For all coffees we buy we have an extensive description with background information about the farm or partner where the coffee is sourced.
We roast several times a week and keep limited stock of roasted coffee to guarantee freshness.
Coffee can be stored for years, however, the best results are achieved between about two and eight weeks after roasting. That’s why we don’t mention an expiry date, but a roasting date on the bottom of our bags.
The La Cristalina plantation is located near Quimbaya in the Quindo department. The plantation has been owned by the Grajales for over 100 years. Maria Mercedes Grajales is now the 5th generation at the helm of La Cristalina. The total plantation is approximately 19 hectares, of which 14 hectares are planted with coffee. about 5 hectares of the plantation are planted with other trees such as orange, ‘platano’ and ‘cafatero’. The majority of the plants on the Cristalina plantation are of the Castillo variety.
Natural lot
The pickers are encouraged to pick the coffee at its optimal maturity. For that selective picking process La Cristalina works with the long-term pickers that get paid far more than normal. Most pickers come to this farm for 10+ years.
After picking the cherries are floated intensively to remove the less dense and defected cherries.
The coffee is placed on “carros corredizos” and drying tunnels with direct sun exposure for the first 48 hours. After the humidity is down to about 40% it is placed in GrainPro for 36 hours to create its fruity punch in its cup. During fermentation the temperature and PH is monitored and documented every 3 hours. After fermentation the coffee goes back to the drying beds where it is also moved every 3 hours. The total process takes around 15 days, depending on the weather.
The coffee is very fragrant and expressive, with flavours of cherry, mandarin and strawberry.
Decaf lot
The La Cristalina coffee is decaffeinated by means of ‘Sugar Cane’. A characteristic of this decaf process is that the coffee retains many of its aromas. In addition, it often produces a very sweet coffee. The result is a sweet coffee with citrus flavors and a spicy aftertaste.
Region
Plantation
Process
Tasting notes
Milk chocolate, molasses & orange
Region
Plantation
Process
Tasting notes
Cherry, mandarin & strawberry
@beanspire
Doi Pangkhon has come a long way in a short time. We partnered with this farmer group in Chiang Rai in 2016. While the coffee is still relatively new to the international market, the 300 Akha Hilltribe farmers at Doi Pangkhon (which means Timberland Peak) have been growing and milling coffee for almost 40 years in this area, respecting their old traditions and their natural environment.
The mineral-rich soil and next-to-perfect growing conditions give not just their old varieties, but even their Catimor shrubs a surprising complexity and spicy punch. This sparked Ata and Pupae, brother and sister and third generation coffee growers, to actively seek the involvement of specialty buyers. Each farmer typically produces about 1-2 tons of parchment. We are working with about 20 families from Doi Pangkhon. Essentially, these are microlots grouped together. All of the villagers belong to Akha Hilltribe and they are very young for coffee farmers, mostly aged 25-35 years old. This is something very unique about Thailand as an origin since it’s an upper middle income country. It is a coffee growing industry that’s actually working and attractive to the next generation, relative to other origins.
One of only a few groups in Thailand to employ a Kenya-style washed, double fermentation: all coffee is hand picked, depulped, dry fermented for 48 hours, wet fermented for 8 hours, washed with mountain water, then sun dried on raised bamboo beds.
The result is a very clean coffee with typical ‘Asian’ spicy flavors, but combined with a sweetness not often found in other Asian coffees.
Region
Plantation
Altitude
Plant variety
Process
Washed
Tasting notes
Salted caramel, spice & chocolate
@fazendacalifornia
Dead plant roots, compacted soil, no organic matter, erosion and degraded soil life. In the early days of the 21st century, this nowadays postcard pretty farm didn’t quite look the part. Starting out as a research center for coffee for the University of California more than a century ago, the last part of the 20th century it served as a sugar cane farm. The way the place was farmed degraded the soils heavily and financially, the farm went bust. In 2004, the farm was acquired by Dr. Paulo Cesar Saldanha Rodrigues and his nephew, Luiz Saldanha Rodrigues. The first one being a visionary entrepreneur, the latter an agronomy student and coffee Q-grader in the making. They had big plans to show that agriculture could regenerate a farm and that farming can heal, instead of only take. Not long after the acquisition of the farm, Paulo and Luiz went flying, and suffered a tragic plane crash, which killed Paulo. Luiz decided to continue the dream together with this wife Flavia, and they live to date at the farm with their two daughters Heloisa and Maria.
Today, the farm has 100% of its coffee plants renewed since the day this adventure started. Next to this, its structures and production processes, harvesting, wet mill, drying, storage and dry mill were upgraded and a management system of sustainable production was set up, adapting the property to the highest levels of the world market demand. Nowadays, with the mission of producing high quality food and coffee for the consumer, society and the environment, husband and wife, who are both Q-Graders, share the same love for coffee quality and dream of extending this passion for the next generation. With their knowledge of farming, sustainability and coffee quality, their coffees compete at world level standards.
The cherries are selectively manually picked and soaked in cold water for 24 hours, then dried as Naturals on African Beds for 21 days. The result is a very balanced and sweet Brazilian coffee with distinct flavours of walnut and milk chocolate
Region
Plantation
Altitude
Plant variety
Yellow Catuaí, Mundo Novo, Obatã.
Process
Cold Soul Natural
Tasting notes
Hazelnut, caramel & liquorice
@fazendacalifornia
Quality and consistency. It’s not easy when you’re a farmer, with changing weather and different circumstances on a yearly or even seasonal basis, to match the exact same flavor profile as last year. It might even be impossible. For this reason, the team of Q-graders of Capricornio Coffees cup all the coffees of the more than a dozen partner fazendas and farmer groups, grade them according to their flavor and quality, and then make farmer blends, solely based on taste. For example, the Dulce Signature blend is described as dark chocolate, with a sweet and round thick body. One year, this might consist of more coffee from Fazenda Terra Preta and less from Sítio Teixeira. The year after, this might be the other way around.
Farm composition in the coffee bag might change, but the farms don’t sit still themselves either. Being part of Capricornio’s 4 Seasons Project, they get free agronomical support, with an agronomist visiting them every 60 days. Together, they look at plant and soil health and do soil measurements, that are used to advice on which parts of the farms need extra attention. It’s high-end knowledge and solid partnership to provide a sustainable future.
Since 2017, we have been working with the Dulce blend and they have since proven to be the stable factor for many cafe’s. It comes with its own traceability report, so we know in detail which farms contributed to which blend, year after year.
The cup profile gives us everything we want in a good Brazilian coffee: good body and sweetness, mild acidity and heavy chocolate and nutty flavours without any fruit notes. A true crowd pleaser.
Region
Plantation
Altitude
– 900
Plant variety
Yellow Catuaí, Mundo Novo, Obatã.
Process
Pulped natural
Tasting notes
Walnut & chocolate
@plotcoffee
The Aricha station, in the words of the current manager, was a dump. A neglected, abandoned, and the out-of-business station that did not process a single cherry for years on end. Grass covered the entire terrain and the buildings were in decay. The surrounding smallholders had to deliver their cherries to another washing station further up the road. A far from an ideal situation, since transport goes on foot or by mule. But just a few months before the harvest of 2018, the communities met with a new potential station owner. Faysel Yonis, the founder of coffee exporter Testi Coffee.
Testi owns and/or operates washing stations in Guji, Yirgacheffe, Sidamo and Limu – all premier coffee producing regions. They work with smallholder farmers, intending to secure the very best prices for their coffee so that they can pay fair prices for the cherry delivered. They are currently also building a warehouse in Shakiso where they can process natural coffees locally, in the region where the coffee is grown. This keeps more revenue in the communities where the coffees are produced.
Testi’s objective is quality and building long term business relationships. Their washing stations are very well run and they do diligent work through sorting and screening to get clean and quality beans for export. Testi always adheres to the very highest quality standards to prepare and deliver nothing but high-quality beans.
As of 2018, Testi has launched a quality improvement project at each washing stations that they operate. Their PCS (Premium Cherry Selection) Project fully controls all aspects of harvest and processing to ensure that the fantastic natural quality of the coffee is maintained at each step. They are also making the most of the market liberalisation to benefit the small producers that they work with. Social projects, such as building new classrooms for the local school near their Guji processing factory are also important, and with support from their importing partners they hope to do even more in the future. They also currently have a drinking/household water provisioning project underway in Guji, and they plan to extend this to other communities in the future.
The name ‘Testi’ means Happy or Happiness in Harrari language (it is also the name of Faysel’s middle son). Certainly, Testi is bringing happiness to small scale producers and us!
This washed lot from the Aricha station is very layered and complex with lots of floral notes, lemon and peach.
Region
Plantation
Process
Tasting notes
Peach, lime & floral
The name Aquiares means “land between rivers” in the Huetar indigenous language, and Aquiares is commonly referred to as “Aquiares Coffee and Community.” It is the largest farm in Costa Rica and home to 1,800 people. Although the farm was founded in 1890, Alfonso Robelo is the man responsible for its transformation a century later. Alfonso arrived in Costa Rica in the 1980’s seeking refuge from the civil war in Nicaragua, where he was politically active. When politics soured into violence, he fled the country to keep his family and himself safe after receiving several threats against his life. Once in Costa Rica, Alfonso began building the Aquiares community on the enchanting slopes of the Turrialba volcano, a lush area of forests, rivers, fauna, and bright flora.
Alfredo challenged the status quo, transforming the relationship between landowner and farm workers. He brought a visionary approach to Aquiares, a farm suffering from low prices and instability. Aquiares had more than 200 employee homes on the farm, but because none owned their home, there was great insecurity in the workforce. Alfonso saw this as an opportunity to strengthen the company by having people feel pride in the coffee they produce. He evolved the farm into a small town where workers purchased their own homes. Today, Aquiares remains a model of sustainable agriculture.
Nowadays Alfonso’s son, Diego, manages the farm. Under his lead, the farm has taken a fresh approach to specialty coffee and exploring the farm’s potential. Through excellent agricultural management, embracing new varieties, and experimenting with processing, Aquiares has become a trailblazer among specialty coffee producers in Costa Rica and all of Central America.
Aquiares focuses on carbon neutrality and measures its greenhouse gas emissions to calculate its carbon emissions against its offsets. An agent verified under International Panel on Climate Change norms verifies these calculations and Aquiares’ carbon measurement and emissions reduction are part of Costa Rica’s Nationally Appropriate Mitigation Action. In addition to capturing carbon, the farm’s protected biological corridors have long ensured the wellbeing of local animals and plants. Aquiares also welcomes researchers from around the world to conduct agricultural and environmental studies on their land. Projects have included investigating the benefits of agroforestry on soil health and observing the diverse bird and wildlife species that thrive in an agroecological environment.
Aquiares is an example of innovation and perseverance whose benefits extend beyond the farm and workers and serve as a model for sustainable, equitable production for the broader coffee industry.
We currently have two lots from Aquiares Estate;
Natural Anaerobic lot – SOLD OUT
Centroamericano H1 is an F1 hybrid variety generated by crossing the Sarchimor T-5296 and a wild Rume Sudan variety. It is reproduced through a tissue culture cloning process called somatic embryogenesis. This cultivar has been distributed among coffee producers in Central America over the last decade and the first productive harvests are now available. Turrialba’s climate is well suited to growing this new variety and Aquaires is up to the challenge of meeting its complex nutritional needs.
The Centroamericano variety was especially selected for Anaerobic Natural processing because of its high mucilage content. The cherries are floated and washed with fresh water but not depulped. Afterwards, the coffee is placed in a stainless steel tank with a one-way air valve. In the tank the coffee will start to ferment with the natural microorganisms and yeast present on the coffee cherries. The fermentation will push out all the oxygen and after one or two hours the anaerobic environment is created within the tank. This fermentation continues for a total time of 24 hours. After fermenting the cherries are washed again with fresh water and dried in the solar dryer. First for two days they are placed on a ceramic patio and finish drying in layered beds within the solar dryer.
Unlike a lot of other anaerobics the flavours of the Aquiares Anaerobic are less intense but more layered and complex. You’ll find flavours of grapefruit, strawberry, caramel and orange.
Red Honey lot
Honey processing removes the coffee pulp or cherry skin but leaves the sweet mucilage intact on the coffee bean during the drying stage. The descriptor “red” refers to the color of the mucilage as it dries on the coffee beans. This is later hulled off with the parchment during milling, but the sugars have been absorbed into the coffee bean giving greater dimension to the final cup. Red Honey from Aquiares is dried on raised beds for 18–24 days.
This coffee is very sweet with mild acidity. Expect flavours of pecan, orange and dark chocolate.
Region
Plantation
Altitude
Plant variety
Process
Tasting notes
Bubblegum, orange & tropical fruits
Region
Plantation
Altitude
Plant variety
Process
Tasting notes
Pecan, orange & dark chocolate
The estate’s history goes back to 1857. Located in the slopes of outer Giries of Western Ghat, in a Karnataka region, Chikmagalur. The area is the birthplace of Indian coffee culture and gained its trading importance together with the beginning of coffee cultivation on its terrain.
At 1000-1400 meters above sea level T B Malle Gowda in the 19th century realized that the place is perfect for growing arabica plants hence, together with the British established coffee estate. The plantation was run further by his son T B Nagesh who shared his father’s passion for coffee.
Farmers nurture a mixed cropping system that cultivates coffee harmoniously with other plants and trees such as pepper vines, cloves, dadaps, and wild figs. Thogarihankal Estate is considered to be a wildlife sanctuary, Don’t be surprised if you spot a Green Pigeon, Siberian Crane, or a Whistling Teal here.
What makes coffee from this estate so great is the consistency of growing high-quality coffee beans over the years.
Region
Plantation
Altitude
Plant variety
Process
Tasting notes
Almond, honey & chocolate
Region
Plantation
Altitude
Plant variety
Process
Tasting notes
Almond, date & caramel
Region
Plantation
Altitude
Plant variety
Process
Tasting notes
Sweet lemon, grapefruit & guava
Region
Plantation
Altitude
Plant variety
Process
Tasting notes
Rose, peach & honeydew melon
Because of his passion for coffee and family history in coffee production, Wilder entered the coffee world in a unique way. He started not only with specialty coffee right away, but with his background in genetics, and also his relentless energy of learning, he began a varietal program in Tocora. Nowadays this program includes more than 12 different varieties, which have been carefully selected from different origins.
Region
Plantation
Altitude
Plant variety
Process
Tasting notes
rose, peach & blood orange
Our partner for Thai coffee Beanspire (exporter) / This Side Up (importer). Beanspire works with the coffee cooperative in Mae Chedi district of Chiang Rai with 19 members. Mae Chedi is an area that is traditionally known for tea plantations. Tea is the main cash crop in the area. But coffee has always been part of farmers’ livelihood as well, albeit to a lesser degree than tea. Coffee was introduced into the area in 1977 when the crop was encouraged to be cultivated in order to replace opium production in Thailand. With the recent rise in specialty coffee demands, the young generation of farmers in the area are starting to take coffee more seriously. This is the third year of their special coffee production and it’s the first year that the coffee is getting exported. This is a group of stellar coffee farmers who borrow tea fermentation methods and apply it to coffee. Beanspire works with the cooperative to experiment with many other methods as well. This coffee represents one of the best natural processed coffees that has come out of Thailand this season.
The coffee fruits are fermented for 9 days in closed HDPE bags before dried on raised beds. This creates a near zero oxygen environment, allowing for the production of lactic acid during anaerobic fermentation process. This adds body, winey-ness, sweetness and complexity to the coffee. This is similar to how they fermented tea in the area for a really long period of time!
Chiang Mai is a local hybrid that is a cross between SL28 x Caturra x Hibrido de Timor. So it’s a catimor variant (like Colombia and Castillo varietals!) that’s backcrossed with SL28 in order to improve the cup quality. It’s a rust resistant cultivar that’s been developed by late King Bumibol as part of his effort to eradicate opium plantation by the hill tribes in the North.
In terms of green preparation, the coffee went through a destoner, huller, size grader, density table and ended with handsorting. The green passed through the density table multiple times.
Region
Plantation
Altitude
Plant variety
Process
Tasting notes
strawberry, cherry & milk chocolate
This coffee comes from the Gem Forest coffee mill in Nan Province near the border of Laos. Operated by Kaleb Jordan who grew up in this region with his American born parents. After university he came back to his hometown looking for ways to help the local villages and helping to improve coffee crops and their distribution proved to be his calling. This Arabica honey coffee comes from cherry of mixed varieties sourced at up to 1500m on Doi Phu Khaa. Kaleb’s coffee was ranked 1st in the 1st ‘Best of Thailand’, a COE Pilot program, this year.
Region
Doi Phu Khaa, Nan
Plantation
Kaleb Jordan & Gem Forest Coffee Mill
Altitude
Plant variety
Process
Tasting notes
mandarin, toffee & cedar
