Kolibri Coffee

This month, we take you on a journey to the Netherlands, where Stephany & Darius started their roastery a few years back. Kolibri works their magic to roast some of the finest coffees. We're thrilled to bring them to you this month. Enjoy!

CHEPSANGOR

Origin: Kenya
Process: Washed 
Tasting notes: Tangerine & Mango

Dr. Rosebella is a dedicated advocate for female farmers in her community, striving to offer them sustainable alternatives beyond charcoal production, which harms health and the environment. She distributed seedlings to women in her group, providing training and technical support to enhance their farming practices. Women meticulously select ripe cherries for processing, ensuring parchment perfection while sun- drying. With eco-pulper machine, Chepsangor producers can flexibly employ various processing methods.

Sugarlime

Origin: Colombia
Process: Washed 
Tasting notes: Lemongrass & Mandarine

This is a geisha from La Palma Farm in Santa Barbara, Colombia. Grown in the Andes, particularly the Antioquia region, this geisha benefits from ideal conditions – a unique microclimate, rich volcanic soil, and high elevations. Its prolonged fermentation-washed processing accentuates its floral and elegant notes like Brown Sugar, Lemongrass, and Mandarine in a filter roast. La Palma employs selective hand harvesting and a unique fermentation method to produce high- quality coffee. The beans are fully washed and dried in silos for an even and optimal humidity.

Gardenia

Origin: Guatemala
Process: Natural
Tasting notes: Hibiscus & Marzipan

Gardenia farm is located high in the mountains in a a vibrant native forest, where preserving nature is at the heart of the farm’s operations. In addition to sustainability, coffee quality is a key priority. By carefully monitoring every stage of the process, they are able to produce outstanding quality coffees, working with exotic varieties in order to showcase the unique potential of the region’s coffee. The cherries are placed on the patio to begin drying about four hours on average after harvest and workers turn the coffee every hour to ensure thorough and even drying.

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Rush Rush

Say hi to Rush Rush! This month’s roaster from Antwerp, Belgium. It’s our first time working with Rush Rush and we couldn’t be more excited. This month we have a (for us) new coffee origin, Bolivia!

MAMANI

Origin: Bolivia
Process: Washed 
Producer: Familia Mamani
Varieties: Caturra
Tasting notes: Chocolate, peach

Bolivia isn’t the first country that comes to mind when it comes to specialty coffee. It doesn’t produce as much coffee as some of its South American neighbours, but it does have great conditions for growing high quality coffee. This is the first Bolivian coffee to take place in our box. A clean, washed coffee with notes of chocolate and peach.

NYAGISHIRU

Origin: Burundi
Process: Natural 
Varieties: Red bourbon
Tasting notes: Hibiscus, pear

Burundi is a tiny country that produces coffee of exceptional quality. We had a coffee from the Nyagishiru washing station last year, and this time we’re fortunate to try it from Rush Rush. This natural processed coffee has notes of hibiscus and pear.

POTOSI

Origin: Colombia
Process: Natural
Producer: Finca potosi
Varieties: Colombia
Tasting notes: Green apple, bubblegum

Colombia is known for their washed coffees. Whenever we get the chance, we enjoy trying other processing methods from this country. This time, we find ourselves with Potosi. A natural processed coffee with notes of green apples and bubblegum.

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Meron

For May’s box, we’re welcoming Romanian roaster Meron! With multiple locations across the country, Meron originates from Cluj-Napoca, Romania’s second-largest city. This is our first Romanian roaster in the box. Enjoy!

FINCA SEBASTIAN

Origin: Costa Rica
Process: Natural
Altitude: 1800 MASL
Producer: Fernando and Angie
Varieties: F1-hybrid
Tasting notes: Red grapes, nectarine jam, apple, toffee

”Located in Llano Bonito of Naranjo, West Valley of Costa Rica, the plantation is recognised for its specialty coffee production. The plantation has 100% F1 Hybrid varieties, through which specific processes have been developed to bring out the natural flavors of the coffee. Fernando is an agricultural engineer and has been cultivating new hybrid F-1 coffee varieties. These have been developed by recognised coffee research organisations worldwide, including the World Coffee Research, with the intention of developing genetic diversity.”

ALDAMA

Origin: Mexico
Process: Honey
Altitude: 1450 MASL
Producer: Jesus Salazar
Varieties: Garnica
Tasting notes: Cranberry, raisin, wine, maple syrup

”The Beneficio Comunitario San Pedro is located in the Aldama region. The inhabitants of this Tsotsil community live far from everything. The Beneficio brings together 80 farmers and each has about 2 hectares of coffee. They cultivate coffee trees in the shade of their native forest. The coffees are not certified but all grown according to organic farming practices. The Beneficio has 65 African beds and a biologist who manages the varietal garden where all kinds of coffee varieties are under observation in order to be able to cultivate the most resistant, qualitative and productive.”

NEMBA

Origin: Burundi
Process: Natural
Altitude: 1700 MASL
Producer: Nemba Washing Station
Varieties: Red Bourbon
Tasting notes: Blueberry jam, dehydrated pear, black tea, toffee

”There are 3,113 smallholders living around Kayanza, Burundi, who deliver their cherry to Nemba Washing Station. Nemba station lies in the northern province of Kayanza. Each washing station is managed and led by an agronomist. This agronomist oversees the implementation of Good Agricultural Practices (GAPs) and farmer education. During the harvest season, all coffee is selectively hand-picked. Nemba uses a monitoring system to ensure traceability all along the production and processing chain. All 3,000+ producers are smallholders who own an average of 150 coffee trees.”

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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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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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October's Shipment

Last Friday, October 14th, the box of October was shipped! In the box were coffees from the roastery Rocket Bean from Riga, Latvia. Our first collaboration with a roastery from the Baltics! For this month we selected three coffees from Africa. We hope you’ll like them!

Rocket Bean packing the coffee for our subscribers

Rocket Bean roasting this month's box

BURTUKAANA LOT #3

Origin: Ethiopia, Sidama
Producer: Smallholders
Process: Natural
Harvest: Dec 2015 - Jan 2016
Altitude: 1900 - 2000 masl
Varieties: Ethiopian Heirloom
Tasting notes: Dried Apricot, Melon, Toffee, Red Bilberry

Included in the 250g coffee box

Rocket Bean's words about the coffee:

"650 to 750 smallholder farmers delivering cherry to the wet mill. This washing station is located near by the river Hamile in the Southern region of Ethiopia. The local village or Kebele is called Balo. The total production from this washing station this year (2016) is 5 container of green coffee." 

KAINAMUI #141

Origin: Kenya, Kirinyaga
Producer: Kainamui factory
Process: Washed
Harvest: Jan 2016
Altitude: 1750 masl
Varieties: SL28 & SL34
Tasting notes: Sweet Cherry, Red Currant Jam, Blackcurrant and the sweetness of the Muscovado Sugar

Included in the 2x250g coffee box

Rocket Bean's words about the coffee:

"Coffee is fully washed at Kainamui wet mill. After cherries were de-pulped, they went trough fermentation for 16-20 hours in shade.Dried on African beds for 15 days." 

HEZA GITWE

Origin: Burundi, Kayanza
Producer: Heza Washing Station
Process: Washed
Harvest: Jul - Sept 2015
Altitude: 1960 masl
Varieties: Bourbon
Tasting notes: Raspberries, Gooseberries, Honey, Dried Plums, Red Currant

Only included in the 3x100g tasting box

Rocket Bean's words about the coffee:

"Heza Washing station was built by Long Miles Coffee Project, initiated by two Americans; Ben & Kristy Carlson. Heza means “beautiful place” in Kirundi. Growers – 1876 different farmers deliver to the mill, which supplies 5 different hills, or “colline”, Gitwe is one of them."

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February's shipment

Dear friends,

February’s box was sent out yesterday with coffees from Slöinge Kafferosteri. We have selected these coffees together with Daniel, the person behind the roastery. We hope you will enjoy them as much as we have!

EL ANGEL

Origin: El Salvador, Santa Ana Volcano
Producer: Patricia Molina Batlle / Finca El Angel
Processing: Honey
Harvest: October 2014 - March 2015
Soil: Sandy Loam
Altitude: 1550-1600 masl
Varieties: Red Bourbon

In this honey processed coffee from El Salvador you will find notes of milk chocolate and tropical fruits. The coffee is grown at the family-owned farm Finca El Angel, and is processed at the process station Rio Zarco, owned by the same family: Batlle.

YANDARO

Origin: Burundi, Kayanza
Producer: Various small holders / Yandaro washing station
Processing: Washed
Harvest: February - May 2014
Soil: Hygro-Xéro-Ferrasols with Ferralic
Altitude: 1774 masl
Varieties: Red Bourbon

The cooperative of Yandaro is located in the north of Burundi, just by the border to Rwanda. The vulcanic soil and good climate makes it perfect for coffee farming. The name comes from the river Yandaro, which makes its way through the valley, below where the coffee is grown. Expect notes of chocolate, brown sugar and red fruits.

ABYSSINIAN MOCCA

Origin: Special Selection/Western Highlands
Producer: Various smallholders/Heleanna Georgalis, Moplaco
Processing: Washed
Harvest: Nov 2014 - Feb 2015
Soil: Red brown soil
Altitude: 1800-2000 masl
Varieties: Ethiopian heirloom

This Ethiopian coffee is a Grade 1, which means minimal defects. It gives a clean and complex cup with notes of dark chocolate, sweet citrus and stone fruit. Abyssinian Mocca is a registered brand, and because of this the exact origin of the coffee is kept private. This coffee is brought forward by the very talented Heleanna Georgalis.