Wide Awake

We’re happy to introduce you to the roaster Wide Awake, who runs a roastery and coffee atelier in Belgium. We' had the pleasure to interview the founders Senina and Rutger.

What’s the story behind Wide Awake? How did you get started?

Senina and Rutger

Rutger: The idea of opening a roastery had been playing in my head for a long time. As a coffee enthusiast, I was always surprised and slightly frustrated to see how slow the scene was developing in Brussels. Even just 3-4 years ago, there were very few speciality bars and roasters. After living abroad for a year and experiencing the coffees and community over there, I started thinking more seriously about the idea but it was a chance encounter with Senina that gave the whole project the push that was needed. At the beginning of 2019, I was following roasting training in London.

A friend invited me to a Caffeine Magazine coffee tasting - I remember being pretty intimidated to be cupping amongst all these industry folks. I was talking to my friend about the Brussels scene and the project I had in mind and Senina overheard that. She was the Production Roaster for Assembly/Volcano in London at the time and had been thinking about moving to Brussels as she fell in love with the city. So the next half year we skyped every week, talking about the project and exciting coffees but also just vibing on the music we both loved. That really helped us connect and we translated that element in our brand and coffee names. In the meantime, I was scouting for a good roastery location in the city and roasting samples on a tiny Huky gas roaster in my apartment. Fun times haha! We opened during the Brussels Coffee Week in October 2019 and pretty soon after made some relations and got our core hospitality accounts. That really got us going and we’ve been growing steadily ever since.

How will Wide Awake develop in the future? Have you got any set goals or projects that you would like to share with us?

Rutger: There’s not one specific crazy goal or project. We want to grow business and the team healthily. Become a trusted roaster for every quality-oriented hospitality place in Brussels and beyond. Keep releasing exciting coffees and being creative with both our coffee offering and brand. One of the core beliefs on which Wide Awake was built is that the speciality scene needs to be more inclusive. If we want to have a material impact for farmers at origin and improve the local coffee scene, we need to grow speciality beyond the pure hipster crowd. So we do a lot of work on the education-front, but we’re also always thinking about how to communicate about our coffees in a way that is accessible for people that love coffee but don’t know every washing station in Ethiopia.

As soon as this covid situation is more under control, we also want to go back to organising events. We did lots of cuppings, workshops and even industry panel talks for the local community and found that very rewarding. In the meantime, we’re introducing some more funky coffees to the Belgian scene and are building our sourcing network. So a lot is happening, but it’s all building on what we’ve started in the last 12 months.

What is the Brussels coffee scene like, and how would you like to change it?

Rutger: The Brussels scene is quite interesting. It’s a reflection of the cultural melting pot the city is. Speciality coffee is quite established in the dutch speaking cities in Belgium (Antwerp, Ghent), but for a long time Brussels, which is mainly French-speaking, lagged behind. There were only 2 or 3 Brussels-based speciality roasters before we started. The french-speaking community historically leaned closer to the French & Italian coffee culture while the dutch speaking community was always closer to Scandinavian and Anglo-Saxon culture. But anyway, all of that is changing rapidly now. A bunch of new roasters have started or will start soon, and there are more and more good coffee & brunch/lunch places opening every day. Even some more traditional bars are curious about improving their coffee game. We’re trying to support that transition as much as we can through education, open events, cuppings and of course our amazing coffee ;)

Do you have a favourite brewing recipe you would like to share?

Senina: This is a recipe I’m pulling out of my almost constant standard brewing pack. I’ve been brewing a hell lot on the origami, first to try out the device but then actually finding it the best to brew for maximum sweetness and depth while maintaining a good balance, which is what I always search for.

This is intended for the Wildcard Colombian where you want to savour a little more than a small brew cup because it’s so moreish! The main bit is the water, I don’t know about you, but our water here is ridiculously hard and dampens acidity too much. I use Peak filtered water with a 140ppm hardness, boiled at 92° degrees and then grind 20g of beans at 28clicks on the Comandante. Place a Kalita filter in the origami and rinse thoroughly. Drop the coffee in, start the timer and add 60ml water and soak for about 45 secs to fully absorb. Followed by 130g of water and a gentle spin, then a third gentle pour of 130g at 1.30min and a last spin before letting it all drain through. Total brew time should be 3.5mins. You should try to have a flat bed and not much coffee residue down the sides of the paper. An extra tip I can share is for ageing coffees (if you have something sitting for a long time in the cupboard) or even something too fresh roasted like a day ago only, I highly advise a longer soak of 1.5 mins to extract more flavour out.

This is the first time we have Wide Awake in the box. What can our subscribers expect from the three featured coffees (Strawberry fields from Rwanda, Wildcard from Colombia, and Easy Rider from Costa Rica)?

Senina: Maybe we first should mention the strange names we give our coffees, we call them Coffee Series and the names are all music and pop-culture inspired. We currently have 9 of those series, each one representing a specific taste profile. The coffees we picked for Bean Portal's subscribers are some of our personal favourites

On Easy Rider we have a honey processed Catuaí from Los Ureña in Costa Rica. It’s the second season we have this coffee from producer Paúl Cascante Ureña, and we love it. It’s delicate, sweet and buttery, with a slight acidity. It’s just such a balanced, smooth drinker.
Next, we have our Strawberry Fields series which is currently occupied by a natural Red Bourbon lot from the Gitega Hills mill in Rwanda. This one is a complex beauty with a syrupy character, notes of candied orange, strawberries and pineapple. It’s basically like a bunch of Tutti Frutti.
And finally, we have this massively funky Colombian micro-lot from Finca La Cumbre on the Wildcard Series. This natural processed Caturra is intensely fruity with wild fermented pineapple notes. It’s a tropical blast with lactic undertones.

Coffea Circulor

We are excited to introduce you to Coffea Circulor in our May's box. With only 90+ graded coffees, this is a truly special box. We had a chat with co-founder Ivica.

Coffea Circulor didn’t start with roasting coffee. How did Coffea Circulor start and evolve to the organization it is today?

Our origin dates back to past work in the United Nations and the environmental branch GRID in Norway situated in the city of Arendal. On our free time during missions to Kenya, the headquarters are located there, we visited coffee farms. We understood producers were paid approximately 0.7 USD/kg for green coffee. This was in late 1990s and early 2000s. Coffee in our part of the world is sold approximately for 10 USD/kg of conventional/supermarket grade. Obviously, something was wrong, it just didn’t add up.

With our friends in Kenya, Coffea Circulor established an open trade platform where everyone could better understand concepts such as Payment for Ecosystem Services (PES). We ensured everyone can better understand the value of the work that goes into producing coffee. We contributed with tools and machinery for enhancing the coffee production. This approach had to seamlessly work where customers - at the other far end of the coffee value chain - could better understand the green bean purchase price relative the roasted/finished product price of the coffee. The trade platform was anchored in the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (https://www.un.org/sustainabledevelopment/sustainable-development-goals/ and https://www.un.org/millenniumgoals/). Therefore, from an early start the price of the coffee was openly declared and we called it “transparency trade” (http://transparencytrade.org). The first harvest we brought to Norway was acquired for about 7 USD/kg, paid to the farmers at Kiarago Estate in Kenya including milling. This approach was widely accepted on the local market in Norway. This initiative was noticed by the Green Economy-moment within the UN which is also part of what today carries the notation “Circular Economy”.

Throughout the years, Coffea Circulor evolved into a team of coffee professionals who aim to identify emerging issues and respond rapidly in even more countries. Our “comme il faut”-approach, ambition and determination is to analyze the coffee value chain - majorly comprising of cultivation-processing-production-consumption - by using a divide-and-conquer approach (looking closer at all components and actors) rather than brute-force (visualized as “just roasting coffee”). By dissecting and comprehending each phase in each major component, Coffea Circulor can assemble near complete knowledge in order to perfect our craft, increase knowledge and not grow tired of what we do. We believe this is a very potent combination and only then are we able to shape our present and future existence. In opposition, a brute-force approach, to act in “only one phase” is not optimal - at least not for us. If we did - for example “only roasting coffee”, we would likely not exist today simply because “just doing one thing is not enough” - it sustains the status-quo and does not influence any evolution.

Our existence is a crossing of our academic, professional and scientific backgrounds. The response to the word evolution is the result of a commitment to continue to be curious, not accepting the status quo and the determination to constantly advance. To lead and not follow. In consequence, coffee roasting is merely a side effect of our efforts utilizing only 5% of the time spent in total. To successfully start and maintain projects with focus on cultivation, processing and roasting, preparation, feedback etc. constitutes a greater portion of the percentage. Coffea Circulor spends time roasting coffee and we have multiple high-level achievements on national and international level to certify that what we do belongs on a world-class level.

“Specialty coffee” has established frameworks, however they are not complete. What we are doing is filling in the gaps. Coffea Circulor therefore feels “detached” from certain “specialty coffee” branches. This provides a level of freedom and autonomy to develop projects in our own pace based on practical knowledge, funding and relevance. Focus is where we see issues are emerging on an environmental basis, where it is meaningful for us, where it serves a purpose and we feel content. We spent many successful years at national and international coffee events by participating in competitions, coaching and judging. It has a purpose, like a puzzle, where the grand total contributes to updating ones knowledge of the coffee value chain. This combination has led us the following ultimate understanding: Sharing stories that matter by understanding the coffee value chain at an atomic level to build present world class products and services.

With an international team active in Kenya, Norway and Sweden, what’s your focus in each country?

These countries are our core hubs for operations. Some tasks are naturally more convenient to start, execute and maintain depending on location while others are the organic evolution of life situations.

In Kenya, Coffea Circulor Africa Ltd. conducts research (theoretical and practical), processing, knowledge dissemination and exporting.

In Norway, where we have the grand part of the workforce settled, is maintaining ongoing projects related to the local market. This mainly consists of supplying local businesses with selected coffees, addressing environmental issues and spreading knowledge about coffee.

In Sweden, in a new and evolving facility, we are emphasizing on establishing new cultivation, processing projects and developing our ambitions with coffee cherry/cascara we started studying in 2010. Here Coffea Circulor also finishes collections of high performing and high scoring coffees.

On a “world level”, tasks are constantly carried out such as constantly evaluating coffees. Our uncompromising approach singlehandedly sets the bar for re-defining the respect and evaluation of coffee. The process is very labor intensive and time consuming, yet the experience is surpassing the set standards - and a receipt for you as a customer to expect nothing else than the best. In order for something to be “special”, it better be original, unique and memorable. The taste notes are recorded in all categories (Aroma, Flavor, Aftertaste, Acidity, Body and Balance) according to the SCA WBrC scoring sheet. The 3 most common and identified taste notes from each member in the summation of each category are those found on our packaging. Therefore, we do not copy any potential flavor notes provided by importers/exporters/“cuppers”. They are insufficient and irrelevant when roasting for production. We aspire to visualize the spectrum for a dedicated coffee at our level of ambition and expectation anchored in a solid piece of framework.

Coffea Circulor is ensuring the coffees can be well received in all parts of the world depending on the level of expectation, access to water and cultural aspects. For example: with an international team in place, we can for example better cope with water quality in certain areas to optimize the coffee experience. Needless to say, we have conducted an extensive data collection over the last year with almost all private customers where we have provided advice on a personal level and taking this accumulated data to evolve some portions of our brewing and water recommendations.

Additionally, we have team members helping in various countries and keeping us up-to-date with domestic matters regarding the state of coffee, production, logistics, early warning signs, etc.

Coffea Circulor is focused on making an impact. Where do you see Coffea Circulor in 10 years?

We spent 10 years learning and understanding, additional 10 years actively implementing and inspiring. We are now in 2020, conveniently after 20 years in the industry, we have a pre-set roadmap and goals for the upcoming 10 years. These consist of exciting ongoing projects in our pipeline and ardent collaborations to announce.

Throughout this voyage, Coffea Circulor respects suggested frameworks within the “specialty coffee” community where it is fit for purpose. However, we are autonomous and are not following any “waves” or “trends”. We never did follow “waves” and we respected them by learning and understanding their motivation. We set our own standards based on innovation, righteousness and environmental care. We can not exist and act in a “specialty coffee” world that, at the time of this writing in June 2020, is popularized by 3 flavor notes, generating redundant and cross-copied coffee origin-information as standard with the main difference being the coffee packaging.

Our background, ambition, past and present achievements we can justify choices, statements and decisions by being original. Goals chosen are deeply rooted in our own genetics and an idea of “how can Coffea Circulor help” instead of “how can we benefit”. In respect to impact, ambitions and results are not always recognized. In this industry it is easier to be copied rather than promote originality. We believe the people who utterly know what we do, how we do, with who we chose to do, value our choices and results. Additionally, a future that is open for us to roam freely outside of “specialty coffee” and set our own goals - that is very exciting and original.

All of the coffees we sent this month was from your ”Championship Collection”. With a 90+ grading for all three coffees, these are among the highest scoring coffees we’ve ever shipped. Do you think coffee of such quality will be available to the broad mass of people in the future? How can the availability of such coffee grow without negatively impacting the environment?

This is an excellent question and the reply is built in to our DNA. The short answer would be yes - it is fully possible. It is our professional opinion that superior quality can be made available at a broader scale. There is a misconception surrounding this thematic. It is not in the domain if it can be made a reality - it is about commitment. Consumers are equally responsible to understand the underlying mechanics of what it entails to craft quality products. There is an important relation to understand here for consumers: to comprehend the coffee value chain just as much Coffea Circulor aspires to implement it.

When conscious people invest in Coffea Circulor related products, they also invest in the work that has gone into crafting it and especially for our own proprietary developed intellectual property, products and services. For example, if the consumer knows the cost connected to developing a region and scale up to a certain volume with constant quality, that requires substantial amount of R&D, practically translating to time, energy and monetary investment. Unfortunately, the grand population cancel their interest at this point, demanding excellent coffee, extraordinary experiences without understanding the background and their equal responsibility. When this particular observation reaches a tipping point, perhaps judgment and respect will change and ultimately higher scoring coffees can be understood to be appreciated. We also take into account the longevity of the coffee, the R&D-factor and an experience-factor. Developing something new - regardless if it is a new processing protocol, a roasting algorithm, discovering new areas of growing or alike that is possibly unique requires dedicated resources. Coffea Circulor is not settling for cross-copied supplier provided data sheets about the coffee origin - providing 3 flavor notes and calling it “specialty coffee” - made for volume. Quantity is contra-productive in regards to quality, meaning conveniently preferring financial earnings before quality: the “3 flavor defined”-coffees can not compete with proprietary developed, described and produced coffees.

Per definition, coffee scoring above 80 points is considered “specialty coffee” (how good it tastes) and by origin (traceability). Coffea Circulor has added a third criteria - the actual quality and experience when served in the cup as the taste can be reduced during storage, roast, brewing, etc. As green coffee inherently holds unlocked potential, classified at a generic cupping and scoring for example 88, it can be production roasted beyond 90. Subsequently, a 90+ coffee can be degraded to less than 90. Buying an expensive coffee beyond 90 does not mean it will automatically hold 90 when it has left the roasting device or when being prepared. We have created and implemented routines to guarantee quality is sustained by taking rigorous measures to evaluate coffee guided by our international team. We also have coffees that don’t leave our lab before they are mature for release. There is also a reason for why Coffea Circulor does not introduce constantly “new” coffees throughout the seasons: it can take one whole year (one harvest) to understand the cultivation, the process and to optimize the roast, storage, etc. Most of our offerings are based on long term relationships where we implement a closed feedback-loop with producers to ensure it is up to certain standards.

With that in mind, it is embedded in our roadmap for this decade to actively continue to verify non-negative impact on the environment. Additionally, this will also be added as a criteria to our definition for the coffee world that Coffea Circulor is creating - it proves our commitment to set new standards.

Three fantastic coffees were shipped from you in our May’s box, Ethiopian Jigesa Weysi, Kenyan Githiga BP and Ugandan Kwoti. What makes these coffees special to you?

Coffees at this level have to be prepared with at least a certain amount of precision, tools and above all water within specific ranges. However, we should not let everything go oversteer and become difficult. By the end of the day, just looking at coffee, it should add to a relaxing moment in an ever faster revolving world. Therefore, these coffees are prepared/roasted in such as way like others have expressed: “regardless how you brew the coffee, it turns out good”. If you would like to optimize the experience, tailor them towards your preferences whether you are a hobby brewer, a master barista or preparing for a championship, of course you might use specific tools, time and energy to prepare them to suit your liking.

Coffea Circulor doesn’t utilize adjectives such as “fantastic”, “amazing”, etc. to describe coffees. Coffee is expressive, subjective and it has to be treated according to set protocols at this level where auxiliary words to highlight intensity are more relevant. Yet, “fantastic” is an appreciative expression, however due to subjectivity it can be considered superficial.

Ethiopia Jigesa

Ethiopia Jigesa is a testament to annual improvement and endorsing long term relationships with sorting stations at origin. Coffea Circulor has used coffee from the region for 5-6 years and with a closed feedback loop we can communicate to enhance the experience. It is a time consuming process to understand a coffee from one farm/station/region and be able to have an expressful result. Jigesa is highly appreciated, full of flowers, fruits, berries, roasted with attention for its natural sweetness, playful and integrated acidity. For this, we strongly suggest to select water with low mineral content - as we do for all our coffees - where TDS is ranging between 10-50. Our preference is a TDS reading of 10.

Sensory Experience
Aroma: Jasmine, Apricot
Flavor: Rose tea, Peach, Honeysuckle
Aftertaste: Milk chocolate, Blueberry, Long
Acidity: Lemon, Mango, Mid-High
Body: Silky, Elegant, Light-Mid
Balance: Uniform

Kenya Githiga PB

Kenya Githiga PB and the experience is the result of our research in respect to how particular varieties and the trees is impacting the roasting phase. In 2014, Coffea Circulor found that the SL trees are grafted with Ruiru 11 in various regions in Kenya. This is quite common and adds to a salvaging response for the aging SL-trees. That certainly would have an effect on the future yield. As the trees grow, the cherries will develop differently and therefore one can not apply established roasting and storing techniques for hybrid coffees. This particular coffee could be considered a “regular off the shelf”-coffee, however seeing and knowing how and where it is grown with alike trees, the effect it has on the beans - it be turned to something exceptional. Keywords here are therefore mitigation and adaptation with environmental focus. Coffea Circulor suggests to brew with a low mineral water, medium grind size and extraction time targeted to 3 minutes sharp. For more brewing and water recommendations, kindly see our supplied coffee cards or web.

Sensory Experience
Aroma: Black currant, Butter, Cherry
Flavor: Black currant, Rhubarb, Sweet lemon
Aftertaste: Purple plum, Mid
Acidity: Lemon, Juicy, Low-Mid
Body: Smooth, Mid-High
Balance: Uniform

Uganda Kwoti

Uganda Kwoti is the result with support from the Research Council of Norway. Some years ago, the consisting team members then, started looking at areas where coffee was not considered of high quality. Coffea Circulor set a goal to produce excellent quality by utilizing new and minimal processing methodologies. A natural processing protocol was developed and implemented targeted for Kwoti. Looking in a long term perspective, we believe people are becoming more interested in coffee from Uganda as time passes. If we would tell you that the price for developing this coffee, calculated per kilo, it would be approximately 2,500 EUR. The cost for development is not in parity with the particular lot size. On the bag, expressed is the purchase price for the coffee, not the price that goes into developing it. In perspective, 2,500 EUR/kg should have been the number, not 7.5 USD/kg. We strongly believe the major population in the coffee community, regardless consumer or “specialty”, does not understand this fact (the development-factor) and it has to be thoroughly addressed. With this coffee, there is absolutely no financial win, especially not if the major funding is from a governmental organization. Coffea Circulor believes people who truly appreciate something else will also appreciate the effort. Therefore, as stated above, our contribution here is developing a region, mitigating and accommodating for better understanding to produce superior quality. This coffee, and many others alike, have a background, history, heritage, investment in terms of administration and finances that go beyond “only 3 flavor notes on a package”.

Sensory Experience
Aroma: Apricot, Strawberry
Flavor: Apricot, Mango, Strawberry
Aftertaste: Cocoa, Cola, Mid
Acidity: Peach, Malic, Mid
Body: Round, Mid
Balance: Synergetic

Are you ready for your next coffee adventure?

Dak Coffee Roasters

We are proud to present DAK from Amsterdam, Netherlands, in our April’s box!

Founded in 2019, you are quite a new player on Amsterdam’s coffee scene. What’s that like?

Yes, we have only been operating for about 9 months, and Amsterdam has a lot of good roasters and cafes. One of the things that attracted me to the specialty coffee industry, however, is the importance that variety and choice play in driving demand. Consumers are more than willing to try new roasters and new coffees, so we try to focus on the quality of the coffee first. But then again so does everyone else, including the famous and renowned roasters! We then have to find innovative ways to get our coffees in front of (or in the cups of) customers. We try to use eye-catching branding and limited edition coffees so that customers remember DAK!

What inspired you to start the roastery? Have you got any tips for someone who wants to start roasting?

I have always been a heavy coffee drinker, but I have to confess that used to drink plenty of Tim Hortons (Canadian cheap coffee) with lots of sugar and cream (oups)... It was when I lived in Milan and then in London that I got exposed to different coffee cultures and really became obsessed with specialty coffee (brewing different ways, roasting at home, etc.). From that point on, coffee was the main focus in my wife’s and my trips, we loved trying coffees in different ways and in different settings. Eventually, the obsession was too much to handle and we had to start our own thing.

In terms of tips for someone who wants to start roasting, I would advise to understand the chemical reactions that occur inside the bean and are responsible for the flavours of the end-product. Apart from that, like all roasters would advise: cup cup cup!

What’s the vision for Dak Coffee Roasters?

Dak coffee roasters prides itself in its sustainable approach to coffee selection, packaging, shipping, etc. We think coffee is such an important industry across the world that it is really the only way to approach it, as I am sure most specialty coffee roasters would say the same. We also think that coffee is a unique product in how comforting and emotional it is for a lot of people. Our vision is really to explore and push coffee as a lifestyle, and really to celebrate what we believe is the best beverage in the world!

We are currently roasting in a co-roasting facility so one of our dream would be to have our own roastery with a coffee counter, but let’s see where the next years bring us!

We have three delicious coffees from you in our April's box (Sonora from Costa Rica, Chelelektu from Ethiopia, and Nemba from Burundi). What makes these coffees special to you?

• Sonora: this particular natural Costa Rican is one of our all-time favorites. We always cup samples blind and this particular coffee completely blew us away! With a juicy mouthfeel and notes Raspberry, Mint and Peach it is hard not to like.

• Chelelektu: a washed Ethiopian that has a clean cup with floral aromas and notes of Dark Chocolate and Mango. This is actually the first coffee we selected when we started Dak. We were a bunch of friends around my kitchen table doing a cupping and the Chelelektu was unanimous.

• Nemba: Our most recent addition. I became really interested in coffee from Burundi when I found out that 20% of the total population of the country is involved in coffee, fascinating. It is a Red Bourbon natural with a very pleasant citrusy sweetness and notes of strawberry.

In April we sent the following coffees…

Sonora

Origin: Costa Rica
Process: Natural
Altitude: 1200m
Varieties: Bourbon
Tasting notes: Raspberry, Mint, Peach, Juicy, Caramel

Hacienda Sonora is located at the foot of the Poás volcano in Costa Rica. The vegetation and rich volcanic soil creates perfect conditions for growing great coffee. Producer Alberto has had his farm here for more than 45 years, and today he runs the farm together with his son Diego. With a focus on natural and honey processed coffees, their coffees obtain high sweetness with enhanced fruit notes. This coffee has notes of raspberry, mint, peach and caramel.

Chelelektu

Origin: Ethiopia
Process: Fully Washed
Altitude: 1850m
Varieties: Heirloom
Tasting notes: Dark Chocolate, Blackberry, Mango, Honey

The Chelelektu washing station is located in the Kochere region of Ethiopia. It was established in 2010 and now processes almost 1000 tons of coffee cherries from 360 neighbouring producers. The farmers bring their ripe cherries to Chelelektu for processing. The altitude ranges between 1300-2200 meters making it one of the most altitudinally diverse washing stations in Yirgacheffe. This particular coffee offers a clean cup with notes of dark chocolate, blackberry, mango and honey.

Nemba

Origin: Burundi
Process: Natural
Altitude: 1700m
Varieties: Red Bourbon
Tasting notes: Blood orange, Blueberry, Strawberry, Chocolate

The Nemba washing station is located in the province of Kayanza in northern Burundi. More than 3000 smallholder farmers deliver coffee to the station, which has over 200 drying tables and can process up to 750 tons of coffee cherries annually. The government tightly controls the coffee industry to maintain exceptionally high quality. This natural processed coffee is a great example of a coffee from Burundi and has notes of blood orange, blueberry, strawberry and chocolate.

Don’t miss out on our next shipment

Cocóra

We’re entering a new decade and we couldn’t be happier doing this with Cocóra, our first roaster of the 20’s! From sunny Málaga, Spain, we’re thrilled to share Cocóra’s delicious coffees.

- What’s the story behind Cocóra? Where does the name come from and what does it mean?

Cocora was created in 2017 out of our passion for quality specialty coffee and a complete lack of it in Andalusia. The name Cocora comes from a very unique and special place in Colombia - the Cocora valley. We were inspired by its vibe and the spectacular scenery of its famous wax palm trees - the tallest in the world. Of course we wanted to reflect a piece of it in our logo. Those who have had the chance to visit this place will definitely get it.

- There seems to be a lot happening on the Spanish coffee scene. What’s the coffee scene like in Málaga?

Indeed we have witnessed an explosive growth of the Spanish specialty coffee scene in the past couple of years, especially in Madrid and Barcelona. New coffee shops in Spain are opening every week, which is really great both for the community and the business. Still the general coffee culture in Spain is pretty complicated and carries conservative stereotypes of how coffee should taste and be like (read: bitter burnt rubber). Our mission in Malaga is to introduce public to the third wave, show people what coffee is and how it can actually taste. For this reason we are regularly organising public cuppings, informative events and coffee brewing workshops. Often we use similarities between coffee and wine as they share a lot in common.

To say in a few words, coffee scene in Malaga is emerging and I see a lot of potential for it to become the most important specialty coffee hub in Andalusia.

- Is there any project you are working on right now that you are extra excited about?

Right now we are working on two exciting projects. One is our new website and online shop and the other is our coffee training lab in our roastery. We are creating a space where both coffee pros as well as enthusiasts can learn more and improve their skills in coffee. Our aim is to provide more valuable approach to coffee courses by teaching not more than 2 individuals at a time.

- The 2010s just came to an end. How do you think specialty coffee will develop in the 2020s? How will Cocóra change during the coming years?

We are fans of sustainable progress and this is also how we hope to see the future of coffee. Specialty coffee consumption should continue to become more sustainable in terms of costs, production and waste management. There will be more and more organically grown coffee. Also we see more automation in specialty coffee serving, which is already happening right now. In terms of coffee people, we think that as always, future belongs to those who are multi-disciplinary, versatile and can adapt fast.

- This is the first time we have Cocóra in the box. What can our subscribers expect from the three featured coffees (Gakuyu Ini AB, Duromina and Dukunde Kawa)?

One continent and three different origins.

Ethiopia Duromina Lot 21 is a very special coffee for us, we chose it for the Spanish Barista Championships. It opens with aromatics of nectarine, magnolia and has a pleasant honey sweetness.

Kenya Gakuyu Ini - we’re working with this coffee producer for the second year in a row and it’s amazing to see it getting better and better. This particular lot is a pure raspberry and apricot jam with a velvety caramel body and a sweet vanilla finish.

Rwanda Dukunde - a delicious floral organic coffee with notes of red fruits, pear and black tea.

What coffees did we send this month?

Gakuyu-Ini AB

Origin: Kenya
Process: Washed
Altitude: 1600 - 1700 MASL
Varieties: SL28 & SL34
Tasting notes: Raspberry & apricot jam

In the fertile lands of Kirinyaga County, Kenya, the wet mill Gakuyu-Ini is located. Thousands of smallholder farmers grow coffee in this beautiful and forested location. The soil is rich in minerals thanks to the extinct volcano Mount Kenya. The ripe coffee cherries are picked between October and January and brought to Gakuyu-Ini for processing. This coffee has notes of raspberry and apricot jam, with a velvety caramel body and a sweet vanilla finish.

Duromina

Origin: Ethiopia
Process: Washed
Altitude: 1900 - 2000 MASL
Varieties: Heirloom
Tasting notes: Magnolia & nectarine

The coffee cooperative Duromina was founded in 2010 by around one hundred local coffee farmers in the Jimma Zone, Ethiopia. Duromina translates to ”to improve their lives” in the Afaan Oromo language, and this was also the farmers’ goal with the cooperative. Award-winning Duromina is well known for their high-quality coffees, and this one is no exception. This juicy and elegant coffee has notes of magnolia, nectarine and honey sweetness.

and exclusively in our Tasting box™

Dukunde Kawa

Origin: Rwanda
Process: Washed
Altitude: 1700 - 2000 MASL
Varieties: Bourbon
Tasting notes: Red fruits & pear

Dukunde Kawa cooperative was founded in 2000 to develop specialty coffee in Rwanda. Today, the cooperative has more than 2100 members with four washing stations. The vast majority of the members (80%) are women who own small lots with around 200-300 trees. The washing stations allow them to combine their lots and use high-quality processing methods to attain higher prices. This delicious floral coffee has notes of red fruits, pear and black tea.

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MOK 2019

2019 has been a year full of delicious coffees, working with extremely talented coffee roasters. We wanted to finish up the year on top. We’re happy to introduce Belgian roaster MOK for our December’s box.

Founder of MOK, Jens Crabbé, opened his coffee shop and roastery in Leuven in 2012. Always knowing he wanted to start his own thing, this let him develop his own approach and create his own vision. We had the chance to ask Jens a few questions!

- What is the coffee scene like in Leuven and Brussels?

Our shop in Leuven grew every year since we have started back in 2012 so this must mean the specialty coffee scene and audience is still growing. On the other hand there’s only a hand full of actual specialty coffee places and most other are still riding the more commercial wave to be honest. I feel we have really created a nice coffee community which was obvious when we hosted the Aeropress semi finals this year with 40 people competing. Brussels on the other hand is (finally!) expanding fast in terms of hospitality in general, not only coffee shops but natural wine and fine dining places are popping up everywhere... I’m moving to Bxl soon! :D

- Where do you see yourselves in 5 years?

The next big step for MOK is moving the roastery to Brussels, apart from being a roastery we will add a nice extra to the space as well., keep an eye on our social media for more details soon! After this i’m not sure where my ambition will take us but I definitely don’t want to become a chain or sell the brand to Nestle haha ;) Quality and Integrity are key and I will keep focusing on this, trying to be the best possible MOK we can be.

- Do you have a brewing recipe that you would like to share?

I must say I like to keep my brews as simple as possible, only for competitions I tend to go for a more complex approach but this hardly ever pays off. On the other hand competitions are super interesting to push your abilities and skills and learn from your mistakes. My advise for brewing is to keep things simple and focus on the most important factors: a good grind and water. We like to brew with SPA which always gives a great mouthfeel and freshness to the brew also people visiting our shop are allowed to fill up there bottle of our brewing water (reversed osmosis +-60ppm) to brew at home! For the brewing; try to make the pouring routine and timing easy to repeat and focus on pouring technique and achieving a “flatbed”.

- Many of our subscribers are tasting MOK for the first time. What can we expect from the three coffees (Mr Tessema Edima, Mr Basha Bekele and San Antonio de Esquipulas)?

We decided to enter the subscription with 3 different processing methods; washed, honey and natural as we believe these coffees are great examples of these processing methods.

Tessema is in my opinion a typical Yirgacheffe, super floral bursting with citrus flavours. We clearly find jasmine in the aroma and bergamot and black tea flavours. Try cupping this coffee before you start brewing to get a good reference of what a good brew could taste like!

San Antonio is a bit more easy going but very satisfying and forgiving, water is a bit less important to make great brews as it will always have a nice body and sweetness, we mainly taste chestnut and chocolate and that typical honey-process kind off acidity.

Basha Bekele; probably one of our most successful coffees of the (last) year! Bursting with ripe fruit flavours and floral notes and has that right amount of funkiness that keeps you coming for more.

What coffee's did we send from MOK?

Mr Tessema Edima
Origin: Ethiopia, Yirgacheffe
Process: Washed
Altitude: 1950-2150 MASL
Varieties: Kurume
Tasting notes: Peach, lavender, black tea

This is the second year MOK buys coffee from Mr Tessema Edima. For this year, Tessema introduced a 72h fermentation, putting the depulped cherries in a tank under full immersion with renewed water every 24hrs. This process make sure the complete mucilage is removed during fermentation. With precision and quality control, this resulted in an incredibly clean & aromatic coffee with notes of peach, lavender and black tea.

San Antonio de Esquipulas
Origin: Guatemala, San Antonio de Esquipulas
Process: Honey
Altitude: 2000+ MASL
Varieties: 70% bourbon 30% caturra
Tasting notes: chocolate, chestnut, golden raisin.

Due to the migration of workers, producer Jorge had to rely on 1/4 of his usual workforce this harvest. Supported by Anacafe, he explored different possibilities to find out if he could produce a honey processed coffee using mechanical drying. The coffee was spread across static dryers and over 2 days a combination of airflow, heat, movement & rest were repeated. This coffee includes both bourbon and caturra varieties and has notes of chocolate, chestnut and golden raisin.

And exclusive to our Tasting box subscribers 👏

Mr Basha Bekele
Origin: Ethiopia, Sidama
Process: Natural
Altitude: 1950-2000 MASL
Varieties: 74160
Tasting notes: Pomegranate, black tea, lime

With new export laws in Ethiopia, small producers are now able to market their coffee themselves. MOK’s importer Falcon has begun a funding and education initiative that pre-finances export and teaches families like Basha’s how to improve their farming and processing techniques. Basha and his wife own three hectares where they grow the 74160 variety, known to have very pronounced citrus and floral notes. This coffee has flavours of pomegranate, black tea and lime.

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Frukt Coffee Roasters

From Kakola, Finland, we are happy to introduce Frukt Coffee Roasters! Frukt has brought some fun and exciting coffees for November’s box. Let’s get brewing!

What’s the story behind Frukt Coffee Roasters? Where does the name come from?

We started roasting in early 2019. Initial idea was to establish a small yet specialty-focused coffee roastery in Finland. Much in the vein of some of the finest roasters in Scandinavia that we look up to, many of which have of course been featured on Bean Portal.

The name Frukt is funny. In Finnish or English it doesn't really mean anything, yet in Swedish, Norwegian and Danish it's a fruit. Coffee is a fruit too as you know. But on top of that, the letters form nicely and it looks neat.

We found out that a local developer was looking for quality-focused small businesses for his project. Kakola neighborhood, where the roastery is located, used to be a notorious prison. It was left abandoned for ten years and is now under renovation. Half of the project is done already, there's people living there, fancy apartments and all that. There is also a restaurant Kakolanruusu and Kakola Brewing Company brewing beers right next doors. Few weeks ago a sourdough bakery bageri Å opened and we are running a coffee shop together with them now!

What drove you to the specialty coffee business?

We were both pretty new to coffee when we met at Turun Kahvipaahtimo, a local roastery. Kyle and I both continued to work in coffee after the internship at the roastery. Kyle went on to work in a coffee shop and started roasting at home. I stayed at the roastery, working there for few years. In 2018 I was roasting for Coffee Collective in Copenhagen. Kyle was doing his own thing in the other side of Finland from Turku. I came back to Finland and learned about the Kakola neighborhood and that there could be a place for a small roastery. I hit up Kyle, he was up for it and now we are at the end of the first year in business!

We weren't satisfied with the current version of Specialty Coffee (or the lack of it) in Finland. We wanted to participate and roast really tasty coffee and to make it look fresh and inviting and approachable to someone who's not initiated to Specialty Coffee yet. We label our coffees either Fun or Exciting. Depending on the flavor profile. It's just either or. Fun is for balanced and approachable tastes and Exciting is more complex and adventurous. Easy like that.

How will Frukt evolve in the future? Have you got any set goals or projects that you would like to share with us?

Future is bright. We are ending the first year with the freshly opened coffee shop in the Kakola neighborhood that we run together with bageri Å. They bake amazing sourdough bread, insane sourdough croissants and we handle the coffee side. It's a great match. We are really excited about it. We'll develop the shop further in 2020.

The aim for 2020 is to be more professional in all that we do. We've done good in our first year, had amazing support from the people in and outside of Finland. I think we just need to step up and be as good as we can be. Build on the idea of transparency in trade of coffee and all the aspects of the business.

What are you most excited about regarding the growth and development of specialty coffee?

The most exciting thing for us is how easy it is to find great coffees and also the increased amount of traceability and transparency in Specialty Coffee. It's there, if you want it. We are certainly going to dig deeper and not just rotate good coffees from different producers year after year. We have found really good partners that we work with. We look forward to building these relationships further. It's amazing that a collective of producers from Colombia (LaREB) and us connected over another subject and that led to us being introduced to the green coffees they're producing and selling. We got the green coffee from Efrén Echeverry from LaREB and will for certain have more in the future. Don Francisco is from Primavera and Gute Sodu from Collaborative Coffee Source with who we have been working since the beginning. Connection, that's where it's at!

What can we expect from this month's coffees (Gute Sodu, Efrén Echeverry and Don Francisco)?

Gute Sodu is hands down one of the most exciting Ethiopian coffees for us this year. It is sparkling with citric acidity, lemon peel and intense florals. Such a clean and sweet coffee!

Efrén Echeverry is clean, sweet, fruity with orange-like acidity and some almond there too. The body is round and adds to the balanced cup.

Don Francisco is different from the other coffees we've had this year. This coffee is not too heavy in the mouthfeel, but the deep notes of dried fruit and cacao with brown sugar sweetness add to a feeling of a more heavy cup.

November’s box included these coffees ✨

Gute Sodu

Origin: Ethiopia
Process: Washed
Altitude: 1900-2100 MASL
Varieties: Dega & indigenous varieties
Tasting notes: Sparkling, lemonade & floral

Gute Sodu is a clean Ethiopian coffee from the Guduba washing station in the region of Guji. Smallholder farmers have produced the coffee in Hambela Wamena, close to the town Gute Sodu, from where the coffee has its name. The cherries are delivered to the washing station, where they are pulped, fermented for 48-72 hours, washed, and then dried on raised beds for 10 days. The coffee is a mix of Dega and indigenous varieties. This sparkling coffee has floral notes of lemonade.

Efrén Echeverry

Origin: Colombia
Process: Washed
Altitude: 1650 MASL
Varieties: Colombia & Caturra
Tasting notes: Stone fruit, caramel & bright

Efrén Echeverry is the farmer behind this tasty coffee. He is located in the municipality Palestina in the southern part of Huila, Colombia, an area known for its great coffees. After the coffee is picked, it is left for 12 hours in-husk resting. The coffee is later fermented for 48 hours, before being washed and dried in a greenhouse for 15 days. The mix of the Colombia and Caturra varieties makes this coffee special. This bright coffee has notes of stone fruit and caramel.

Exclusive to our Tasting box subscribers 👏

Don Francisco

Origin: Guatemala
Process: Washed
Altitude: 1750-1850 MASL
Varieties: Bourbon & Caturra
Tasting notes: Dried fruit, cacao & brown sugar

Francisco Salucio Ramirez is a second-generation coffee producer who runs the farm Mumuxa in Huehuetenango, Guatemala. This coffee is produced according to a ”double washing” process. The coffee is de-pulped the same day as it is picked and later fermented in water for 48 hours. After being washed, it is soaked in clean water for another 12 hours. Drying is done for another five to six days depending on the temperature. This is a great example of how good a Guatemalan coffee can be.

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Balck Coffee 2019

From Kalmar, Sweden, we are happy to introduce you to Balck Coffee. This is the second time they take place in our box and we couldn't be more excited!

How did Balck Coffee start?

Sebastian and Louise wanted to change the unsustainable coffee market of commodity coffee. Today we are 100% independent of middle hands and are working directly with all the farmers, for better quality which they can get more paid for and aiming for more sustainable agriculture. We do pay between 102-308% directly to the producers over the stock market price.

What is the coffee scene like in Kalmar? How has your coffee been received since you started roasting?

In Kalmar, we started a new coffee standard, especially when a lot of cafes and restaurants wanted to support our visions. Our customers are all over Europe and are finding themselves as the coffee drinkers of the future :)

Many of our subscribers are tasting Balck Coffee for the first time. What can we expect from the three coffees (Costa Rica Montero, Rwanda Huye Mountain and Ethiopia Gersi)?

Costa Rica Montero - Experimental anaerobic process which seems to go from a hype to a new process standard. This coffee is from the Family Urenas neighbor (Montero family) who produce around 700kg green coffee a year and Ricardo Urena is helping them to process and export the coffee together with the coffee we also buy from them. This is a typical example of how close you can come to the producer if you have the interest, we are like family :) Clean tastes of candied apples and some purple fruit with a balanced chocolate taste.

Rwanda Huye Mountain - Is one of our first direct relationships and is still the strongest, Alloys and David is probably producing the best coffees in Rwanda. The coffee in the box is in its last month before new crop and right now you can expect black tea notes and citric acidity. When it arrived at the roastery you could taste a lot of vanilla and marzipan but it´s not there anymore, still a very complex and tasty cup! For the coming crop, we do have bought the best lot of the whole farm, both washed process and also natural which has been forbidden to produce in Rwanda for many years. This will be our most complex and extreme cups going out from the roastery 2020!

Etiopien Gersi - What can I say?! If you love naturals this is heaven, a result of very skilled processing controlled by Adham and Faysel who are the visionaries. We do buy the coffee from the station Gersi which also got placed as 2:nd best coffee in the national competition Cup of Ethiopia. We will visit Ethiopia this week and also record a documentary movie about the origin country of coffee!

Are there any projects you are working on right now that you are extra excited about?

Several ones! We love the trend of making a difference and make speciality coffee more available. Now in 1-2 years, we will do origin movies of all the producers we are working with :)

Looking ahead, what can we expect from Balck Coffee in the future?

That we will make better coffee more available and also find a lot of unique coffees in our portfolio, as a result of long term and strong relationships with the farmers!

What coffees did we send in October?

Montero

Origin: Costa Rica
Process: Black Honey
Altitude:
Varieties: Red Catuai
Tasting notes: Candy apple & vanilla

This coffee is produced by the family Montero in the region Chirripo in Costa Rica. Montero’s neighbour, Ureña Rojas, built a micro mill in 2005 to open up the possibility for the area’s local coffee farmers to export their coffee themselves, instead of selling it on the commercial market. Montero use a secret anaerobic process method that gives this coffee its unique flavours. Balck bought this coffee from the Monteros at 432% above the coffee market price.

Huye Mountain

Origin: Rwanda
Process: Washed
Altitude: 1600 - 2300 MASL
Varieties: Red Bourbon
Tasting notes: Vanilla, peach & black tea

Huye Mountain was featured in our last collaboration with Balck. When we heard that they still had the coffee, we couldn’t resist having it again. Huye Mountain is produced by David Rubanzangabo who is connected to 500 local farmers in South Butare, Rwanda, where minimal impact on the environment and organic farming are important cornerstones in their philosophy. The farming is conducted according to organic principles, making this a coffee that both tastes and feels good.

And exclusive to our Tasting box subscribers

Gersi

Origin: Ethiopia
Process: Natural
Altitude: 2000 - 2150 MASL
Varieties: Heirloom
Tasting notes: Sponge cake & apricot

In the village Idido, not far from Yirgacheffe, Faysel Abdosh runs the farm Aricha. When he took over the farm in 2018, it was in bad shape. Compared to that time, now there’s both electricity and clean water at the farm, as well as proper roads. 700 smallholder farmers work and live next to the farm. They own on average 1-2 hectares of land each, and together the farmers grow the typical Heirloom variety. This natural processed coffee has notes of sponge cake and apricot.

Get your new favourite coffee ✨

Muttley & Jack's

We couldn’t be happier about the roaster in September’s box. Muttley & Jack’s from Stockholm, Sweden, brings some poppin’ coffees for you to enjoy. We had a chat!

Who are Muttley & Jack’s and how come you started roasting coffee?

Muttley is a three year old Boston Terrier (@muttley.the.boss on Instagram) and I'm a 30-something year old Irish/Swedish hybrid. Together we have a micro-roastery on Rindö - an island in the Stockholm archipelago. I do the heavy lifting and Muttley injects the social media with a bit of cuteness and gives a little bark to indicate his approval when we produce a great roast profile.

We started roasting out of curiosity, to get to know coffee on a deeper level and the desire to master a craft.

We heard about your previous work within humanitarian and environmental organizations. How does this experience impact your work?

It's true! I spent a long time working with non-profit organisations and although I've switch over to the business side of things I still hold the same values of sustainability, transparency and humanitarianism that drove me during those years. It means that we don't focus on profit above everything like many businesses and although we are starting out slowly we want to build a business that grows slowly, carefully and sustainably and shares the benefits with everyone involved from seed to cup.

You’ve won quite some prices for your coffee roasting skills. What’s your philosophy when roasting and competing?

We enter competitions with the philosophy that it's an opportunity to learn and improve. A competition forces one to re-evaluate decisions you might usually make when roasting, and to examine any prejudices you might have about how things should be done. Preparing for a competition means I'm trying out new ideas and experimenting with various aspects of roasting. Sometimes the experiments are a flop, but sometimes they result in an improvement or a new insight. It's also great to meet and learn from other competitors - speciality roasters are more like colleagues than competitors, eager to share and help each other.

We noticed on your website that you’re open for internships. Who is eligible to apply and what will the internship be like? Maybe some of our subscribers are interested in learning how to roast coffee :-)

It's open to anyone and everyone, but ideally someone who can be available for at least eight weeks. It's three days per week and a mix of helping out with tasks around the roastery, taking part in cupping and quality control, and following a special project agreed upon by all parties over the internship period - for some it might be learning from scratch how to roast, for others it might be improving their roasting, or it could even be on other non-roasting aspects of the business such as creating workshops or running a digital marketing project.

Do you have a brewing recipe that you would like to share?

I'm all about the v60 and roast all of our coffees to taste great in this recipe:

· 31g coffee - ground medium/fine
· 500 ml filtered tap water at 94 degrees
· Rinse the filter paper
· Bloom 60g water for 40 seconds
· At 40 seconds add another 140g water for 30 seconds, swirl the v60.
· At 1:20 add another 200g water for 30 seconds
· At 2:00 pour the final 100g water.

Many of our subscribers will try your coffee for the first time. What can they expect from the three featured coffees of this month (Baroida, Wolichu Wachu, and Nyakizu), and why are they special to you?

I roast only coffees that I love and so each of the three coffees are special to me in their own way. Rwanda is especially meaningful as it is the first coffee producing country that I ever visited and it was there that I walked among coffee trees for the first time. The coffees from the southern province are so elegant and smooth - the Nyakizu has citrus, black tea and a complex elegance that I appreciate in a cup. Ethiopia is also a special origin for a coffee roaster - it's where all the world's coffee began and thousands of heirloom coffees still grow wild in the rainforests there. I love the Wolichu Wachu because it so clearly has the blueberry flavour notes so characteristic of the Guji region - the natural process adds sweetness and a little funk, making it taste of stewed blueberry which is a perfect autumn note. I love the Baroida from Papua New Guinea as it challenges our preconceptions about Asian coffee - coffee from this part of the world is generally thought to be more inclined to have spicy or tobacco notes - the Baroida is all about fruit and flowers - with tons of orange citrus and even gorgeous elderflower notes.

September’s box featuring Muttley & Jack’s included the following coffees ⚡️

Baroida

Origin: Papua New Guinea
Process: Washed
Altitude: 1700 - 1850 MASL
Varieties: Arusha & Bourbon
Tasting notes: ”Refreshing notes of elderflower and orange zest and the sweetness of lemonade in a medium bodied coffee.”

We are delighted to have a coffee from Papua New Guinea in this month’s box! It it the second time in Bean Portal’s history that we feature a coffee from this very special island nation. Baroida is a third-generation family-run farm, that has been producing coffee since the 1960s, from the Eastern Highlands of the country. This is a refreshing coffee with notes of elderflower and orange zest, and it is just as good hot as it is on ice. Enjoy!

Wolichu Wachu

Origin: Ethiopia
Process: Natural
Altitude: 1900 - 2210 MASL
Varieties: Heirloom
Tasting notes: ”A gentle ‘funk’ from the mild fermentation of this natural coffee. Fruit derived sweet notes of blueberry, red cherry and stone fruits. Medium to creamy bodies with a pleasant lingering aftertaste.”

Wolichu Wachu is a relatively new washing station in Guji, Ethiopia, that started operations in 2017. It was built to process specialty coffee, which explains the deliciousness of this coffee. Fresh from harvest, this coffee was picked Feb-April this year. The natural process gives it the blueberry notes, accompanied by red cherry and stone fruit. You will also find a funkiness of this coffee, coming from the mild fermentation.

And our Tasting box™ subscribers also received 💥

Nyakizu

Origin: Rwanda
Process: Washed
Altitude: 1750 - 2100 MASL
Varieties: Bourbon
Tasting notes: ”Sparkling acidity, delicate black tea characteristics with notes of sweet lime and brown sugar.”

The high altitudes and rich soils of south Rwanda, combined with plenty of rainfall, creates an ideal place for growing great coffee. This is where the Nyakizu washing station is located, next to the Nyungwe natural forest, right at the border to Burundi. Rwanda is one of our favourite coffee countries, and this one does not disappoint us. Expect black tea characteristics with notes of sweet lime and brown sugar. 

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black.

For August we’re in Bratislava, the capital of Slovakia. We are happy to have black. onboard!

How did Black start? What’s your story?

black. is a small roastery which nowadays produces circa 350kg of coffee per month, but the vision for growth is huge. We started our café in November 2017, and the roastery joined the club in early summer 2018. We focus on giving a great experience to our customers while having a great cup of coffee. We love Slovakia but always knew that there are plenty of people throughout Europe whom we can surprise and give pleasure to. That’s why we are eager for collaborations like with you guys, so more people can get to know us.

We find the coffee culture of different cities varies a lot. What’s Bratislava’s coffee scene like?

Bratislava is a great small scene with plenty of amazing cafés (we have more specialty coffee shops than Oslo or Copenhagen for example), but there is still plenty of space for improvement and growth. We as Slovakians are known for good hospitality and hearty service. So that’s what we do. And we are so happy more and more people start to recognise us. For example, we are the first café which for filter and serves 95% solely batch brew. Says a lot about us. Great coffee should be - black, fast, good priced and enjoyed with good service.

A lot of our subscribers try coffee from Black for the first time. What can they expect from the three featured coffees of this month (Idido, Finca el Carmen and Herlindo Sepulvera)?

For the subscription box, we picked three very different coffees. Idido is a typical washed Ethiopian full of florals and citruses. El Carmen is all we look for in an El Salvador’s coffee - sweet, fruity, but easy to drink and sooo pleasurable. Finally Herlindo’s Caturra chiroso, which shows how diverse Colombian coffees are. Full, complex, a cup of coffee which you’d like to sit by for an hour and be thrilled by all the tastes it brings.

August’s box included these marvelous coffees ❤️

Idido

Origin: Ethiopia
Process: Washed
Altitude: 1800 - 2000 MASL
Varieties: Typica, heirloom
Tasting notes: mirabelle, apricot jam, rooibos, floral & citrusy

East of the bustling town of Yirgacheffe, Ethiopia, the Idido cooperative is located. This area has some of the highest-altitude coffees, with members’ farms situated in seven communities. The growers bring their cherries to the Idido cooperative after harvest for processing. Coffee from this region is renowned for its sweetness, crisp and complex acidity. This floral and citrusy cup of coffee has notes of mirabelle, apricot jam, and rooibos.

Finca El Carmen

Origin: El Salvador
Process: Washed
Altitude: 1300 MASL
Varieties: Red bourbon
Tasting notes: red grape, orange zest, wild cherry

Finca el carmen is a farm run by Fernando Alfaro and his family in the region Apaneca-Llamatepec in El Salvador. Fernando is a fourth-generation coffee farmer who cares a lot about his coffee. Fernando's knowledge and experience can be felt when tasting his coffee. Although being one of the smallest countries in Central America, Black has seen a huge increase in quality since 2000 due to better farming and great volcanic soil.

And exclusive for our Tasting Box™ subscribers... 💥

Herlindo Sepulvera

Origin: Colombia
Process: Washed
Altitude: 1900 MASL
Varieties: Caturra chiroso
Tasting notes: bubblegum, cola, orange blossom

This coffee comes from Urrao in Antiquia, a part of Colombia not very well known for growing coffee. Herlindo Sepulvera was one of several farmers who took advantage of the high altitude and great soil in the area to grow specialty coffee here. We are happy he did. Under almost perfect conditions he managed to create an excellent coffee. The unique Caturra Chiroso variety creates a beautiful floral cup with notes of bubblegum, cola and orange blossom.

Don’t miss out on our next box! Become a member now ⚡️

Shokunin Coffee Collective

All the way from Rotterdam, Netherlands, we’re happy to welcome Shokunin to our June’s box! We had a chat.

How did Shokunin start and what's the story behind the name?
We already had an existing brand called Stielman, which is an old Dutch word for a craftsman. But I wanted to take big steps with the company, aimed at both quality and direct trade. Doing amazing projects in origin and here in Europe alike, I felt that we needed to present these accordingly. So I decided to start an upgraded version of the brand: Shokunin. It's a Japanese word for someone who's a master of their profession and does nothing but striving for perfection. They do this to such an extent that the entire community benefits from it. This very much resembled my mindset on coffee, and seen as how it felt like an upgraded Stielman, it was a great match. People also know me as a perfectionist who is overly caring about his product.

Many of our subscribers are tasting Shokunin for the first time. How would you describe coffee roasted by Shokunin?
I want to present the unique flavours in an accessible way. My coffees are always as sweet as I can get them, but not too tea-like or sour. I want to make sure that anyone drinking my coffee finds it interesting but especially enjoyable, with nothing negative to say about it. Even though I have about sixteen different coffees right now, each with a unique flavour profile, they are all pleasant to drink. This should make it easy to choose between my coffees depending on what you feel like, and it will be a good brew every time, no matter the filter or espresso method you use.

How do you think Shokunin will evolve in the future? Have you got any set goals?
Our projects in origin are developing every week, and we're trying to communicate these to consumers in order to create a connection across the chain. Our flavour portfolio is already diverse enough, so now we want to focus on improving the quality of the producers that we already work with. I'm hoping to connect more roasters and baristas to our vision and to increase our volumes, just so that we can make a bigger impact on operations. For instance, we managed to reserve the entire Argote harvest this season, which gives us a lot more freedom to decide on processing and investments.

For those of us who's never been to Rotterdam, how's Rotterdam's coffee scene?
I feel that Rotterdam's coffee scene is actually very, very small. There's many lunchrooms and cafes that take their coffee somewhat seriously, but most still work with the same generic blend by a relatively big roaster. Which is already a lot better than any commercial brand, but there's no vibrancy or fun to it. It can be easy to find decent coffee, but there's very few cafes that actually serve multiple coffees with unique flavour profiles and that focus on coffee instead of having it as an important side product.

What can we expect from this month's coffees (El Nido, Intango and El Bueyerito)?
It's a very diverse flavour package. El Nido is an excellent example of why I love Colombian coffee. It's so diverse, sweet and with enough body, perfect for my roasting style, and this one actually tastes like an Ethiopian coffee. Intango is sort of a classic Rwandan profile, but with more sweetness and body, also fitting my flavour preferences. El Bueyerito is an interesting coffee that started as a kickstarter. I've never really liked Costa Rican coffee, but when I tasted this sample, I actually found a lot that I could appreciate. After talking to the importer, I realized that with such a good start, and with our mutual mindset about sustainability and involvement, this would not only be a tasty, easy-going coffee now, but become even better in the future. You can read more about the stories behind these coffees on my website!

We sent the following coffees in June's box

El Nido

Origin: Urrao, Antioquia, Colombia
Producer: Daniel Hernandez
Process: Fully washed, 72hr dry fermentation, dried first in parabolic, then in gas drier.
Harvest: 2018
Altitude: 2,000 MASL
Varieties: Caturra Chirozo
Tasting notes: Light and floral aromas like jasmin and bergamot. Bright, sweet flavours like peach and lychee. Soft body like earl grey tea.

El Nido is a rare Caturra Chirozo variety, a natural Typica-like hybrid, farmed by Daniel Hernandez in Antioquia, Colombia. The special variety gives this coffee a very Ethiopian-like flavour profile. Last year, this coffee earned the first place in the Youth Cup for young farmers, as well as a second place in Cup of Antioquia. Colombia has always been a favourite of Shokunin Coffee Collective due to its high supply in quality coffee and its diversity in flavour profiles.

Intango

Origin: Kibaya, Musasa, Gishyita, Karongi, Rwanda
Producer: Gilbert Gatali
Process: Fully washed, overnight fermentation, dried on raised beds
Harvest: 2018
Altitude: 1,500 – 2,000 MASL
Varieties: Red Bourbon
Tasting notes: Bright yet thick aromas like pineapple. Juicy sweetness like strawberries. Silky body like hazelnut and black tea.

This coffee is the first one from the Rwandan entrepreneur Gilbert Gatali. He owns coffee shops in the capital Kigali and is known for his sustainability work in coffee exports from Rwanda. Gilbert recently bought a washing station where this coffee is produced. In 2012, Gilbert won the Most Notable Producer Sprudgee award.

Our tasting box members also received…

El Bueyerito

Origin: Miramar, Guanacaste, Puntarenas, Costa Rica
Producer: Roberto Jimenez
Process: Fully washed
Harvest: 2018 / 2019
Altitude: 1,100 – 1,400 MASL

Varieties: Caturra
Tasting notes: Bright and sweet aromas like tangerine. Sweet and soft taste like plums and brown sugar. Strong body like chocolate and nuts.

The micro-mill El Bueyerito, located in Miramar, Costa Rica, is owned by Roberto Jiménez. This coffee is a product from the crowdfunding project Planting Costa Rica. The project wanted to reinvigorate specialty coffee from Miramar. With the project, they will help Roberto to develop the infrastructure at El Bueyerito as well as improve the know how.

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Nero Scuro

For the month of April, we have our very first Italian roaster in the box. However, these coffees are very far from traditional Italian coffee. They are way better. Say hi to Nero Scuro!

How did Nero Scuro start?

Nero Scuro started out of a passion for coffee and hospitality. Silvia after a career in communication agencies, became a Cordon Bleu graduated in Patisserie, and managed operations and customers for several top-level pastry and coffee shops in Australia. Paolo, a coffee passionate, born industrial engineer, discovered that roasting comes down to manage chemical reactions in miniature scale. He started attending roasting courses and seminars all over the world since mid-2000 and eventually became involved with the Nordic roasting approach. At some point, in 2013, he bought a Probat roaster, only to eventually realize he would need a proper place to install and operate it.

At that point, we both thought it was a good idea starting a specialty coffee roastery as we could fruitfully combine our experiences, and so Nero Scuro was born. In reality, it took more than 6 months to find a proper place, and the guys at Probat were so kind to store the machine in their warehouse for the whole period.

Left image by @aryanjoshani on Instagram

What drove you to the specialty coffee business?

We actually started with specialty coffee from day one, as we were already aware of this trend having lived overseas and being in touch with the Nordic roasting style. We used, at the time, the exact same partners for green coffee that we use today, and the roasting style is pretty much the same as well. However, the market was pretty much non-existent in Italy at the time, and we had to struggle a lot during the first year to explain our concepts and to get the first customers.

Italy has a well-known coffee culture. How have you seen the specialty coffee scene evolve?

The majority of the Italian market is still focused on the classic dark roasted espresso. Nero Scuro started at a time when there were just a very few micro-roasteries, so it is fairly known in the segment. In the last 1-2 years, however, there has been a growing interest in the segment, with the opening of various independent coffee shops and also numerous roasting facilities. However, the segment is still very small.

Many of our subscribers are tasting Nero Scuro for the first time. What can we expect from this April’s coffees?

The coffees are a good example of Nero Scuro’s diverse coffee line-up, although they have in common the extremely high quality of the green, ethically sourced through our partner Nordic Approach. We believe you cannot achieve an outstanding roasted coffee if the green is not outstanding as well, therefore we always choose outstanding greens!

The coffees are roasted with specific profiles for filter and espresso: our filter coffees are roasted light yet well developed, while the espresso profiles are not nearly as dark as the traditional Italian espresso. In any case, we target a roast level just right to ensure a proper extraction while preserving all the sweetness and pleasant acidity of the cultivar. Finally, we like to work with coffees prepared with different processes, and they are all sampled in the April coffees. Qore Magarissa is a classic fruity fully washed Ethiopia, Costa Rica El Llano is a honey processed coffee and Burundi Sehe Collective is a natural processed lot. The latter appears, over the last months, the preferred preparation for many customers.

Looking ahead, what can we expect from Nero Scuro in the future?

Short term: install a bigger roasting machine and keep increasing the quality of our coffees. We’ve just bought a new small 500gr roaster for competition lots and for the more expensive coffees available on our website, like Panama Geshas.

We’ve just redesigned our logo and changed our coffee pouches with a more modern and distinguishable look.

We’re always working on new projects and ideas, stay tuned for what’s ahead ;-).

Nero Scuro’s new design and logo

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Neues Schwarz

We’re glad to introduce you to our February’s roaster. Welcome back Neues Schwarz!

For those who might not know, who are Neues Schwarz?

Neues Schwarz is the first and only specialty coffee roastery in the greater Dortmund area. We see ourselves as a part of the "third-wave-movement". Thus we try to source, roast and brew only the best qualities we can find with our partners at coffee origin.

Photos by @haswawed on Instagram

What has happened since you were last featured in Bean Portal two years ago?

The last two years happened to be very short-dated. We opened a second shop in the city centre. A tiny but extravagant brew bar that has started to attract the crowds. Simultaneously, the number of b2b customers grew steadily which keeps the roaster busy.

You have had the roastery for 5 years now, how was the Dortmund coffee scene when Neues Schwarz started compared to now?

This months we turned 4 years. When we started our business, terms like "light roast", "flat white" and "notes of jasmine and blueberry" were new to a non-existing coffee scene in the Dortmund area. Nowadays much has changed and it feels great to get into more and more discussions in our stores about the quality and the origin of coffee.

Are there any projects you are working on right now that you are extra excited about?

We have travelled a number of times to coffee producers in the origin to see, engage and understand. We have two key projects that we support financially beyond the usual coffee purchase. The projects are in El Salvador (Finca San Antonio) and Peru (Edwin&Luz). We believe that a close cooperation helps to improve the quality of coffee and builds a longterm relationship.

Where do you see yourselves in 5 years?

It is difficult to predict the future. We certainly want to be at the forefront of a coffee scene that grows, not only in Berlin or Hamburg, but across the entire country.

We've heard the Kayon Mountain makes an amazing aeropress. What can we expect from this month's coffees?

The Kayon Mountain is a very special coffee. You usually find one or two methods that are ideal to brew a particular coffee. It is different though with the Kayon. You can fully enjoy it as filter or espresso equally. The notes of sweet blueberry will always be present, which is very typical for natural Ethiopian coffees, but it also has some floral notes towards the end which are usually more a sign for a washed coffee from that area. We hope you enjoy it and are happy to receive feedback.

In Sweden we like to drink a coffee with a cinnamon bun. What is your favourite way of enjoying a cup of coffee?

We like to share coffee. With everyone, customers, staff, friends and also Swedish platforms :). We really like the social aspect of coffee. Within the team we would more likely brew a fruity filter and talk about the cup afterwards.

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CleverCoffee

We’re ending 2018 in a great way. CleverCoffee is our December’s roaster, and our final featured roaster for the year! We had a chat.

How did CleverCoffee start?

Actually, we are coming up on our fifth birthday in February as CleverCoffee began in the beginning of 2014. However, it was in a very different format that what it is today; we began purely as a blog with nothing to sell – just purely informational articles about what we learned about coffee roasters, brewers, water, etc., and I had been a home barista about five years before that.

It was a great way to get people interested but the more we examined and learned, the more we found that it was hard to get to know the world of specialty coffee. For us, this helped form our approach to specialty coffee as we wanted – and still want to – make it more simply to experience world-class specialty coffee.

What drove you to the specialty coffee business?

In fact, I did not drink coffee until I was 26 years old. I started to be embarrassed if I was at a café or coffee show with my wife and she had coffee, while I was having hot chocolate.

Then a good friend of mine introduced me to a fantastic cup of specialty coffee. I think it was a lightly roasted Ethiopian coffee and I had no idea that coffee could be clean and sweet without being sour or bitter – and it got me hooked!

I started exploring the world of specialty coffee, but it was complex, so I wrote what I learned and the blog, CleverCoffee, was an easy next step. Here five years later, we have just relaunched our website for the third time and I have revisited the blog posts that I had not read for years. Some of them are still useful for people who are interested in specialty coffee, so I am adjusting a bit here and there and will repost them online soon.

How has CleverCoffee changed if you compare today, with the day you started roasting?

As I had been roasting quite a lot on a smaller scale before opening CleverCoffee, I knew that nothing beats using the best beans available. The very first bags of coffee we sold, I roasted on a Hottop coffee roaster and closed the bags with a vacuum sealer. Of course, we had every food grade certifications in order, but before making a huge investment in a complete roasting setup, In the way of LEAN startup, we just wanted to make sure that we were able to produce a product that people wanted to buy.

Later, we got the chance to buy an old 1963 Probat LG5 coffee roaster, that we restored and used for quite some time before upgrading to our current Giesen W15. Still, we are using the same formula when considering new investments in both coffee and equipment; we need to know that it works on a smaller scale before introducing it to a broader audience.

How do you think CleverCoffee will evolve in the future? Have you got any specific goals?

Sure, we have many goals – but one of our main focuses right now it to develop our core business, which is to source, roast and present some of the world’s most interesting coffees, without adding unneeded complexity and doing it in a responsible way.

We believe strongly that we should have an environment impact, which is as low as possible. It is not easy but an important process where we have taken the first steps by only printing info sheets on our coffees on CO2-neutral paper, we are only using electricity that comes from windmills and we use recyclable coffee boxes to deliver coffee to coffee shops and hospitality businesses that are located nearby. Now, we are working on having our Misiones coffee registered as a Transparently Traded Coffee as we would like our customers to know how much the grower has been paid for his green coffee in order for them to make a more conscious choice more easily.

Additionally, we are exploring the opportunities to opening our own coffee bar but that would certainly add complexity to our business, but it also opens up for us to being able to display our coffees in our own way. Therefore, we are looking for likeminded and talented people from the hospitality business industry to take part in this project.

Many of our subscribers are tasting CleverCoffee for the first time. How would you describe coffee roasted by CleverCoffee?

Coffee comes from a fruit and we want you to taste this. We roast to highlight the natural sweetness and fruitiness in the coffee. This way all coffees will taste different and you can explore the huge variety there is in coffee.

We work exclusively with the most interesting coffee producers in the world. We buy our green beans directly from the farmer or through socially aware and skilled importers who, with great professionalism, add value in the form of knowledge about better production and organic initiatives while always having the best interest of the coffee farmer in mind. Simply, we feel that this is the right way to do business.

We have selected all of our coffees for their unique and exciting characteristics, and you can be sure that our selection always reflects the huge variation in flavor found in the world of coffee. Our coffees come from micro lots from all over the world. Carefully selected and gently profile roasted to the brighter side as to preserve the sweetness and the innate flavours in the bean. We omni-roast all coffees so you can brew them just the way you prefer.

What can we expect from this month’s coffees (Misiones, Ceiba and Biloya)?

As usual, we would like people to experience the diversity in specialty coffee and we aiming to do this by only having seasonal coffees in our lineup as well as having a limited number of coffees in our lineup. We believe that a lineup of 5-7 coffees that change with the harvesting season helps our customers appreciate the diverse tastes that lies within the world of specialty coffee.

Misiones

For us, the Misiones from Colombia is more than special. For a long time, we have been looking for a coffee that meets our quality and taste requirements, and a coffee, where we can trade directly with the producer. Therefore, we are extra proud of this coffee, which is our first directly traded coffee and at the same time exclusive to CleverCoffee in Denmark. Collectively this results in a sweet and transparent coffee with a balanced tasting experience.

The coffee plants grows in nutrient volcanic soil in 1500-1700 mas in areas with plenty of shade. The variety is Castillo, a typical Colombian variety known for its great sweetness and citrus aftertaste.

The coffee is as a fully washed coffee, to highlight the clean and transparent taste. The pickers are highly skilled and have picked the ripe cherries when the cherries have reached a sugar content of 14%. This highlights the coffees natural sweetness.

All of this combined, results in a sweet and transparent taste of ripe red berries and citrus in a great balance. It is a coffee with a high complexity where you will experience a change in taste depending on the temperature of the coffee. Grind it rather coarsely and you will get a super juicy coffee. If you grind the coffee finer, you will get a very sweet coffee. This coffee has a big spectrum to play with.

This is a great example of a classic Colombian coffee – and what the Castillo variety has to offer, when it has been grown and processed with the outmost care.

Origin: Colombia
Region: Cundinamarca
Washing station: Hacienda Misiones
Varietals: Castillo
Process: Washed
Altitude: 1500 - 1700 masl
Harvest: May 2018

Ceiba

Ceiba is a specialty coffee from the Huehuetenango region in Guatemala on the border to Mexico. Here we have a fantastic combination of the comfortable silky and creamy mouthfeel, as the coffee from the area is known for and the fresh fruitiness that our roast style emphasizes. This results in a balanced coffee that everyone can drink, while you can find a great complexity in new taste notes.

Ceiba is a sweet and balanced specialty coffee that gives a nice freshness with taste of milk chocolate, orange and vanilla. This is an easy-to-drink coffee that everyone likes while it contains a large complexity and it expresses new tasting notes clearly, if you let the coffee cool down a little.

Origin: Guatemala
Region: Huehuetenango
Washing station: Ceiba
Varietals: Caturra, Bourbon, Typica
Process: Washed
Altitude: 1350 masl
Harvest: Jan – April 2018

Biloya

Biloya from Ethiopia is the latest addition to our lineup and Biloya blew us away with a sharp cup profile: Clean, sweet and transparent with notes of red berries and red grapes. It is a beautifully balanced natural processed coffee and a great showcase of how fantastic a natural processed coffee from Yirgacheffe in Ethiopia can taste like.

Coffees brought to the Biloya washing station are grown between 1700-2000 meters above sea level. There are several tiers of drying tables on the slope below the washing station and Biloya’s workers turn and sort the cherries by hand as the coffees dry on raised beds. The mesh material allows for airflow both above and below the coffee to prevent the formation of any mildew or mold. It takes between 18 and 21 days for cherries to dry. Naturally processed coffees are milled to remove the dried cherry pulp and parchment at once, and then stored in a warehouse no closer than 50cm from the wall and 15cm from the floor before transport to the final processing warehouse in Addis Ababa where it is color sorted and packed for shipment.

Origin: Ethiopia
Region: Yirgacheffe
Washing station: Biloya
Variety: Heirloom
Processing: Natural
Altitude: 1850 masl
Harvest: January 2018

We hope you all enjoyed December’s box with CleverCoffee. Don’t miss out on our next roaster!

Lippe

From our neighbouring country in the west, we're happy to announce Lippe from Oslo, Norway, as our October’s roaster!

Glad to have you back in our subscription! First time you were featured was about 18 months ago.

Great to hear! Glad to be back, cooperating with you and sharing our coffee with you all. :-)

What has happened since our last collaboration?

18 months, yes, well always lots going on, always tasting new coffees which has of course been made easier by receiving delivery of our Røst sample roaster which we’re very happy with. We have continued to strengthen our relationships with our suppliers, endeavoring to give back to the communities we buy coffee from as well as educating our customers about this and about how to get the best out of the coffees.

We have seen an increased awareness of our brand overseas which is always pleasant. It’s great to see and to hear how others outside of Norway react to our roasts. Something that we are very happy to confirm is that we now have the possibility to sell wholesale to EU customers with 0% customs duties which is a big help to those cafes out there who are looking for a supplier of premium Norwegian roasted coffee!

Further, 2018 is a special year for us as it is our 10th anniversary as a coffee roaster and our 20th anniversary as a company, two things that we are very proud of. The first 10 years we grew organically providing the market with coffee brewing equipment, machines and service, this growth was made ever easier thanks to the Rancilio Silvia which is also celebrating it’s 20th anniversary. A machine that has been close to us since our earliest days.

Is there any project you are working on right now that you are extra excited about?

Absolutely, we’re very pleased to say that over summer we confirmed our order of a brand new Loring roaster which will allow us to continue in our goals to be known as one of the leaders of specialty coffee in Norway. We expect to receive delivery and to install it early in 2019. We will hold onto our old roaster as it gives us the flexibility that we need.

What can we expect from this month’s coffees (La Esperanza, Uraga, Los Pirineos)?

Esperanza is a real fruit bomb. Big mouth feel, tastes of honey snaps and sweet citrus. Uraga is a beautiful example of a Guji from very high altitudes. We have taken coffee from this producer (Israel Degfa) a number of times over the years and we’re always very happy with their coffees. We find tastes of strawberry jam, tropical fruits and herbs. Los Pirineos is the coffee we chose for this year’s Nordic Barista Cup, a standout honey processed pacamara with a beautiful acidity and sweetness with tastes of ripe stone fruits, prune juice, nougat and chocolate. We were lucky enough to meet the producer of this coffee, Gilberto Baraona, during the event and can only confirm that he is a very knowledgeable and fun guy to be around.

How would you recommend brewing them?

Pour over, aeropress…we have also experimented with the Pirineos on espresso but at a slightly different roast degree

Looking ahead, what can we expect from Lippe in the future?

More of the same that has put us where we are now, providing the market with some of Norway’s best tasting and best value specialty coffees.

Thank you Lippe for providing us with delicious coffee for October!

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Gringo Nordic

Fresh from Gothenburg’s specialty coffee scene, let us introduce Gringo Nordic Coffee Roasters as our August’s roaster!

Gringo Nordic started roasting this year, but the team behind the roastery has many years of experience from other coffee companies such as Johan & Nyström and Gevalia. This month, we had the pleasure to ship three very special coffees.

LA SIBERIA HONEY

Origin: El Salvador
Process: Honey
Variety: Pacamara
Altitude: 1450 masl
Flavour: Peach, mandarine & milk chocolate

The team behind Gringo Nordic have known Carmen & Rafael Da Silva, the producers of this coffee, for 15 years and visited their farms several times. Gringo Nordic describes how they always surprise them with their improvements and experiments. This micro lot is a honey processed coffee on the large sized variety Pacamara. The coffee has a sweet and soft taste of peach, mandarine and milk chocolate.

GUJI ORGANIC

Origin: Ethiopia
Process: Natural
Variety: Local heirloom
Altitude: 1800 - 2130 masl
Flavour: Fruit, sweet berries & vanilla

The small region Guji in the south of Ethiopia produces some of the worlds most exciting coffees. The quality is incredible. This natural processed coffee from small-holder farmers at Dimtu Tero is one of them. The coffee has been dried in its pulp and has got notes of dried fruit, sweet berries and vanilla. Compared to what is often found in specialty coffee, this coffee is not only produced according to organic principles, it’s also certified organic.

Our tasting box members also received…

KIANGAI AA

Origin: Kenya
Process: Washed
Variety: SL28 & SL34
Altitude: 1700 - 1800 masl
Flavour: Green apple, lemonade & elderflower

This fine Kenyan coffee is from the region Kirinyaga in Nyeri. 900 small-holder farmers bring their coffee to the Kiangai washing station. The coffee of the varieties SL28 and SL34 is grown in red volcanic soil, a soil rich in minerals. This coffee has notes of green apple, lemonade and elderflower. An elegant and complex coffee that tastes just as good warm as it does chilled with ice.

We hoped you enjoyed this month’s box! Don’t miss out on our next box.

Fortitude Coffee Roasters

Summer started early in Europe this year, as June arrived we had already had a couple of months of summer’s heat. Luckily, June’s box tasted just as good cold as it did warm. For the month of June our featured roastery is Fortitude Coffee Roasters from Edinburgh, UK.

Fortitude Coffee roasters roasts all their coffees on a red Diedrich roaster. This is where the magic happens. Their first production roast hit the shelves late 2016. They have since roasted coffee of splendid quality.

CHIRINKU
This coffee has been dried in the sun on so called ”African drying beds” for approximately 12-15 days. In the daytime the cherries need to be raked permanently in order to ensure a consistent drying process. In the daytime, it will be covered from 12 to 3 pm in order to protect from hot sun, as well as, when the night comes, the beds are carefully covered to protect it from rainfall.

LA PALMA
La Palma is the town closest to the farms of this coffee’s both producers. Both farmers are members of the El Santuario Association which works with small scale producers in Catamarca to expand the presence of high quality Caturra, Typica and Bourbon. Large capacity solar tents will be installed to give producers a greater drying capacity since the climate in northern Peru is often wet and unpredictable. 

NGUGI-INI
Ngugu-ini Factory is part of the Kibirigwi Cooperative Society, together with another 8 washing stations. While the society is registered in Karatina Town (part of Nyeri), the factory is actually situated on the Ngugu-ini and Kiania Road side of the county line. The factory has 1,450 active members, making it the second largest cooperative in Kirinyaga County.

We hope you've enjoyed June's box!

Puchero

After a long journey, Paloma and Marco decided to start a roastery located in Valladolid. It's their life project, based on quality and attention to details. We're happy to introduce Puchero as May's roastery.

NGUGU-INI
Ngugu-ini Factory is part of the Kibirigwi Cooperative Society, together with another 8 washing stations.  This coffee comprises two varietals: SL28 and SL34, which both are mutations of Bourbon and Typica. This factory has 1,450 active members, and sadly their last season’s production dropped significantly due to adverse weather conditions. Luckily, this cup quality is high and the coffee has tastes of apricot and orange blossom and is delicate and sweet.

KELLOO
Kelloo comes from the region Guji. Family members of smallholder farmers pick small amounts of coffee and then sell and deliver it at the washing station.  At the wetmill, they are working to increase the quality and for better processing at the washing station. This Ethiopian coffee, Kelloo, develops a very floral aroma, with complex tasting notes of plum, violet, white chocolate and wild fruit. It is delicate and complex, full of brightness, with a buttery texture.

NYANGWE
Nyangwe is a farm located on the hills surrounding the town of Kayanza, northern Burundi. Nyangwe is one of many smallholder owned farms whose yearly crop is delivered to the nearby Mpanga washing station for processing. This season’s Nyangwe lot is fully washed and has undergone a single, 13-hour fermentation, before being dried on raised beds for 20 to 22 days depending on the weather. Nyangwe is sweet and full-bodied, with notes of red grape, raisin and brown sugar.

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Keen Coffee

The Netherland’s coolest roastery Keen Coffee has delivered some splendid coffees. Let us introduce you to February’s box!

Keen Coffee has one goal: to lift the coffee scene to an even higher level. This is seen in everything they do. Keen works directly with their farmers and only roasts the highest quality coffees, looking for the most unique flavor profiles.

Located outside of the capital, Keen Coffee follows their everyday quest, to strive for perfection and not settling for it. We hope you enjoyed February’s box! 

SHEMBATI
Origin: Burundi
Altitude: 1800 MASL
Varietal: Red Bourbon
Process: Washed
Flavour: Citrus & Berries

The team of Shembati washing station are working hard to produce and process the high quality coffee you are about to drink. It is a great example of a Burundian coffee, which are known to have a great sweetness. When brewed you will get a balanced cup with fresh citric notes and berries, together with a sweet chocolate finish.

LOS VASCOS
Origin: Colombia
Altitude: 1950 MASL
Varietal: Caturra
Process: Washed
Flavour: Caramel & Chocolate

Included in the 2x250 and 3x100 Tasting box.

Los Vascos’ coffee farmers originates from Spain's northern regions. Los Vascos translates to “The Basques”. The coffee importer of this coffee is known for investing a lot in the local farmers as well as in mills and cupping labs. With their aim at sustainability we hope you like this coffee which has notes of sweet caramel, milk chocolate and red fruits.

DANILO
Origin: Costa Rica
Altitude: 1800 MASL
Varietal: Caturra & Catuai
Process: Anaerobic Fermentation
Flavour: Cinnamon & Sugar cane

Exclusive for the 3x100 Tasting box.

On top of a mountain ridge in West Alley, you will find the beautiful location of Danilo’s plantation. Danilo has previously delivered the coffee that Keen Coffee has used in the World Brewers Cup. The cinnamon notes are very distinct in this microlot. You will also find notes of sugar cane, yellow stone fruit and passion fruit.

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Cloud Picker

How can a year possibly start better than with great coffee? Our first roaster 2018 is the fantastic coffee roaster Cloud Picker Coffee from Dublin, Ireland.

From Cloud Picker we sent three fantastic coffees from Rwanda, Guatemala and Costa Rica. What a month!

Don't miss out on our next box!

Nord Brenneri

We had a chat with Roast Master Nikolai at our August's roaster Nord Brenneri from Oslo, Norway.

How did Nord start?

The concept behind Nord was born several years ago, when Joakim Strand and his two companions opened a restaurant and deli at Bjølsen in Oslo. The idea was to purchase as much as possible directly from local Norwegian farmers and to give the customers extraordinary and unique products and food. The business went well, and they opened their first bakery. Soon, several coffee shops followed and a coffee roastery, located in the basement of the shop at Grünerløkka. The different locations had, at that time, all individual names, so to unite everything into one concept, Nord was founded in 2015. The same year the roastery moved to a more spacy location at Tveita and a brand new Diedrich coffee roaster was bought. Today Nord consists of 10 coffee shops, where one is also a wine bar, the bakery and the coffee roastery.

What drove you to the specialty coffee business?

My journey into specialty coffee started in 2009, when I started working as a barista. I instantly got fascinated by the complexity of flavors in the different coffees and was impressed by the immense amount of dedication that was invested in every single bean. I soon got inspired by the idea of direct trade and understood how inhumane the conditions are in the conventional coffee marked. A combination of this drove me further into the business, from barista to cup tasting champion, green buyer and now roast master.

How has Nord changed if you compare today, with the day you started roasting?

When I started roasting for Nord, in 2015, the roastery had just moved to Tveita. Joakim and I were doing the roasting on an old Probat P12 and there were only six coffee shops. My focus since the beginning has been to improve the quality of the coffee and to always have traceability to the farms and cooperatives that produce it. One of the first steps in improving the quality was the installation of a Diedrich CR-25, which has given us the opportunity to get more control of the roast and to develop profiles which give more distinct flavors and complexity to the cup. The increased capacity of the roaster has also made it possible to expand, and today we are steadily growing, getting new customers and hiring more staff. Last year, former Norwegian Barista champion, Lise Rømo also joined the team. She is both roasting coffee and educating our baristas with the goal of being the best in town.

How do you think Nord will evolve in the future? Have you got any specific goals?

Even though the competition in Oslo’s coffee scene is really tough, with other roasteries like Kaffa, Tim Wendelboe, Supreme Roast Works and S&H, we have been able to get a great reputation and solid customer base. Many of the most exciting new startups in Oslo wants to have our coffee, which I think is great. I hope that we will continue on the same track, inspiring people to focus on some of the same values as us; buying local foods and products directly from small producers, excluding unnecessary middle men, having traceability in everything from our coffee to the grains in our bread and vegetables in our salads.

A lot has happened in specialty coffee the last few years. What are you most excited about regarding the growth and development of specialty coffee? Will there be a ”fourth wave”?

I think that the most exciting thing is that there are a lot more people buying and enjoying specialty coffee. At least in Oslo there is a shift towards more focus on sustainability, environment, quality of food and products and on health. Drinking specialty coffee is something that contributes in a good way to all these ideas. I would love to see that the results of the fourth wave were that everyone bought coffee that was purchased for a fair price, grown in a sustainable way and roasted and brewed with care.

In Sweden we like to drink our coffee with a piece of cake or a cinnamon bun. What is the best way of enjoying a cup of Nord?

Our bakery also makes fantastic cinnamon buns which are a super combo with the coffee. I personally like to drink it pure and black, by itself. If I should pair it with anything, it would be a piece of dark chocolate.

Many of our members are trying Nord for the first time. What can they expect?

They should expect clean and flavorful coffees. Roasted light, but given enough time to develop sweetness and a lot of interesting flavors.

Don't miss out on our next box! We ship delicious coffees from Europes specialty coffee roasters every month.