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Fazenda Capao – £7.00 (350g)

You can see the full Hario range here.

Expect some videocasts soon covering a few of the brewing methods, and if you’ve got any questions do please let us know!

If you’ve been following the updates on our Facebook page you probably already know what the Autumn is made from , but I’ll go through it in more detail here. It’s made up of three Central American coffees, Costa Rica, Guatemala and El Salvador.

The largest component (40%) was also the last one sourced, and is from Hacienda Rio Jorco in Tarrazu, Costa Rica. It’s a washed coffee of the Caturra variety, which is a shorter and bushier mutation of Bourbon.  Rio Jorco is quite a large Estate, with it’s own mill and several smaller plots/farms, one of which made it into the Cup of Excellence auction in 2008. The Hacienda is run by the third generation owners,  brothers Luis and Jim Alfaro and their families. The welfare of their employees and the ecological balance of the Estate is a strong focus for the Alfaros, 75% of the land is dedicated as a natural reserve and many of the employees have built their homes on the farm. In addition, they run the Alfaro-Zeledon Coffee Museum where in view of the fields you can learn about all aspects of the coffee growing process.

The second element of the blend (30%) is a Pulped natural Bourbon from the Santa Isabel tableau at El Molino de Sta Rita, in Ataco, El Salvador. Some of you may remember we had the El Molino de Sta Rita on offer as a filter coffee last year, and perhaps it was the familiarity of the sweetness that drew me to this Sta Isabel selection when I cupped it earlier this year at the mill in El Salvador. Managing the farm is Jose Antonio Salaverria who was gracious enough to put up with my snapping away in his cupping lab.

The last element of the blend (30%) is a combination of the La Vega and Cipresal lots at Finca Vista Hermosa in Huehuetenango, Guatemala. These two selections were singled out and combined as although they are quite far apart geographically, they both cupped very differently to the other lots on the farm, but very similar to each other. The owner of the farm Edwin Martinez, explained in more detail:

“La Vega and Cipresal are both about 80% red bourbon, 10% caturra, 10% catuai.  It is all pulped with a very small JOTAGALLO brand depulper, washed and patio sun dried.  We don’t go by time, but we stop fermenting when the fruit is off the coffee and we are careful to agitate the coffee so no portion ferments faster or slower.  Also for uniformity after drying, we let it rest or reposo in parchment of at least 30 days AT the farm.
La Vega is about 47 cuerdas and Cipresal is about 26.  1 cuerda is 20 X 20 Meters. They are both between 4800′ and 5500′ elevation and the only reason they’re together is because they both cupped out identical over a dozen times.  We literally couldn’t tell the difference between these two but we could distinguish them from the others and the others from each other.”

Cipresal is a plot close to the main farm building and patios, while La Vega is further north. Edwin explained:

“This (La Vega) is by far the hardest micro lot to pick and we have as many big trees as possible with little foliage on them.  This is because we need their roots to hold the earth together and keep it from sliding down into the creek yet the banks are steep enough and perpendicular to the suns path of rise and fall that the banks themselves block all but mid day sun.  So we need all the sun we can get.  This coffee gets more shade than most certified shade grown trees…  too much really!”

We’re really happy with the espresso this season, it’s come out really nice and chocolaty, just what you need for comfort when the weather turns chilly! We hope you enjoy!

Finca Mauritania is run by Aida Batlle – many of you may remember her coffee we had last year from Finca Kilimanjaro, easily one of our highlight coffees from last year.  Aida runs three farms in total – Kilimanjaro, Mauritania and Los Alpes. I had the pleasure if visiting these farms earlier this year while in El Salvador for the Cup of Excellence. We cupped all the farms coffees while viewing the mill where they are processed, and the Mauritania and Kilimanjaro lots stood out for me as coffees I’d really like to introduce to you guys! We bought all three processes from both, as well as Cascara from all three farms. Stored in vacuum sealed bags the greens smell amazing when you open them up, and we’re so excited to be launching the different lots between now and Christmas.

We’re starting by introducing you to three selections from Finca Mauritania – all the same 100% Bourbon coffee, but processed three different ways:  Natural Process, Pulped Natural and Fully Washed.  Big thanks to Peter Giuliano and Counter Culture Coffee for giving up a little of what they normally buy from Mauritania, we’re now able to present to you this unique and fascinating opportunity to taste and learn a little more about how processing affects the flavour profile of a bean.

On to the coffees, and a little explanation of the processes.

After coffee is picked, our ultimate goal is to get the seeds from middle, and to dry them down ready to store and then ship.  There are three main ways used around the world to do this:

Natural Process: Here the cherry is dried whole in the sun, until it is a shriveled husk that can be hulled off.  This is commonly used in regions with very little access to water.  It is very easy for the natural process to go wrong – drying fruit in the sun can easily lead to fermentation or, even worse, mould.  However, when done correctly the natural process is capable of giving the coffee incredible fruit notes and a lovely sweetness.

Pulped Natural: Here the cherry is squeezed until the beans pop out, and then they are dried down.  Most of the fruit is removed but a sticky layer of fruit meat (called mucilage) still coats the seeds.  Again popular in areas with limited access to water, and much lower risk of defects compared to the natural process.  Coffees produced this way tend to have great body and sweetness and are often very popular in traditional espresso blends.

Washed Process: Here the cherry is squeezed until the beans pop out, and then the beans are soaked in fresh water until the sticky, sugary outer layer dissolves.  The beans are then dried, often in the sun.  This process results in the lowest incidence of defects, and as such is the most popular within speciality coffee.  Why work hard to craft and grow amazing coffee, only to take the risk when processing it.  The natural acidity in the coffee is really highlighted by the washed process, and the fruit and floral notes often given room to breathe.

With the Finca Mauritania lots the same Bourbon variety has been processed each of these ways.  Aida and her team are incredibly skilled, and as such these are great examples of the possibilities of each process.  The Natural has amazing tropical and strawberry notes, the Pulped Natural is comfortingly sweet, rich and full bodied while the Fully Washed lot has a lovely honeydew melon juiciness and soft caramel and fruit notes.  You can read more about each of them by clicking the links.

This year Aida has once again produced Cascara from the dried coffee fruit left behind after the beans are removed from the cherry.  This is used to make one the oldest coffee drink in history – Qishr, a tea made from steeping the fruit in hot water, often adding sugar and other spices as well. (Although we love it on it’s own, or as a highly caffeinated ice tea!)

This is a rare opportunity – to be able to taste the effects of processing so clearly by using the same coffee from the same farm.  We really want people to try this so we’ve created the Mauritania Collection.  A bag of each of the processes, with a free 200g bag of the Cascara.  Hold a cupping, share it with friends to help explain why you are so obsessed with coffee,  try them individually or buy the collection and just keep it all for yourself!  This is fascinating and delicious!  We really look forward to hearing what you think.

Just straight up delicious coffee, drinkable and satisfying.  We have a little under a bag of this so don’t expect it to be around for too long.

Progresso (350g) – £7.00

The coffee will ship on September 1st, and we look forward to your feedback.

Juice is a one-off roast – we will be roasting and shipping it on the 1st of September only.  If you order before that date, and if you order any other items, then the entire order will be held til that date.  There will only be a small quantity of it roasted, due to the scarcity of some of the coffees we plan to use.

Onto the fun stuff – this espresso blend is all about big juicy fruit flavours.  This won’t be a tolerant, chocolatey espresso blend – it will be the polar opposite.  It will still be sweet and tasty, but expect and crisp and bright acidity and tonnes and tonnes of fruit aromatics and flavours.

This isn’t for everyone, but if it appeals to you then we hope you’ll try it.

When you get the coffee there will be loads of information about the blend, the brew recipe and some other bits and pieces.  For now though – it remains a secret.

Juice (350g) – £8.00

We thought that before doing anything we should ask your opinion first.  Your votes are very much apprecited!

Quiet for a while, then two posts in one day!  Such a flurry of activity!

So – the final Taste of Event that we are going to do for a while.  They have been a huge success (far more popular than we ever expected) but we don’t want the format to become stale.  We will still be doing events and tastings, but not pulling hundreds of shots of espresso at 7 at night!

The roasters we have for this means that these events go out on a high!  We hope to have coffee from:

49th Parallel, JJ Bean, Discovery Coffee, Transcend Coffee, Hines/Origins and Phil & Sebastian.

Awesome!  40 tickets in the webshop, so be quick!

Taste of Canada tickets.