showcase their practices and educate other producers in sustainable farming, as well as increasing the overall volume at their mills. They prepared the land on 20,6 hectares and planted Red Caturra, Java and Gesha. The name of the farm is Las Alasitas, which in the Aimara native language means “buy me”.
Sustainability
The Rodriguez family has in the last three years introduced a sustainability model for the producers who supply them at their mill and built this on three pillars: economical sustainability, social understanding, and environmental awareness - Sol de Mañana. We are also buying coffee from individual producers that are getting extra support from the Rodriguez family in prevention of leaf-rust and how to produce the higher quantity as well as better quality. This year we have bought coffee from Nicolas and Maruja Colque and Carmelita whom are part of the Sol de Mañana project.
This year their business model got the SCA Sustainability Award for Sustainable Business model.
The high altitudes in Bolivia (Alasitas at 1580masl), the breath-taking nature, the coffee history, and the quality of the cup with its’ clear taste profile making it a very special place. Bolivia’s past is interesting—although it’s a commercially viable coffee exporting country, its production has always been small. The main problem for producers was (and to some extent still is) that they are unable to make enough money on coffee production to be sustainable. To subsidize their income, they looked to other crops, mainly coca (the crop that is for cocaine, which is legal in Bolivia). Encouraged by the government, coca is four times more profitable and is much easier to grow than coffee, and this sadly led to coffee producers turning their back on coffee or just abandoning their farms. Coca farming involves a lot of chemicals and fertilizers that are not good to the soil and land, so farming coca leads to the soil being infertile and overworked. Over time, coca-farmed land is unusable for any crop at all. As if these difficulties weren’t enough to overcome, the arrival of leaf rust in 2013 (a fungus that attacks the leaves of coffee trees and makes it impossible to photosynthesize) meant that the country lost over 50% of its production that year alone. The combination of both government policy and leaf rust means that Bolivia’s coffee production has dropped by over 70 % in the past ten years, leaving the county a minor player in the world of coffee. But this coffee is a great example of how phenomenal coffee from Bolivia can be and putting the country on the map for speciality coffee.
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Flavour description: Big bodied with a jam like mouthfeel. With a high sweetness and a medium acidity. Flavour notes of red dessert wine and honeydew melon and a finish of raspberry jam.
Colour to describe flavour: Hot pink
Flacour category: Adventurous
Producer: Pedro-Pablo, Daniela and Pedro Rodriguez of Agricafé
Location: Bolinda, Caranavi, Bolivia
Varietal: Red Caturra
Lot: Mirador
Picking Period: July to September 2018
Elevation: 1580 masl
Processing: Natural processed. This is a natural processed coffee. The natural process means that the coffee is dried within its cherry before the beans are taken out. The coffee is dried directly under the sun for the first couple of days and then covered up in the drying house with a controlled temperature and airflow. The cherries are consistently moved by hand on strict schedules for even rotation and drying. Towards the end, the coffee is moved together as a pile to slow down the drying even more. The total drying time is about 20-25 days.
Roast: Light to medium to present the natural characteristics of the coffee.
It is time to release our second coffee from Alasitas this year! This is the nano lot of natural processed Caturra from Alasitas, Bolivia. We only have 40 kilo of this coffee! We are also buying the nano lot of washed Gesha, which will be release later this summer.
We love to present this Bolivian coffees to you, for the potential impact of the future of Bolivian specialty coffee production, but also for the sugary, clear taste profile. To showcase how good Bolivian coffee can taste, the Rodriguez family has planted different varietals on their own farms such as this red Caturra as well as the Gesha from the Alasitas. The taste profile of this Red Caturra from Alasitas is a little wild to us, but we like it. With a high sweetness and red dessert wine from the natural processing method.
About the Rodriguez family
The Rodriguez family own their own mills, processing and exporting coffee for farmers in the Caranarvi and Sud Yungas region. The family has been sourcing coffee from small coffee producers for three decades, but the steady decline of coffee production has put the sustainability of their export business in jeopardy. Without the intervention of people like the Rodriguez family however, the future of coffee production in Bolivia is at risk of disappearing.
The family has taken on the challenge of increasing the production of Bolivian coffee by planting their own new coffee plantations.
In 2014, the Rodriguez family bought land in Caranavi region to showcase their practices and educate other producers in sustainable farming, as well as increasing the overall volume at their mills. They prepared the land on 20,6 hectares and planted Red Caturra, Java and Geisha. The name of the farm is Las Alasitas, which in the Aimara native language means “buy me”. This coffee is natural processed which brings a very dessert wine like touch to it. It has strong notes from the fruit left on the bean but still has a lot of vibrancy to it.
Caranavi, located 150 kilometres north of La Paz city, it is seen as the centre of Bolivian specialty coffee production. With the super rich soil, combined with high altitudes, for me it is the epicentre for coffee production in Bolivia. We’re very proud to present this Bolivian coffee to you all, for the impact it will have on the livelihood of the people working for the Rodriguez family as well as the future of Bolivian specialty coffee. But don’t forget the sugary, clear taste profile.
Sustainability
The Rodriguez family has in the last three years introduced a sustainability model for the producers who supply them at their mill, and built this on three mantras: economical sustainability, social understanding, and environmental awareness - Sol de Mañana. This means that we're also buying coffee from individual producers that are getting extra support from the Rodriguez family in prevention of leaf-rust and how to produce higher quantity as well as quality. In our current offerings from the Sol de Mañana project we also have Carmelita. This year, the Roudriguez won the SCA Sustainability Award for Sustainable Buisness Model.
Bolivia’s high altitude (in Alasitas case, 1580masl), the breath-taking nature, the coffee history, and the quality of the cup with its clear taste profile making it a very special place. Bolivia’s past is interesting—although it’s a commercially viable coffee exporting country, its production has always been small. The conditions, although challenging, are exceptional for growing coffee, and this produces a very rich agriculture built on a long history of farming on a very difficult terrain. In 1991, there was a government led initiative to encourage the endogenous population to participate in coffee farming, which led to a fractured system counterintuitive to quality. The arrival of the Cup of Excellence Program in 2004 allowed buyers to find the quality coffee for which Bolivia was already known, but that had become difficult to source.
The main problem for producers was (and, to some extent, still is) that they are unable to make enough money to be sustainable. To subsidize their income, they looked to other crops, mainly coca (the crop that is used to produce cocaine, which is legal in Bolivia). Encouraged by the government, coca is four times more profitable and is much easier to grow than coffee, and this sadly led to coffee producers turning their back on coffee or just abandoning their farms.
Coca farming involves a lot of chemicals and fertilizers that are not good to the soil and land, so farming coca leads to the soil being infertile and overworked. Over time, coca-farmed land is unusable for any crop. Bolivian governmental support for growing coca has led to a break-down of relations with the USA, who had previously supported Bolivian agriculture and economy in the early 2000s. The resulting war on drugs in Bolivia has since led to many initiatives to help coffee farmers, with things like the Cup of Excellence being financially supported by USAID.
As if these difficulties weren’t enough to overcome, the arrival of leaf rust in 2013 (a fungus that attacks the leaves of a coffee tree and makes it impossible to photosynthesize) meant that the country lost over 50% of its production that year alone. The combination of both government policy and leaf rust means that Bolivia’s coffee production has dropped by over 70 % in the past ten years, leaving the county a minor player in the world of coffee.
This means that to find the very best coffees from Bolivia, we pay a higher than normal price compared to other coffee producing countries—but this isn’t a bad thing. The small volumes available and current demand for great coffees mean that, for once, coffee producers are on the forefront.
]]>Flavour description: This is one of the most exclusive coffees produced at Alasitas. The natural process of the coffee gives a lot of sweetness to the juicy and floral varietal Java. The coffee has flavour notes of papaya, and violets, with a lasting finish reminding of pineapple with a sweetness of gumdrops.
Colour: Violet
Category: Adventurous
Producer: Daniela, Pedro-Pablo and Pedro Rodriguez
Location: Bolinda, Caranavi, Bolivia
Varietal: Java
Lot: Mirador
Harvest: Mid-August to September 2018
Elevation: 1580 masl
Processing: Natural. The coffee beans are dried in the coffee cherry before it is removed out of its skin.
The coffee cherries are dried on raised beds with consistent turning to about 42%. The coffee is then removed to automatic heaters where it is having a consistent temperature on 45 degrees until the coffee beans in the cherry reach 11.5% moist.
FOB price paid for this coffee: 12 USD per lbs
Roast: Light to medium to present the natural characteristics of the coffee. The Java roast profile is more steep to get the vibrant notes of the coffee out.
This is the first year we have the Java from just this Rodriguez’ farm, Alasitas. The Java is floral and delicate, but since the Java trees were planted at Alasitas five years ago, the taste profile has got stronger and more intense for every year. And now it is here! The producers have invested a lot of time, land and money into growing this coffee, even though the Java variety does not give a big yield, but they strive to present how diverse Bolivian coffee can be. And right in this coffee, it is truly paying off! We get a juicy yet floral cup out of this coffee and are very happy to be presenting this exclusive, micro-lot of Java to you!
This is a very important relationship for us at Drop, and one we are very proud to have. We go to their farms for a visit every year during harvest, and stay at the mill, they have also made their way up to Stockholm to visit the team at Drop. We, as friends have been growing together for over four years now.
If it weren’t for the Rodriguez, Bolivian coffee would look a lot different today. They work under the name Agricafé as exporters, and we are buying all of our Bolivian coffees through them. They also have a sustainability project ‘Sol de Manana’, where they are working with other producers, providing them with fertilizer and plants, and advising, with their agronomical expertise. They also process the coffees from all of the producers we are buying from at their washing stations and dry mill. On top of all of this, they have farms of their own, including Alasitas.
The dad, Pedro Roudriguez started sourcing coffee from small coffee producers in 1986. He ownes a mill, together with his talaented daughter Daniela and son Pedro Pablo. They process, dry mill and exports coffee for other farmers in the Caranavi and Sud Yungas region. Without people like the Roudriguez family working in coffee in Bolivia, the future of Bolivian coffee would be at risk of disappearing, but with the steady decline of coffee production, the sustainability of their export business is in jeopardy.
The farm Alasitas
In 2014, the Rodriguez family bought land in Caranavi region to showcase their practices and educate other producers on sustainable farming, as well as increasing the overall volume at their mills. They prepared the land on 20,6 hectares and planted Red Caturra, Java and Gesha. The name of the farm is Las Alasitas, which in the Aimara native language means “buy me”.
Caranavi is located 150 kilometers north of La Paz city, it is seen as the center of Bolivian specialty coffee production. With the super-rich soil, combined with very high altitudes, for me, it is the epicenter for coffee production in Bolivia. We’re very proud to present this Bolivian coffee to you all, for the impact it will have on the livelihood of the people working for the Rodriguez family as well as the future of Bolivian specialty coffee. But don’t forget the sugary, clear taste profile.
Java varietal
To showcase how good Bolivian coffee can taste, the Rodriguez family has planted different varietals such as this Java. The original plants are actually from the Mierisch family in Nicaragua, whom we bought Las Delicias from. (Yaaay! Coming back really soon!)
Java often gets called Longberry, as the beans are very long and the cherries are big. As indicated by the name, the variety was introduced to the island of Java directly from Ethiopia by the Dutch in the early 19th century.
It was originally thought to be a Typica selection. But genetic fingerprinting of molecular markers has revealed that Java is a selection from an Ethiopian landrace population called Abysinia.
It was introduced to Costa Rica in 1991 to provide more options for smallholders using low inputs, as well as tolerant to coffee berry disease (CBD). Subsequently Java’s quality potential at high altitudes has been recognized.
It represents an interesting alternative to the Gesha, which have a high cup quality but is more resilient for small farmers with better tolerance of coffee leaf rust and CBD. However the yield is quite small, which is one of the reasons the Java costs more to produce.
Sustainability
In the last four years, the Roudriguez family has been building a sustainability project with the producers delivering to their mills, called ‘Sol de Mañana. It is built on three mantras: economical sustainability, social understanding and environmental awareness. We are buying coffee from other producers in Bolivia, such as Carmelita, Colque and Tadassio Mamani who are receiving extra support from the Roudriguez family. They help other producers produce higher quality and larger quantities in a sustainable way.
For all of the coffee we are buying through the Roudriguez, 20% of the price we pay them goes directly to the farmers delivering the coffee. These numbers are completely transparent and available for all of the producers. Earlier this year, the family got the SCA Sustainability Award for Most Sustainable Buisness Model.
Bolivia is a complex, diverse and somewhat isolated country and getting great coffee out of the country is not super easy. But it is so worth it! Read more about Bolivia as a coffee-producing country here.
]]>Flavour description: This is a creamy cup profile with medium body. Notes of caramel, green apple reminding of drinking chocolate with marshmallows, with a finish of cacao nibs.
Colour: Red
Category: Comfortable
Producer: Pedro-Pablo, Daniela and Pedro Rodriguez
Location: Bolinda, Caranavi, Bolivia
Varietal: Red Caturra
Lot: Mirador
Harvest: August to September 2018
Elevation: 1580 masl
Processing: Fully Washed
Roast: Light to medium to present the natural characteristics of the coffee.
This is the coffee that we have been buying from Alasitas year after year, and this is one of those coffees that we could drink plenty of, every day, for the rest of our lives. We are happy to receive this coffee every year, it is such a pleasure to drink, and to serve.
This is a very important relationship for us at Drop, and one we are very proud to have. We go to their farms for a visit every year during harvest, and stay at the mill, they have also made their way up to Stockholm to visit the team at Drop. We, as friends have been growing together for a few years now.
If it weren’t for the Rodriguez, Bolivian coffee would look a lot different today. They work under the name Agricafé as exporters, and we are buying all of our Bolivian coffees through them. They also have a sustainability project ‘Sol de Manana’, where they are working with other producers, providing them with fertilisers and plants, and advising , with their agronomical expertise. They also process the coffees from all of the producers we are buying from at their washing stations and dry mill. On top of all of this, they have farms of their own, including Alasitas.
Pedro Roudriguez started sourcing coffee from small coffee producers in 1986. His family own mills, and they process and exports coffee for other farmers in the Caranavi and Sud Yungas region. Without people like the Roudriguez family working in coffee in Bolivia, the future of Bolivian coffee would be at risk of disappearing, but with the steady decline of coffee production, the sustainability of their export business is in jeopardy.
The farm Alasitas
In 2014, the Rodriguez family bought land in Caranavi region to showcase their practises and educate other producers on sustainable farming, as well as increasing the overall volume at their mills. They prepared the land on 20,6 hectares and planted Red Caturra, Java and Gesha. The name of the farm is Las Alasitas, which in the Aimara native language means “buy me”.
Caranavi is located 150 kilometres north of La Paz city, it is seen as the centre of Bolivian specialty coffee production. With the super-rich soil, combined with very high altitudes, for me it is the epicentre for coffee production in Bolivia. We’re very proud to present this Bolivian coffee to you all, for the impact it will have on the livelihood of the people working for the Rodriguez family as well as the future of Bolivian specialty coffee. But don’t forget the sugary, clear taste profile.
Caturra varietal
To showcase how good Bolivian coffee can taste, the Rodriguez family has planted different varietals such as this Caturra.
Caturra is a natural mutation of the Bourbon variety. It is a mutation called dwarfism, which, yes causes the plant to grow smaller. It was discovered in Brazil in the early 1900s, but was never officially released in Brazil. It has however become common in Central America, since about three decades after its’ introduction in Guatemala in the 1940s. Caturra attracted some attention from producers and breeders because of their small size, which allows them to be planted closer together. Its’ closely spaced branches also enable it to produce more fruit in the same space.
Caturra is also pest friendly, and can be difficult to grow, just like Bourbon.
Sustainability
In the last four years the Roudriguez family have been building a sustainability project with the producers delivering to their mills, called ‘Sol de Mañana. It is built on three mantras: economical sustainability, social understanding and environmental awareness. We are buying coffee from other producers in Bolivia, such as Carmelita, Colque and Tadassio Mamani who are receiving extra support from the Roudriguez family. They help other producers produce higher quality and larger quantities in a sustainable way.
For all of the coffee we are buying through the Roudriguez, 20% of the price we pay them goes directly to the farmers delivering the coffee. These numbers are completely transparent, and available for all of the producers.
Read more about Bolivia as a coffee producing country here.
]]>About the Coffee
Flavour profile: A silky light bodied cup, with lots of yellow floral notes. Tasting like peach juice, with a hint of lemon, jasmine tea and pure passion fruit. A longlasting bergamotte finish.
Colour: Orange
Category: Curious
Producer: Israel Degfa, of the company Kerchanse
Washing Station: Adola. A privately owned, communal washing station.
Number of delivering farmers: about 2000 smallholding with an average of 1-2 hectares per farm.
Harvested: November 2018 - January 2019
Varietal: Indigenous wild varietals
Processing: Washed
Area: Guji Zone in the Oromia region
Altitude: 2100 meters above sealevel
Roast style: Light to medium to enhance the light, juicy mouthfeel with loads of tropical fruit notes.
This is the fourth year in a row that we are buying coffee from Israel Degfa, the only private producer we are working with in Ethiopia. Israel has become a good friend of ours and we want to support his work on sustainability. This coffee is from the high altitude washing station called Adola, where we have also contributed towards the school Israel built up here.
We have this coffee as both natural and washed processed. This is the washed processed coffee, it has a clearer taste profile and more vibrant acidity to it.
Ethiopia is one of our favourite origins. Its’ taste profile and culture are both diverse and interesting. The Arabica coffee plant was first found growing wild in Ethiopia and Yemen, and then Ethiopia became the motherland of coffee. About 6,6 million bags are produced in the country every year, of which almost half is kept in the country for local consumption.
About Israel Degfa
Israel is one of the warmest people we know and also very successful in the business. He was born near Sidamo, Yirgalem, and his parents were both in coffee in different ways. His mum sold coffee at the bus station and his dad was a farmer. This is where he found his love for coffee. He studied primary school in Yiralem and went to high school and college in Addis Abeba.
In 2013 Israel founded the company by Kerchanshe trading company that is named after the nearest town, Kerchanste town (fondly referred to as Kercha). Today he has 26 washing stations and a few dry-mills; the guy is 32 years old and has only had the business for 6 years.
Israel visited us at Drop the first year we worked together, in 2015. From then we have been visiting each other every year. Obviously, Drop Coffee is a tiny buyer to all of Israels 26 washing stations, but coffee buying is about relationships, shared quality goals, and trust - and in that, we see eye to eye, and are important to each other. Israel is continuously improving his standards of coffee. This year the total percentage of production that was specialty coffee by Kerchance has almost doubled, this year the specialty coffee is close to 10% of all the coffee. Higher quality means more money for the farmers delivering their cherries to the washing stations, and everyone in between.
At Adola, local farmers are delivering their freshly picked coffee cherries to the washing station, most of the farmers only have 1 to 2 hectares of land. The days they are not delivering coffee, many of them are working at the washing station. Most of the coffee being delivered to Adola is organically produced, but not everything.
Israel has been traveling to other coffee origins, such as Brazil, where he has been inspired in ways to improve the coffee processing. Isreal is always investing in better systems and putting better protocols in place at his washing stations.
Sustainability
We want to support Israel Degfa's work on sustainability with the farmers aiming to get them out of poverty through coffee and he is producing some really stunning coffees.
Adola is one of four of his washing stations where the producers are being certified and given a second payment, based on the premiums.
An entire 10% of Kershanse's profit goes into a non-profit sustainability company, that is investing in schools within the local communities among other things. At Adola Israel has built a school for the children living in the area. Drop Coffee has contributed by buying some furniture for the school.
As part of our transparency and the ongoing coffee price crisis, we want to share our FOB prices for the coffee we buy. This coffee has been paid 2.80 USD per pound.
]]>About the Coffee
Flavour profile: A well-balanced cup with a creamy mouthfeel. Notes of yellow pear milk chocolate and vanilla. The aftertaste is long-lasting and a bit cooling, reminding of mint-chocolate.
Colour: Hot yellow
Category: Comfortable
Producer: Mauricio Ortiz and Mary Ortiz
Region: El Pasti in the Santa Ana region
Varietal: Yellow Bourbon
Harvest: End of December 2018 - February 2019
Altitude: 1400 meters above sea level
Processing: Fully-washed
While visiting El Sunzita in March earlier this year, the whole farm was already flowering. The white flowers covering the coffee trees made the farm El Sunzita look like a snowy Sweden, but with the scent of jasmine! The harvest had finished earlier than any other year due to early rain starting off the harvest and a dry season. El Sunzita is also the lowest grown coffee we buy, which means the harvest is often starting earlier, than at other farms we buy from. A lower-grown coffee makes less dense bean, and also more soluble when we brew the coffee. Simply put: the coffee from El Sunzita is easy to brew and easy to like.
We have been working with Mary and Mauricio Ortiz for many years, they are kind, and very driven in producing the best coffee they can and are paying attention to details. We are the only ones buying the coffee sourced directly from the farm El Sunzita. The coffee they produce that we are not buying goes to the local mill, El Sunza, and gets blended with several other producers' beans in the area that are being processed there. We bought that blend years ago, but have been working directly with the Ortiz couple for the last few years and every year they produce even higher-end speciality coffee.
Last year, Mary received the Coffee grower of the year, by the agricultural minister of El Salvador, because of the innovative process that they use at their farm. El Sunzita is a great example of driven producers that are putting in the extra work to achieve higher quality. Year after year we are getting more varietals separated. This is the Yellow Bourbon. The taste profile is kind and sweet with flavours of canned yellow pear, milk chocolate and vanilla.
About the Mary and Mauricio Ortiz
Mary and Mauricio were given their current piece of land through Mauricio's family, 30 years ago when they got married and started to grow coffee on the plot soon thereafter. Mauricio is an agronomist and Mary is working with admin and business. Step by step they have built an incredibly beautiful farm on their land. Today they have built a nursery to be able to strengthen weaker plants, installed a small pulper to be able to experiment on different processing. Their grown-up kids are getting more and more involved as well.
On their 16 hectares, they now have a beautiful nursery and a small scale pulper.
Mauricio as an agronomist and producer, he does consulting with other producers in the area. At El Sunzita he is working as steady and organic as he can, focusing on the three S’s: Soil, Sun and Shade. By covering the area where the coffee trees are growing, with shading trees, sending soil on tests readings and creating their own fertilizers. On the new plants, they have been focusing on building stronger roots of the plants, for three years they've applied biota and are also making fertilizers from the coffee pulp.
Sustainability
The farm belongs to the mountain pitch El Sunza, with a total of 140 hectares of coffee farms, owned by Mauricio's brother. In 2015, Mary and Mauricio decided they wanted to produce the coffee from their farm individually. They named their farm as a small bit of El Sunza, El Sunzita and their aim was to process the higher quality coffee and sell it separately. This has contributed to a more economical sustainability in the business.
We’re now happy to have the coffee from El Sunzita at Drop Coffee, for the fifth year in a row working with the couple. Step by step we’ve been growing the cooperation. Over the last years, our cooperation has given us the opportunity to have the varietals separated for us which means that we can offer these separately to you.
]]>About the Coffee
Flavour Description: Medium bodied mature cup profile with a smooth mouthfeel like red apple juice. Tasting like a milk chocolate bar with a hint of fresh dates and a malic like acidity of red apple.
Colour: Light red
Category: Comfortable
Producer: Mauricio Ortiz and Mary Ortiz
Region: El Pasti in the Santa Ana region
Varietal: Red Bourbon
Harvest: February-March 2019
Altitude: 1400 meters above sea level
Processing: Fully-washed
We have been working with Mary and Mauricio Ortiz for many years, they are kind, and very driven in producing the best coffee they can, and it is a treat to roast and brew their coffee every year. We are the only ones buying the coffee sourced directly from the farm El Sunzita. The coffee they produce that we are not buying goes to the local mill, El Sunza, and gets blended with several other producers in the area processed there. We have bought that blend before, but have been working directly with the Ortiz couple for the last few years and every year they produce even more high-end speciality coffee.
Mary received the Coffee grower of the year award in 2018, by the agricultural minister of El Salvador, because of the innovative process that they use at their farm. El Sunzita is a great example of driven producers that are putting in the extra work to achieve higher quality, also how small-scale producers and roasters can work together for higher quality. Year after year we are getting more varietals separated. This is the Red Bourbon. The taste profile is mature with notes of milk chocolate, fresh dates, and red apple juice.
About the farm El Sunzita
Mary and Mauricio were given their current piece of land through Mauricio's family, 30 years ago when they got married and started to grow coffee on the plot soon thereafter. Mauricio is an agronomist and Mary is working with admin and business. Step by step they have built an incredibly beautiful farm on their land. Today they have built a nursery to be able to strengthen weaker plants, installed a small pulper to be able to experiment on different processing. Their grown-up kids are getting more and more involved as well.
On their 16 hectares, they now have a beautiful nursery and a small scale pulper. The altitude of El Sunzita is one of the lowest altitudes coffees we are buying in El Salvador, at 1400 meters above sea level. this makes the coffee easy souluble in the brew.
Mauricio as an agronomist and producer is consulting other producers with agronomy too. At El Sunzita he is working as steady and organic as he can, focusing on the three S’s; Soil, Sun and Shade. By covering the area with the coffee trees with shading trees, sending soil on tests readings and creating their own fertilizers. On the new plants, they have been focusing on building stronger roots of the plants, for three years they've applied biota and are also making fertilizers from the coffee pulp.
Drop Coffee and El Sunzita
The farm belongs to the mountain pitch El Sunza, with a total of 140 hectares of coffee farms, owned by Mauricio's brother. In 2015, Mary and Mauricio decided they wanted to produce the coffee from their farm individually. They named their farm as a small bit of El Sunza, El Sunzita and their aim was to process higher quality coffee and sell it separately.
We’re now happy to have the coffee from El Sunzita at Drop Coffee, for the fifth year in a row working with the couple. Step by step we’ve been growing the cooperation. Over the last years, our cooperation has given us the opportunity to have the varietals separated for us which means that we can offer these separately to you.
]]>About the Coffee
Flavour profile: A creamy yet elegant cup reminding of vanilla custard, with a light to medium body. Notes of milk chocolate with a hint of clementine and macadamia nut in the finish.
Colour: Mild yellow
Category: Curious
Producer: Mauricio Ortiz and Mary Ortiz
Region: El Pasti in the Santa Ana region
Varietal: Pacas
Harvest: End of December 2018 - February 2019
Altitude: 1400 meters above sea level
Processing: Fully-washed
While visiting El Sunzita in March earlier this year, the whole farm was already flowering. The white flowers covering the coffee trees made the farm El Sunzita look like a snowy Sweden, but with the scent of jasmine! The harvest had finished earlier than any other year due to early rain starting off the harvest and a dry season. El Sunzita is also the lowest grown coffee we buy, which means the harvest is often starting earlier than at other farms we buy from. A lower-grown coffee makes less dense bean, and also more soluble when we brew the coffee. Simply put: the coffee from El Sunzita is easy to brew and easy to like.
We have been working with Mary and Mauricio Ortiz for many years, they are kind, and very driven in producing the best coffee they can and are paying attention to details. We are the only ones buying the coffee sourced directly from the farm El Sunzita. The coffee they produce that we are not buying goes to the local mill, El Sunza, and gets blended with several other producers' beans in the area that are being processed there. We bought that blend years ago, but have been working directly with the Ortiz couple for the last few years and every year they produce even higher-end speciality coffee.
Last year, Mary received the Coffee grower of the year, by the agricultural minister of El Salvador, because of the innovative process that they use at their farm. El Sunzita is a great example of driven producers that are putting in the extra work to achieve higher quality. Year after year we are getting more varietals separated. This is the Yellow Bourbon. The taste profile is kind and sweet with flavours of canned yellow pear, milk chocolate and vanilla.
About the Mary and Mauricio Ortiz
Mary and Mauricio were given their current piece of land through Mauricio's family, 30 years ago when they got married and started to grow coffee on the plot soon thereafter. Mauricio is an agronomist and Mary is working with admin and business. Step by step they have built an incredibly beautiful farm on their land. Today they have built a nursery to be able to strengthen weaker plants, installed a small pulper to be able to experiment on different processing. Their grown-up kids are getting more and more involved as well.
On their 16 hectares, they now have a beautiful nursery and a small scale pulper.
Mauricio as an agronomist and producer, he does consulting with other producers in the area. At El Sunzita he is working as steady and organic as he can, focusing on the three S’s: Soil, Sun and Shade. By covering the area where the coffee trees are growing, with shading trees, sending soil on tests readings and creating their own fertilizers. On the new plants, they have been focusing on building stronger roots of the plants, for three years they've applied biota and are also making fertilizers from the coffee pulp.
Pacas varietal
Pacas is a natural mutation of Bourbon. Similar to other widely cultivated Bourbon mutants like Villa Sarchi and Caturra. The variety was discovered in 1949 in Santa Ana by the famous Pacas family. Today it accounts for about 25% of the country's coffee production. Pacas has a single-gene mutation that causes the plant to grow smaller and gives a cup profile that is slightly more delicate compared to the Bourbon from El Sunzita.
Sustainability
The farm belongs to the mountain pitch El Sunza, with a total of 140 hectares of coffee farms, owned by Mauricio's brother. In 2015, Mary and Mauricio decided they wanted to produce the coffee from their farm individually. They named their farm as a small bit of El Sunza, El Sunzita and their aim was to process the higher quality coffee and sell it separately. This has contributed to a more economical sustainability in the business.
We’re now happy to have the coffee from El Sunzita at Drop Coffee, for the fifth year in a row working with the couple. Step by step we’ve been growing the cooperation. Over the last years, our cooperation has given us the opportunity to have the varietals separated for us which means that we can offer these separately to you.
]]>About the coffee
Flavour description: This is a very sweet cup with a velvety mouthfeel and a big body. The coffee has a medium - high, citrus fruit like acidity, reminding of lemon and bergamot. Notes of milk chocolate, peach candies, red grape, with a lemon like aftertaste.
Colour: Gold
Category: Curious
Producer: Maruja Mamni and Nicolas Colque
Location: Collasuyo, about 40 km from Caranavi city, Bolivia
Farm name: La Florida
Varietal: Caturra 75%, Catuaí 15% and Typica 10%
Processing: Fully-washed and dried on raised beds
Harvest: June to September 2018, harvest peaking in July
Elevation: 1550-1650 masl
Exporter: Agricafe (Pedro Roudriguez and family)
Roast: The coffee is light to medium roasted to enhance the natural fruitiness and sweetness in the coffee.
We are very proud, and excited to have this coffee back in our roastery from Maruja Mamni and Nicolas Colque after a year gap. We highly prioritize being loyal customers to the producers we are working with, even if structures change. We put a lot of value in keeping our relationships strong, and want to continue supporting them. By working long term with a producer we can improve quality and ensure a minimum price for next years harvest, which makes the business model more steady and profitable for the producers in the longterm. This coffee got introduced to us by the sustainability project Sol de Manana and was one of the first coffees we fell in love with in Bolivia. Therefor, we are truly proud to have the European exclusivity since 2016 on the coffee, buying half of the production from Colque's farm called La Florida.
This coffee is a good example of what Bolivian coffee can be. It makes a super sweet, sugary cup – typical for Bolivian coffees, enhancing the velvety mouthfeel, giving the coffee a heavier body. You can taste the stunning work the Colque couple has put into this coffee, in the cup.
Meet the couple Colque
In the small colony of Collasuyo in Caranavi region Maruja and Nicolas Colque are doing a careful job on their farm called “ La Florida”. It is a total of 12 hectares where the couple produce and process their coffee, continuously planting more and more coffee on their land. Maruja original family name is Mamani but they refer to themselves as "the Colque family".
Nineteen years ago Nicolas started working in the coffee industry, starting off as a coffee picker earning 1.20 USD per week. This was at the age of 14 whilst his grandmother provided him with food and shelter. In 1999 Nicolas invested his savings from the picking work and bought a farm in the colony of Collasuyo, this farm was to be shared with his future partner, Maruja.
After just a few years Maruja and Nicolas were already selling the coffee that they had planted. They have been working with fully organic guidelines from the beginning, because they saw that there was more market value for organic coffee. Unfortunately there was no real infrastructure around quality coffee in Bolvia at that time, and they were not getting paid for the quality of product they were producing, it didn’t even cover their production costs. In 2010 Maruja and Nicolas sold their farm and moved to Brazil hoping to improve their quality of life, but they quickly changed their mind. It wasn’t what they expected, working over 8 hour days in a sewing plant, and living with 20 other families in locked quarters, which were poor living conditions. After six months the couple returned to Collasuyo and bought back their farm and named it La Florida.
In the last decade, specialty coffee in Bolivia has improved (read more here), and the couples journey has just helped motivate them to always strive for better. Higher yields, and better quality that they are actually getting paid for.
About Bolivia
Bolivia’s high altitude, the breath-taking nature, the coffee history, and the quality of the cup with its big and sweet taste profile makes it a very special place. Bolivia’s past is interesting—although it’s a commercially viable coffee exporting country, its production has always been small.
The conditions in Bolivia are exceptional for growing coffee, but also challenging, and this produces rich agriculture built on a long history of farming on very difficult terrain. In 1991, there was a government-led initiative to encourage the endogenous population to participate in coffee farming, which led to a fractured system counterintuitive to quality. The arrival of the Cup of Execellence Program in 2004 allowed buyers to find the quality coffee for which Bolivia was already known, but difficult to source.
The main problem for producers was (and, to some extent, still is) that they were unable to make enough money to be sustainable. To subsidise their income, they looked to other crops, mainly coca. Encouraged by the government, coca is four times more profitable and is much easier to grow than coffee, sadly this has led to coffee producers turning their back on coffee and abandoning their farms.
As if these difficulties weren’t enough to overcome, the arrival of leaf rust in 2013 meant that the country lost over 50% of its production that year alone. The combination of both government policy and leaf rust means that Bolivia’s coffee production has dropped by over 70 % in the last ten years, leaving the county a minor player in the world of coffee.
Over the past four years, we have been blessed to work with Agricafé. The quality, technology and profit for the producers are increasing every year.
You can read more about Bolivia as a coffee producing country in our blog post here.
Sustainability
Maruja and Nicolas are part of a sustainability project: Sol de Mañana, which is run by the Rodrigues family, whom is also our exporters in Bolivia. They give classes on how to create higher quality coffee, and less leaf rust. Maruja and Nicolas were one of the first five farmers that they started the project with, five years ago, and they have been a shiny example of how the project is helping improve quality, and quantity and preventing leaf rust with organic fertilizers.
The Roast
The coffee is on a light to medium on the roasting scale, to enhance the natural flavour of the coffee. We are using a lot of energy in the curve to push out the fruity notes. In the caramelization phase we have stretched out the roast profile a little bit giving us a slightly longer curve in total to make sure the sweet flavours and creamy body that the coffee from the Colque's has, is being presented in the cup. As always we like the coffee as filter, espresso or any other brewing method.
Flavour description: Mainly an acidity-driven cup with light to medium body and juicy mouthfeel. The coffee has flavour notes of fresh strawberry, black currant and pink grapefruit. A very long-lasting vibrant and refreshing aftertaste.
Colour: Clear pink - with glitter and sparkles!
Category: Adventurous
Producer: Kamwangi Factory
Location: Gichugu division of the Kirinyaga district
Varietal: SL-34, SL-28 and Ruiru 11
Harvested: October 2018 to December 2018
Cooperative: New Ngariama Cooperative Society
Altitude: 1600-1800 masl
Soil: Mainly Nitisol, red volcanic soil. Nitisols occur in highlands and on volcanic steep slopes. They are developed from volcanic rocks and have better chemical and physical properties than other tropical soils.
Processing: Fully washed. Fermented on 24-36 hours. Dried on raised beds for 15-21 days.
Roast style: Light to medium to enhance the bright natural flavour of the coffee.
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Dear Drop Coffee Followers and Friends! THIS is our Celebration Coffee! It comes in a special bag *no box for the first time in over six years* and is a coffee we hold close to our heart! We are turning 10 years, TEN, a whole decade. This coffee symbolizes our journey so far. Kamwangi AA has been the most beloved coffee by most people over the years, and we love it equally as much!
It is a coffee we have been buying for six years in a row now, and we do not ever want to stop buying it. Same way as you are loyal to us and make our journey such a pleasure! So now, all we need to do is to Celebrate! And hey, just to prove the fact that this is the perfect celebration coffee: every time I write “Kamwangi” the auto-correct suggests “Champagne”!
About Kamwangi
Kenya is one of Drop Coffee’s top-favourite taste profiles in coffee.
If you haven’t tried a Kenyan coffee yet - this will open up your world for what coffee can taste like.
If you have tried Kenyan coffee, but you’re reading this, it probably means that you really love it too. The typical taste profile of a great Kenyan coffee has no likeness in other growing regions, particularly when it comes to the most unique attributes, such as crisp clear acidity and the notes of blackcurrants and rhubarb.
Kenya is one of the origins that we have been buying coffee from ever since the company’s early days. We have been a loyal buyer of this coffee from Kamwangi, for six years now. As every year, we will have two different bean sizes of the coffee; this is the AA, the biggest sized beans.
Kamwangi factory is one of two factories (in Kenya the processing stations are called factories) under the cooperative named New Ngariama Cooperative Society. Kamwangi is located in the region of Kirinyaga in the hills surrounding mount Kenya, with a third factory soon to become operational. This area is less known than its neighbour, Nyeri.
The New Ngariama Cooperative Society is mainly made up of small scale farmers from surrounding farms to Kamwangi Factory. They are delivering their coffee cherries here in the afternoons of the day that the cherries have been picked. The smallholding farmers are normally delivering about 25-50 kilo by foot or bike for a few kilometers. When arriving at the factory, each producer will sort their own cherries manually to separate defects and lower grade, since they are paid more in relation to quality. These qualities are weighed, logged and paid for, and the farmers are given a receipt. Each farmer delivering coffee to the factory, has about 100 trees on their farms. One coffee tree gives cherries that end up being approximately 350 grams of roasted coffee.
The careful production of Kenyan coffee
Part of what makes the Kenyan taste profile so unique is achieved through the highly controlled way it is sorted and processed. Rigorous sorting is done at each stage of the processing, creating an extremely consistent final product. Once the cherries are delivered to the factory and have been sorted for over and under ripe cherries, they are generally de-pulped directly by a large 4-disked pulper, which removes the cherry from the coffee bean.
This pulper also acts as the next stage of sorting, as the low density beans float to the top of water channels after the pulp is removed and are washed down into a separate fermentation tank from the denser, higher quality beans. Once they are de-pulped, they are fermented in large concrete tanks overnight, breaking down the sugary layer (mucilage) so that it may easily be removed during the washing process. Fermentation takes about 24-36 hours, depending on the temperature.
The factory manager checks if the coffee has finished fermented by rubbing it between their hands: if there is abrasion, then the mucilage has deteriorated sufficiently and the coffee may be washed further, along the line to the washing channels. If it is allowed to ferment further, the delicate flavour characteristics would be ruined so washing must occur at a very particular time in order to stop the fermentation process.
The coffee is washed in fresh water in order to remove the residual sugars of the mucilage and is then sorted by density. Lower density beans are once again separated to be sold as lower grade coffee whilst the higher density beans are held back by gates in the channels whilst workers sweep along the channels with paddles in order to move the coffee. Once the washing process is complete, the coffee is moved to drying beds in order to lower the moisture content to a stable level before storage.
During the warmest hours of the day the coffee is covered to protect the beans from too much sunshine (that can damage the beans) and to keep the drying time longer. If the drying beds are full, the higher grade coffee is often stored overnight in tanks of clean water to prevent any further fermentation whilst awaiting to be moved to the drying tables. On the drying tables the coffee is sorted and stirred by hand in order to ensure even drying, until the moisture content reaches 13% then it is moved to conditioned bins for storage where they lose about 1.5% more. The beans are graded after bean size where AA is screen 17/18. AB is screen 15/16 with a tolerance for 10% below screen 15.
Sustainability
The past few years Kenya’s coffee production has been struggling a lot with coffee berry disease (CBD) and tough weather conditions due to climate change. This has led to more people planting the variety Batian which is more resistant than SL28 and SL34. However, the Batian plant is not always as high in acidity or as intense as the Kenyan coffee we have had the last decade, and that Kenyan coffee has been known for.
Kamwangi gives a direct part-payment to the farmers upon delivery. After the coffee is sold and the cooperative has taken out the production cost, the farmers get a second payment. Some well-managed wet mills are able to give more than 85% of the sales price back to the farmers; Kamwangi was able to give back 80% in 2017 after cost of milling and marketing is deducted. Registered in 1997, Kamwangi is Rainforest Alliance certified and have a good structure for tracking payments to the farmers, which is maybe the most important sustainability issue in coffee production in Kenya in general.
Kamwangi also have established soaking pits for waste water treatment as well as traceable quality control systems for processing.
As a part of our transparacy we have started to share what we are paying for all of the coffees going out of Drop Coffee's Roastery. You can re4ad more about it in this blogpost. For Kamwangi AA the FOB price for this lot was 4.63 USD per pound.
]]>The success of Finca Nejapa, owned by Gloria Rodrigues, is the result of a strong family unit. Their hard work and skills have really paid off in the quality of their product. By working together they can maintain and potentially improve the quality and the working conditions, and this is the process we are a part of working with the family year on year.
The story of Finca Nejapa
The farm was inherited by Gloria’s father, José María Rodríguez Herrera in the 50’s, at that time the property was devoted to cattle for milking purposes, and it was José Maria who started growing coffee of the Bourbon variety. Little by little, he noticed coffee was extremely productive in that area, and there the story begins.
Nejapa still farms 7 hectares reforested with cedar trees, approximately 10 years old. The farm also has a diversity of shade trees, which helps maintain and preserve both the soil conditions and a wide variety of birds and small mammals that can be seen in that region. The Finca Nejapa farm is on the slopes of the Laguna de Las Ninfas (Water lilies lagoon) with a spectacular sight over the Apaneca-Ilamatepec mountain range. Every year, Gloria establishes nurseries with selected seeds to keep her farm in good shape, balance production and secure future crops.
The bit of the farm Drop Coffee is buying - Roma lot
Tablón Roma, that we are buying, is located in the western side of Finca Nejapa but was left unplanted until about 10 years ago, when Gloria obtained a loan through a local Investment Bank to redevelop and replant this area. The variety chosen for this plot was red and yellow Caturra, in those days it was in vogue planting this short-size producing tree with good yields needed to repay the loan, gladly variety and terroir combination resulted in great quality coffee as well. This farm was awarded in the El Salvador Cup of Excellence in 2008 and 2009 with just this Roma lot and the Caturra varietal.
The Yellow Caturra varietal
At the Roma lot, both Red and Yellow Caturra are growing. This is the Yellow Caturra. The difference in fruit colour is one of the reason that makes the coffee taste different, theories as the red cherry is taking in more light than the yellow as the yellow reflects more light. But there are also different varietals, where in this case the Red Caturra tastes more of red apple, with a milk chocolate sweetness, and the yellow is more like tropical fruit and almonds.
Sustainability project
As a charity project, we did a dinner with WINETRADE and Mathias Dahlgren where all the money went straight to installing electricity and water filters for the people living by the Roma lot but also for the people in the surrounding area. Re-visiting this year it was great to see the family improved living conditions by the plot of the farm. See more about the project here .
FACTS
Producer: Gloria Rodrigues with family; Luis Roudrigues (son in law) and Maria-José (daughter)
Farm: Finca Nejapa
Lot: Roma
Varietal: Yellow Caturra
Process: Washed
Tablon: Roma
Region: Ahuachapán, Santa Ana
Picked: March to April 2018
Elevation: 1550 mail
Sustainability project: Installed new solar panels and filter for clean water at the farm.
Flavour description: Creamy cup with medium body. This coffee reminds us of yellow pear with some milk chocolate notes. An aftertaste of pear and passionfruit.
About the coffee
Flavour description: A creamy cup with medium body and red grape acidity. This coffee is easy to like, with a taste profile of mature red apple and milk chocolate notes with an aftertaste of pomegranate.
Category: Comfortable
Colour: Pomegranate red
Producer: Gloria Rodrigues with family
Farm: Finca Nejapa
Lot: Roma
Varietal: Red Caturra
Process: Washed
Region: Ahuachapán, Santa Ana
Harvested: March to April 2019
Altitude: 1550 masl
Sustainability project: Installed new solar panels and filter for clean water at the farm.
Roast style: Light to medium to enhance the natural flavours of the coffee.
This is the only Caturra that has been awarded in the Cup of Excellence award in El Salvador. The success of Finca Nejapa, owned by Gloria Rodrigues, is the result of a strong family unit. Their hard work and skills have really paid off in the quality of their product. By working together, they can maintain and potentially improve the working conditions as well as the cup profile. . We will have three different varieties from the Roma lot this year, starting off with this awarded Caturra. It is a sweet round cup that is like a really good chocolate bar - most people will like or even love it, chocolate pro’s will know it is made of some really good products! We are proud of another year with the coffee from a stunning producer and dear friends.
The story of Finca Nejapa
The farm was inherited by Gloria’s father, José María Rodríguez Herrera in the 50’s, at that time the property was devoted to dairy cows, and it was José Maria who started growing coffee of the Bourbon variety. Little by little, he noticed coffee was extremely productive in that area, and that is where the story begins.
Nejapa still farms 7 hectares reforested with cedar trees, approximately 10 years old. The farm also has a diversity of shade trees, which helps maintain and preserve both the soil conditions and a wide variety of birds and small mammals that can be seen in that region. The Finca Nejapa farm is on the slopes of the Laguna de Las Ninfas (Water lilies lagoon) with a spectacular sight over the Apaneca-Ilamatepec mountain range. Every year, Gloria establishes nurseries with selected seeds to keep her farm in good shape, balance production and secure future crops.
Tablón Roma, that Drop Coffee is buying everything of, is located in the western side of Finca Nejapa but was left unplanted until 10 years ago, when Gloria obtained a loan through a local investment bank to redevelop and replant this area. The variety chosen for this plot was red and yellow Caturra, planting this short-size producing tree with good yields was needed to repay the loan. The variety and terroir combination resulted in great quality coffee as well. This farm was awarded in the El Salvador Cup of Excellence in 2008 and 2009 with just this Roma lot and this Caturra varietal.
At the Roma lot, both Red and Yellow Caturra are growing. This is the Red Caturra. The difference in fruit colour is one of the reason that makes the coffee taste different, the theory is that the red cherry is taking in more light than the yellow as the yellow reflects more light. But they are also different varietals, where in this case the Red Caturra tastes more of red apple, is cidery with a milk chocolate sweetness, and the yellow is more like tropical fruit and almonds.
Sustainability
As a charity project, we did a dinner with WINETRADE and Mathias Dahlgren where all the money went straight to installing electricity and water filters at the Roma lot. Visiting years after this, it is great to see the families living by the plot of the farms improved living conditions. See more in my chat to Gloria and Luis Roudriguez about it here . The FOB prices for this coffee was 3.5 USD per pound.
Flavour description: This is a very sweet cup, with medium body and a silky mouthfeel. Notes of passionfruit, papaya and sweet lemon, with a hint of milk chocolate and orange blossom.
Colour: Russet Orange
Category: Adventurous
Producer: Aguilera Family
Location: Western Valley area, in the Alajuela province. Nearest city: Naranjo de Alajuela
Varietal: Gesha
Harvest: Late January to March 2018, Gesha is the last varietal to mature at Finca Licho
Farm Size: 28.00 Hectares
Coffee growing area: 9.10 Hectares
Elevation: 1500 masl
Processing: Yellow Honey
Roast: Light to medium to present the natural characteristics of the coffee, and the extra sweetness from the honey processing.
This is the first year we have bought coffee from the Aguilera siblings, and the second variety we are roasting from their farm Finca Licho. These twelve siblings hold a lot of knowledge about producing coffee and they use their knowledge very well. They are doing everything on the farm themselves, and only hire help for the harvest. You can taste how much hard work they have put into this coffee. A complex cup of milk chocolate covered passionfruit!
Visiting Finca Licho
Drop Coffee has visited Finca Licho twice and are currently making our third visit!
The first time was in 2017 after cupping the coffee at our Costa Rica coffee exporters lab. Arriving there, driving up the driveway, we were met by almost all of the 12 siblings running the farm. It was a lot of Spanish speaking and everyone spoke and described the farm. The first thing that struck me was that there were a lot of motorcycles. The second thing was the football field at a flat bit in the slopes of the farm. During the busy seasons there is no time for playing and the field is covered by drying tables for the coffee. Besides mopeds, the football field and motorcycles I was very impressed by the coffee plant nursery at Licho. We dove into discussions about climate change and resistant varietals and cup quality. Where the Villa Sarchi varietal is a good combination of both at Finca Licho.
The second time we visited, in January 2018, it had been raining all day but just as we arrived at the farm there was a massive rainbow over the farm, it was magical.
We dove straight out to the farm and looked at the built up drying beds and the different trees. I have had a lot of “not so special Gesha”- experiences, but chewing one of the Gesha cherries off of their tree made me fall off my feet for how good it was.
About the producers - the Aguilera siblings
The Aguileras are 12 brothers and sisters, all of whom are involved in coffee as inherited from their parents. The siblings work the mill and farms themselves with basically no hired labour, other than pickers during the harvest. With the help of the third generation, they work the mill and drying patios, prune the coffee fields, fertilize, etc, year-round. The Aguilera siblings understand quality at the farm and mill level, and this is why we are excited about working with them.
The Gesha varietal
This coffee is of the Gesha varietal, which is a bit of a controversial varietal when found in Central America. It used to be extremely rare but is starting to crop up in a few more places. It was made famous by Panama Hacienda La Esmeralda and the Best of Panama Auction, which is held by the Specialty Coffee Association of Panama.
It was a little known varietal and was originally introduced to Central America in Costa Rica in1953. Originally the varietal is from the south-western Ethiopian town of Gesha, it's an heirloom varietal that's low yielding and has thin and spindly branches open to strong winds, and is as pest friendly as they come (although it is resistant to coffee rust!). The leaves are quite thin and long, and the trees grow very tall.
Yellow Honey Processing
This coffee is honey processed, which is also known as the pulped natural method, so the skin of the fruit is removed from coffee seed and is left to dry. The main difference is that there is no water involved when the cherry is removed, so mucilage sticks to the bean. This can be dangerous, but it's necessary for these parts of Costa Rica where water is limited: in this area of Naranjo water is a precious commodity, so this method suits the location very well and in general it suits the cup profile from Costa Rica.
The coffee ends up clustering whilst drying because there is so much mucilage. So the coffee either needs to be turned regularly to stop this happening, or it has to be broken up. Over-fermentation can happen at this stage and you can end up with a not-so-good cup, but the Aguilera siblings are well-versed in this method and are some of the most skilled we have met in Costa Rica.
The "Yellow" is describing how much of the mucilage is left on the bean while drying. If 15-50% is left, the colour of the beans are going towards yellow as it dries.
About Costa Rica as a coffee producing country
In Costa Rica 93 percent of the children go to school and the country has no army. The supply chain of coffee in the country is more profitable than in many other countries we visit, generally speaking.
The Typica beans arrived to Costa Rica in the 1700, properly cultivated since 1779. Between 1800 to 1950 this was the main source of income for the country, but went down after the 1980s. Today the main income is tourism, followed by technology, medical appliance, other agriculture and then coffee at 8th place, turning over about 450 million USD in 2017.
Currently, the regions producing the best quality are Tarrazu, West Valley, and Central Valley. Coffee production has been threatened the past decade due to a real-estate boom converting coffee-lands into prime development properties. San Jose, the capital, is right in the heart of Central Valley, where you will find private houses next to coffee farms. The value of these farms have now skyrocketed.
]]>This taste profile is very typical to Costa Rican coffee. A coffee that is as complex as a blend on its own. Now we haven’t blended since 2010, but this coffee is a text book example for killing the argument to blend for flavour aspects. Juicy medium body, honey sweet, bakers’ chocolate and a long vibrant citric aftertaste. You got it! And the people behind it are quite special too. It is not only one producer, but 12 siblings (!) running Finca Licho.
Visiting Finca Licho
Drop Coffee has visited the Finca Licho two times. The first time was in 2017, after cupping the coffee at the exporter we are working with in Costa Rica's lab. Arriving at Licho on the driveway, we were met by almost all of the 12 siblings running the farm. It was a lot of Spanish speaking and everyone talking and describing the farm, and a lot of motorcycles. The second thing that struck me was the football field at a flatten out bit of the slopes of the farm. During the busy time of the season, there is no time for playing, and the field is covered by drying tables for the coffee. Besides mopeds, the football and motorcycles I was very impressed by the coffee plant nursery at Licho. We dived into discussions of climate change, resistant varietals and cup quality. Where the Villa Sarchi varietal is a good combination of both at Finca Licho.
The second time we visited, in January 2018, it had been raining all day, but just as we arrived at the farm there was a massive rainbow, and so the saga began for us and here is the coffee!
About the producers - the Aguilera siblings
The Aguileras are 12 brothers and sisters, all of whom are involved in coffee as inherited from their parents. The brothers work the mill and farms themselves with basically no hired labour, other than pickers during the harvest. With the help of the third generation, they work the mill and drying patios, prune the coffee trees, fertilize, etc, year-round. The Aguilera Bros understand quality at the farm and mill level, and this is why we are excited about working with them.
About Costa Rica as a coffee producing country
In Costa Rica 93 percent of the children go to school and the country has no army. The supply chain of coffee in the country is more profitable than we meet in many other countries - speaking extremely generally.
The Typica beans arrived in Costa Rica in 1700, properly cultivated since 1779. Between 1800 to 1950 this was the main source of income for the country but went down after the 1980s. Today the main income is tourism, followed by technology, medical appliance, other agriculture and coffee in 8th place, turning over about 450 million USD (2017).
Currently, the regions producing the best quality are Tarrazu, West Valley, and Central Valley. Coffee production has been threatened the past decade due to a real-estate boom converting coffee-lands into prime development properties. San Jose, the capital, is right in the heart of Central Valley, where you will find private houses next to coffee farms. The value of these farms has now skyrocketed.
About the Villa Sarchi varietal
Grown by the Aguilera brothers in the province of Naranjo, in the volcanic Northern Cordiles corridor of the Western Valley, this coffee is cultivated at an altitude of 1,500 metres above sea level. Most of the coffee is of the Villa Sarchi variety, native to the area and excellent in the cup. Villa Sarchi is a Bourbon mutation (similar to Caturra and Pacas) found originally in Naranjo, West Valley. It is a dwarf variety with short internodes and usually higher-yielding production.
About the yellow honey processing
This coffee is honey processed, which is like the pulped natural method, so the fruit is removed from the seed of the coffee cherry and left to dry. The main difference is that there is no water involved when the cherry is removed, so mucilage sticks to the bean. This can be dangerous, but it's necessary for these parts of Costa Rica where water is limited: in this area of Naranjo water is a precious commodity, so this method suits the location very well and in general suits the cup profile in Costa Rica.
The coffee ends up clustering whilst drying because there is so much mucilage. So the coffee either needs to be turned regularly to stop this happening, or it has to be broken up. Over-fermentation can happen at this stage and you can end up with a not-so-good cup, but the Aguilera brothers are well-versed in this method and are some of the most skilled we have met in Costa Rica. The "Yellow" is describing how much of the mucilage is left on the bean while drying. If 15-50% is left on the colour of the beans are going towards the colour yellow as it dries.
SHORT FACTS ABOUT FINCA LICHO
Farm: Finca Licho
Producers: Aguilera siblings
Processing System: Yellow Honey
Varietal: 70% Villa Sarchí & 30% Caturra
Location: Western Valley area, in the Alajuela province. Nearest city: Naranjo de Alajuela
Farm Size: 28.00 Hectares
Coffee growing area: 9.10 Hectares
Altitude: 1,500 m.a.s.l.
Harvest period: January-February 2018
Taste profile: A bakers chocolate aroma and a sweetness of the honeydew melon. The yellow honey from Licho is a very juicy cup with notes of lychee, roasted hazelnuts and satsumas. Vibrant aftertaste of lime that lasts long after you have finished the sip, reminding a bit of sour beer - in a very good way!
The young producers are the future of coffee in many ways. It's the second year we're buying the coffee from Juan David Cordona. He is only 22 years old, extremely driven and keen to succeed in specialty coffee. Last year Juan David's expiration of 490 on kilo to us was his first ever expiration. His first jute bag he on his wall.
About Juan David Cordona
This is a first for us at Drop, working in the up and coming and exciting area of Antioquia in Colombia. A change of flavour profile and direction from our normal Colombians from Huila and Tolima. Antioquia is typically known for large coffee estates serving the commercial grade market, and this is still much the case. However, things are changing as the younger generation is beginning to take over the production.
Juan David Cordona is a part of a group of producers our green coffee bye Nordic Approach are working with in just Antioquia. Juan is experimental and driven and looking at coffee production in this region with a bit of a new perspective. His farm he has chosen to name Finca La Conchita.
Production
This coffee is the latest harvest of coffee from Antioquia, harvested in November 2016. The coffee cherries are handpicked and dry-fermentated for 36 hours. After that the coffee is washed and floaters and damaged cherries and are being separated. The coffee is then rinsed in clean water before removing what's left of the mucilage. The coffee is drying on raised up drying table with shade, which makes the drying time quite longer and takes between 15 to 20 days depending on the weather.
Facts
Producer: Juan David Cordona
Location: Cuidad Bolivar, Antioquia Colombia
Varietal: Caturra and Varied Colombia
Picking period: November 2016
Sourced by: Nordic Approach
Elevation: 1900 masl
Processing: Fully Washed with a dry fermentation
Flavour description: Clear and acidity driven cup. The mouthfeel is juicy with light to medium body. Notes of gooseberry and plums.
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Together with our green coffee source Nordic Approach we spent a full day at Mohammed Lalos farm in Atnago in the Jimma region. At farm they have and average of 3300 trees per hectare, which is a lot for Ethiopia. The farm was extremely kept and the 33 blocks is clearly defined. At the farm they have planted three different local improved varietals of Ethiopian Heirloom. All varietals are resistant and very fertile. The varietals 75227 and 74148 are bold and short and extremely productive trees, these are only used in smaller areas to ensure flavour quality at Mohammeds farm. Most of the area has 74110 planted, chosen for its taste profile. 74110 is a tall tree that has huge leaves and therefor needs to have 1.75 meters between the plants instead of 1.5 meter.
Mohammeds wife Mehbuba Lalo is also a part of Women in Coffee in Ethiopia. At the farm they applied their gender thinking by e.g letting the female pickers have a female supervisor and the guys have a male supervisor, something the pickers found making their work less competitive. They are working in small groups ten pickers to one supervisor make it less stressful for the pickers. The workers get a ride back to town everyday and at the farm Mohammed and Mehuba are also planting banana and food for the workers. In total it is 231000 seedlings being grown at the farm. Beside this, Mohammed and Mehbuba Lalo has supported the local school for three years in a row now.
FACTS
Producer: Mohammed and Mehbuba Palo
Location: Agaro, Jimma
Farmsize: 200 ha
Varietal: Ethiopia Heirloom, three different local improved varietals of Heirloom
Picking
period: November 2015 - January 2016
Sourced by: Nordic Approach
Elevation: 1950 masl
Processing: Fully washed. The cherries are floated before they go in to production so they can remove floaters.
Drying: Coffee is being dried on raised african beds. The temperature can be relatively low, and they give the coffees up to 8 hours with sun pr day. Drying takes from 13- 20 days. They have to assigned people for each table constantly moving and sorting the parchment on the tables.
Flavour description: Juicy with light body, notes of white grape and jasmine with a citric acidity.
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Ernesto Menéndez is a well known name in the coffee industry. His coffees have been winning competitions for many years now, from Alejandro Mendez winning the World Barista Championship in 2011 to Cup of Excellence in 2009 La Ilusion.
This year we have bought coffee from three of Ernesto's farms and this is the third and final to be released. Las Brumas is a relatively new farm that Ernesto has begun growing coffee on. Here he has planted several different varieties of trees including this lot which comes from SL 28, a variety which is typically found in Kenya and renowned for its high acidity and characteristic blackcurrant notes.
This is a part of Ernesto's exciting "Las Brumas Wild Coffee" project. The idea of this project is to create an environment similar to a natural forest, for coffee production in a thoughtful and biodynamic way as not to impact the environment.
This is a small lot so won’t be around for long but we’re really excited to share it with you.
FACTS
Producer: Ernesto Menéndez
Location: Apaneca-Ilamatepec Mountain Range, Santa Ana
Varietal: SL28
Picking period: April 2016
Processing: Fully washed
Flavour description: A sweet and mature cup with notes of maraschino cherry and blackcurrant.