August’s box was sent last Thursday! Great coffee from Koppi is now on its way to you people! We hope you will enjoy what we selected for this month. These are the coffees for August:
BIFTU GUDINA
Included in the 250g and 2x250g box.
Origin: Ethiopia, Goma Woreda, Agaro
Producer: Smallholders
Process: Washed
Harvest: 2016
Soil:
Altitude: 1900 - 2000 masl
Varieties: Mixed Heirloom
Tasting notes: Floral, Tropical fruits, Black Tea
Koppi’s words about the coffee:
"The small co-operative Biftu Gudina is one of Technoserves projects that are set up to improve the work structure at the processing stations, the quality of the coffee and the lives of the farmers. Biftu Gudina is a new co-op that was established in 2012 and thanks to a strong management the co-op produced fantastic coffee already the first year. Most of the coffee has grown at an altitude around 2000 meters, which let the cherries ripen slowly and build up a high sugar, content.
The coffee cherries are hand picked and then hand sorted for unripes and overripes before they are being processed. After sorting, the cherries are mechanically pulped and the mucilage is removed with a Penagos Eco-pulper. The coffee is left to soak in water overnight before it is washed and dried on African beds for 10 days. The wastewater is naturally filtered through Vetiver grass before it is lead back into the ground.
Shade nets cover the coffee during the warmest time of the day and over night. This is to avoid that the coffee is drying too fast.
Biftu Gudina has a very unique flavour profile with a beautiful floral aroma and a taste of tropical fruits and black tea."
DON OSCAR
Included in the 2x250g box.
Origin: Costa Rica, Tarrazu, San Marcos
Producer: Oscar Solis
Process: White Honey
Harvest: 2016
Soil:
Altitude: 1600-1800 masl
Varieties: Mainly Catuai & Caturra
Tasting notes: Tropical, Milk Chocolate, Almond
Koppi’s words about the coffee:
"The micro-mill Don Oscar is run by the brothers Horacio and Alejandro Solis. It is situated in Bajo Canet in San Marcos, Tarrazu. They mainly grow Catuai and Caturra on their farms. The coffees cherries are hand picked and hand sorted before they are being processed as white honey. Through the white honey process 95% of the mucilage is being removed mechanically before the coffee is moved to dry on raised beds for around 15 days.
The last couple of years the young brothers have put a lot of hard work into making the production more efficient but also to produce better tasting coffees. They have been changing their growing practises resulting in coffees that are cupping several points higher than previous years. We are very excited to start working with the Solis brothers this year and are looking forward to many more."
KARIMIKUI AA
Only included in the tasting box.
Origin: Kenya, Kirinyaga
Producer: Smallholders
Process: Washed
Harvest: 2016
Soil:
Altitude: 1600-1800 masl
Varieties: SL28 & SL34
Tasting notes: Black Currants, Red Berries, Grapefruit
Koppi’s words about the coffee:
"The Karimikui Coffee Factory was established in 1966 and rests on a 6 acres piece of land serving the villages of Githureia, Gituba and Kiamugumo. Currently it is affiliated to Rungeto Farmers Cooperative Society (FCS), in an area where most smallholder farmers are growing tea, not coffee. The farmers here are mainly growing SL28 and SL34, accounting for 99% of the total coffee production, while we see some occasional Ruiru 11 plants.
All coffees are pulped, dry fermented, washed, soaked and then sundried. Cherries are hand sorted for unripes and overripes by the farmers before they go in to production. A disc pulper removes the skin and pulp. The coffees are graded by density in to 3 grades. Grade 1 and 2 go separately to fermentation, grade 3 is considered low grade and processed separatly. The coffee is fermented for 16-24 hours under closed shade. After fermentation the coffee is washed and again graded by density in washing channels. The last step before drying is letting the coffee soak under clean water for 16-20 hours. The coffee is left to dry on raised beds between 14-16 days.
The long-term goal is to increase coffee production through farmer training, input access and Good Agricultural Practice seminars that are conducted year round. The wish is to establish a transparent, trust based relationship with the smallholder farmer, helping to support a sustained industry growth in Kenya, whilst bringing premium quality to our customers, and premium prices to the farmers."
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