In My Mug

We first came across Balmaadi Estate in India many years ago and loved the coffees. You did too, so it was really disappointing when we weren’t able to get hold of them any more.

Fast forward 9 years and we’ve been able to get it here again! It wasn’t an easy process, but it’s been a huge pleasure to see an old favourite return. More than that though, this time round we’ve been able to visit the farm and learn more than ever before about this unique place and what makes it so special.

As is so often the case, what makes it so special turns out to be the people. Balmaadi, as we know it today, owes a huge amount to one person - Unnamalai Thiagarjen. The farm had been in her husband’s family since the 1970s, but it was in 2003 that she took over running it. Totally new to coffee farming, she went off and studied, beginning to worry about how to make profitable a traditional farm in a region which is frequently cut off from access by monsoon weather. She realised that the fertilisers and pesticides most commercial farms used would be difficult to get and need lots of labour to apply (equally difficult in a remote region like this).

It was then that she came across the Biodynamic model, which she applied ever after. Combining Organic principles with spiritual ones, she’s made the most of her isolated location. This means making their own compost, foliar sprays and other treatments from the other plants and material on the farm. It was a great idea to take a challenge and make it into an opportunity - which in turn has produced an interesting and unique coffee.

They grow two varietals - Kent and S795. Both of these are common to India, but less common in other countries. Kent is a Typica mutation which is thought to have occurred in the early 20th Century in India, before being introduced in Kenya (where it has lost popularity to the SL varietals and Ruiru 11). S-795 is thought to be a cross of Kent with a Liberica/Arabica hybrid called S-288 (catchy name, right?) and has become popular in India and Indonesia for being quite resistant to Leaf Rust.

A big, gloopy coffee with loads of sultana and a sweetness which reminds me of marzipan. There's a little cherry jam in there too, which makes for a delicious and interesting balance. As it cools, the booziness really comes centre stage with a big hit of Armagnac.

• Country: India

Clean Cup: (1-8): 6

Total: (max. 100): 87

Roasting Information 

Raul Perez has grown up around coffee, he comes from a fifth-generation coffee farming family on his father's side, and a third-generation family on his mother's side. Coffee has always been part of his life. He has told me about the stories his grandparents would share with him about their experiences.

But I think it's fair to say that Raul has made plenty of his own coffee stories in his ten years of involvement in the specialty coffee industry.

It was ten years ago when Raul first became involved in the family business. After living in Guatemala City in his youth (so he was able to go to a good school and university), he returned to the farm where his family had still been working and commuting.

This coincided with a visit from an international buyer who made the family view coffee production in a different way. The speciality market was blossoming and the visitor gave them new ideas for varietals, picking, and processing that changed the direction of their farm and their cup quality. As Raul puts it, they began to work in a "more interactive way".

Finca La Soledad has been a Pérez family coffee farm since 1895, the farm is located in Acatenango, near to the Acatenango volcano. It has a great microclimate and an altitude of 1,650 metres above sea level.

The Pérez family invested heavily in their mill, rebuilding it with the environment in mind. They have a clever system through which they are able to recycle the water they use for processing many times.

The first time I met Raul was at a friend's wedding in Guatemala. I didn't know him (like most of the other guests), but we got talking and I enjoyed his company. At no time did he try to push his coffee on me, and I think only in passing did he say his family worked in coffee. Raul was so kind he offered to take us back to our hotel that evening to save us having to get in a dodgy cab in Guatemala City.

I have an exporting partner in Guatemala who sent me an amazing sample, which I decided there and then we had to but. I was only after I committed to buying the coffee that I found out it was from Raul's farm. Since then I've been lucky enough to visit the farm and meet the whole family. A fond memory that will stay with me is sitting on the unused drying patio with them all, enjoying a beer and watching the sun go down. They are a professional team and a lovely, warm family.

Our coffees from La Soledad are washed coffees - meaning they are soaked in water to remove the fruit from the beans. This fermentation process plays a key part in developing the flavours that make a great coffee something special. It’s a super interesting (and complex!) part of the beans journey from the plant to us and one which clever producers like the Perez family are really starting to explore and experiment with.

After picking, the cherries went into a steel tank with cold water. Raul controls the temperature whilst the coffee is fermenting as he found that by keeping it cooler he could allow the coffees to ferment for longer without any off flavours developing.

You want to know something else cool about La Soledad, they have an Instagram page! And they're really active on there too so go have a look at what they're up to https://www.instagram.com/fincalasoledad

I love it when a coffee tastes like a mug of cocoa, but this one takes it one stage further and tastes like you're dunking Oreos in you cocoa! It's all wrapped up by a creamy texture and a hint of red apple peel on the finish, but this is one for the chocolate lovers.

• Country: Guatemala

Clean cup (1–8): 7

Total: (max. 100): 88

Roasting Information

I first met Teodocio Mamani on my visit to Bolivia in 2012. Long story short: he's an amazing guy. We got talking about the photo we had of him in a Chelsea shirt, and then, of course, we started talking football. He had the Chelsea shirt because he played for a local team that played in blue, but I managed to convince him that he needed a shirt from a real team – so I sent him a Sunderland shirt!

Teodocio's farm sits in the municipality of Canton Uyunense in Caranavi, and is a mixed lot of red and yellow Catuai. Teodocio also has one hectare of land on his farm that is a natural forest reserve, in which he owns a house where he lives with his wife and two children.

Teodocio processes the majority of his coffee on his own farm. He uses a depulper that removes the cherry, then leaves the cherry to go through a dry fermentation process (anaerobic) for sixteen hours, and then runs it through the scrubber section of the pulper to remove the final remains of the mucilage. He then transfers the coffee to raised African beds, where it dries in around twelve days (depending on local weather conditions).

Like a number of the producers we work with, Teodocio is organic certified, but we haven't been able to sell his coffee as organic in previous years because we at Has Bean weren't certified. But 2019 is different, my friends: we're now organic certified (biodynamic coming soon too!). So we can gloriously now offer this coffee from Teodocio as organic, thanks to our own shiny new organic certificate.

I was talking to the exporter about Teodocio's picking methods, and he was explaining that the family uses a method called 'Ayne'. With this method the most mature fruits are harvested each day by hand, demanding the labour of 8–10 people (who are all Mamani family members) to pick selectively and correctly. But because of this he gets more coffee that he can sell as specialty grade, and the cup profile improves too. Teodocio is just as passionate about improving the cup quality as he is about his football!

Chocoholics, come on down! This one's just dark chocolate through and through. There's a little hit of cranberry, followed by a whisper of lime zest on the finish, but throughout it all the rich dark chocolate is the star.

• Country: Bolivia

Clean cup: (1–8): 6

Total (max. 100): 87.5

Roast Information

I first discovered El Limon on my trip to Guatemala in early 2013. At the time we'd never bought coffee directly from Guatemala, but since then this has become one of our strongest and most amazing Hasrelationships.

My friend Raul (whom you may remember as the World Barista Champion of 2012!) in Guatemala had been buying coffee from these guys for a couple of years, and he was very keen for me to go and meet them. Located around an hour's drive to the east of Guatemala City in the small town of Palencia, this farm sits at an altitude between 1,600 and 1,800 metres above sea level. It's owned by Guadalupe Alberto Reyes, who's also just known as Beto. He used to be the Mayor of Palencia, and he helped to build and develop the town.

Palencia is not part of the eight regions of coffee as defined by Anacafé, but you can see a lot of development in the zone, and this farm is a perfect example of that development. I like being in places that are working to be hot and up-and-coming, as well as those that are established players.

One of the main reasons I love El Limon is Beto's desire to experiment; the farm mostly produces Bourbon and Caturra, but he also plays around with a few other varietals. The experimentation is thanks to Beto's motivation; he has really focused on the farm over the last few years. He wanted to take more care in every step they take – from picking to processing, to shipping – and also take more care in the agronomy of the farm.

This is very much a family affair: his wife and son also work on the farm, along with Beto's siblings. In fact, his son is studying agronomy at the local college for the benefit of the farm.

The dedication and care devoted to each step of production is reflected in the fact that the family has built a new wet mill, so that they can separate different lots and have control over the quality of the coffee. Previously the mill could process only one lot; now the farmers are able to process many lots, and keep separate days' pickings and varietals in their own parcels. 

With this wet mill came another opportunity, which was for neighbours and people within the region of Palencia to bring their coffees to the mill where they could get them processed. It's another sign that this is a hot spot for Guatemalan coffee.

As time moves on, Beto doesn't want to stand still and is continuing to invest in the farm. He showed me lots of new planting during my recent visit, and a lot of building work around the wet mill. He is also building a QC lab and new accommodation for people working on the farm. It was a real hive of activity.

Beto and his family have always been the perfect hosts whenever I visited the farm. They are such welcoming people and take great pride in showing me around their farm. One of the kindest things they've done for me is to welcome me into their home when I am visiting, and they always prepare the most amazing meals! When you travel as much as I do, mid-trip you find yourself longing for something big, home-cooked, and not from a restaurant or roadside pop-up cafe. Traditional Guatemalan meals are just the ticket, and I always look forward to the food – but mainly I look forward to the company.

The first thing that strikes me about this coffee is how well balanced it is. It starts with fruit sweetness and the flavour of sweet Golden Delicious apples. Then it shifts into brown sugar and hazelnut on the finish, and a sprinkle of cocoa on the aftertaste.

• Country: Guatemala

Clean cup: (1–8): 6

Total: (max. 100): 86.5

Roast Information

La Pira is located in the high altitude Dota valley of the Tarrazu region: an area that's known for producing great coffees. This relatively young estate is only just over 50 years old and is owned by the founder’s son, Carlos Urena Ceciliano. He has worked on the farm for almost 20 years; however, he has worked in coffee all his life.

Coffee from La Pira first hit our radar back in 2009 thanks to the Cup of Excellence, and we were pleased to be reunited with the farm only recently after a lot of effort and hard work. A few years ago it was really rather tricky to get, stretching both Steve's pocket and patience, but it was well worth it. Thankfully all years after that it's been a little less stretchy!

After inheriting the family farm, Carlos worked for many years as a certified organic coffee producer, but he realised doing so was just not possible on this farm. Organic coffee is good, but not possible for everyone. The yield was very, very affected. So Carlos looked for alternatives, while still holding the organic principles very close to his heart. For instance, instead of using chemicals to control the weeds, sheep roam freely amongst the coffee plants and eat the weeds (and strangely leave the coffee plants alone). They work as automatic and mobile 'fertilisation units' (nature’s a wonderful thing). This has eliminated the need for herbicides. This is the kind of thinking Carlos has about coffee.

When Steve last visited La Pira, Carlos told him about how he wakes up in the middle of the night with an idea of how he can improve production, change the way the coffee is harvested and processed, or how systems can be improved upon. Steve too isn't the best sleeper and often suffers from this type of sleep deprivation relating to ideas popping into his head, so it was something that he could really empathise about.

During one of these late-night bursts of inspiration, Carlos thought that using the coldest water he could would be the best way of processing the cherry. During the night the Dota Valley gets a really sharp, cold breeze, and it runs through the whole farm. He had noticed the way the water on the mill roof, which sprinkled from processing, was almost frosting up. So he created a sprinkling system and a zinc ramp that the water runs across before hitting the cherries in the fermentation tank.

We've chased coffee from La Pira ever since we first had it all those years ago in 2009. Some years it's been super tough to get our hands on due to low yields and some other things, but via quite a bit of pestering the exporter we partner with in Costa Rica we've always managed to get our way!

You might have already noticed that we've got a different varietal and processing method combo from La Pira this year, in the past we've always had red honey processed Caturra but for 2019 we've got a white honey processed Catuai. Carlos does a really wide range of processes and a range of different varietals - during our las Hasvisit to Costa Rica, we cupped quite a few lots from the mill and this particular lot really stood out in blind cupping as being especially elegant, complex and just super delicious (and scored a point or so higher than the other lots we cupped). It just so happened this was this white honey Catuai rather than the usual red honey Caturra - one of the many reasons for going all the way to Costa Rica each year! : )

Expect an intensely sweet coffee, jam-packed full of fruit and white sugar. It's super complex, with hints of passionfruit and fresh blueberries alongside a delicate sherry note. On the aftertaste, this really shines as it just keeps on going and going, with papaya joining in. Overall, this is wonderfully balanced and one that you'll get something different from each sip.

• Country: Costa Rica

Clean cup: (1–8): 6.5

Total: (max. 100): 91

Roasting Information

The Hasbean festive tradition continues for its fourteenth year. Iiiiiiiiit's Chriiiiiiistmaaaaaaaas!

Each and every year since 2006 we've released Christmas blends to celebrate this wonderful time of year.

In previous years we've had separate filter and espresso blends, but for 2019 we're doing something different. This year there's just one blend that's designed to deliver a delicious cup of festive filter or seasonal espresso to help keep you going this December.

We don't roast our coffee for particular brew methods here at Hasbean. Instead, we take the roast to a place where we feel it really shines across all brew methods. We wanted 2019's Festive Blend to really show off this approach to roasting.

This blend will only be roasted throughout the month of December. It will disappear at the start of January – some fella in a red suit (no, not Steve!) said so.

So make sure to enjoy it while you can!

• 50% El Salvador Finca San José Washed Red Bourbon

The inspiration for our festive blend was the Christmas Pudding – and we think you’ll be able to tell. It’s sweet and sticky with dried fruit and brown sugar. We’ve departed from the traditional with a little glacé cherry in there too. It's all wrapped up with a sweet boozy hit of Grenadine.

Espresso Recipe Recommendation

Resting Recommendation

Roasting Information

The Muiri Estate was founded in the late 1970s and is named after a local species of tree called pruners in the local Kikuyu language. Owned by the Mugiai family, Muiri is a rather big estate at 180 hectares with an on-site wet mill for processing, a dam and storehouse.

There are a whopping 156,000 trees producing coffee on the estate and they are predominantly a mix of SL28, SL34, K7 & Ruiru 11 - however, the estate is actively experimenting with other varietals and crops too, doing their best to be ready for the ever-changing climate and the challenges it brings with it.

The use of pesticides in Kenya is quite common but often a necessity to protect the trees from insect attacks, coffee diseases, funghi and the dry Kenyan climate. Over the last couple of years, Kenyan coffee production has been impacted by coffee berry disease (also known as CBD) and some really tough weather conditions.

Because of these things, we feel it's super important to be supporting an estate like Muiri as they're doing things differently to the rest (and we love different!). Production at the Muiri Estate is a lot more complex than many other farms in Kenya as they work completely organically, the Mugiai family are looking after their trees and estate incredibly carefully, for example manually pruning and stumping the trees regularly.

After the coffee is processed at the estate, it is separated by the size of the beans, AA, AB and PB. This is the biggest selection of the crop, which in Kenyan coffee grading is called AA.

This is zingy and sweet, a super clean and refreshing cup. Upfront I get white sugar with grapefruit and a little lime zest. There's a shoulder of gooseberry in there too, with a hit of blackcurrant really coming through on the finish and aftertaste.

• Country: Kenya

Clean cup: (1–8): 7

Total (max. 100): 88

Roast Information

Brewing Tip

This is an exclusive coffee only sent to In My Mug subscribers on December the 6th, 2019. I like to spoil you lovely lot whenever I can, and this week is 1 of those weeks! Only enough of this coffee to send out to IMM subscribers, so you're getting all of it, but afraid there’s sadly none to buy :( 

Juan Jose Ernesto Menéndez Argüello belongs to the fourth generation of coffee farmers in his family. His father died in 1995, and after completing his studies at university he had the opportunity to start working in the coffee industry at J. Hill & Cia in 2000. After five years he left J. Hill & Cia to begin his second experience at JASAL. Both companies gave him the opportunity to meet “Grano de Oro” from another perspective, allowing him to learn the art and passion of cupping. He says those are very important in his life, and that they give him the opportunity to apply his coffee knowledge and experience gained through the years.

During his time in the coffee world, Neto has participated in various events like the Cup of Excellence (National Jury from 2003 to 2011), Q Auction, Q Grader, and the Star Cupper program organised by SCAA and CQI.

The farm, Las Brumas, is located between 45 to 60 minutes from the City of Santa Ana. It has a cultivated area of 60 hectares' worth of coffee yield, all of which is at an altitude ranging from 1,450 to 1,700 m.a.s.l. It produces around 600 bags of coffee each year, and has an area of 35 hectares of virgin mountain at an altitude from 1,700 to 2,000 m.a.s.l.

The farm is located in the Sonsonate department near the area known as San Blas. Las Brumas has a very rich volcanic soil, deep and very fertile, which has been generated by different Ilamatepec and Izalco volcanic eruptions throughout its history.

One of the most important elements is the micro climate. It's very misty for most of the year, and that's why Neto decided to name the farm Finca Las Brumas. This amazing micro climate is generated when the warm air when the Pacific ocean collides with the high peaks of the Volcanoes Park (Santa Ana volcano, Cerro Verde volcano and Izalco volcano). Due to its location between these three famous volcanoes in El Salvador, this unique micro climate reduces the amount of daylight that the coffee tree receives. This helps the coffee tree to have a very slow photosynthesis, improving the maturation process, and this in turn improves some attributes that are closely related to maturity, like the aroma, sweetness, acidity and flavour.

This coffee was produced as part of the brand new and super exciting Las Brumas Wild Coffee Project, the project is to use land for coffee producing that's forest, but to do it in a thoughtful and careful way so as not to remove any of the flora and fauna and so the space remains primarily a forest. This affects the speed of the growth of the coffee (lots of shade) but also provides it with its own fertilisation system, with all the forest floor goodness, and the constant supply of twigs and leaves to continue to enrich the soil.

This is lemon, lemon and lemon. Not just sharp lemon juice, but lemon marshmallow sweetness and lemon zest too. There's a little cocoa powder on the aftertaste, but this is always The Lemon Show.

• Country: El Salvador

Roasting Information:

Medium Dark - Keep a steady pace through crack and drop the roast just before second gets going.

I first discovered El Limon on my trip to Guatemala in early 2013. At the time we'd never bought coffee directly from Guatemala, but since then this has become one of our strongest and most amazing Hasrelationships.

My friend Raul (whom you may remember as the World Barista Champion of 2012!) in Guatemala had been buying coffee from these guys for a couple of years, and he was very keen for me to go and meet them. Located around an hour's drive to the east of Guatemala City in the small town of Palencia, this farm sits at an altitude between 1,600 and 1,800 metres above sea level. It's owned by Guadalupe Alberto Reyes, who's also just known as Beto. He used to be the Mayor of Palencia, and he helped to build and develop the town.

Palencia is not part of the eight regions of coffee as defined by Anacafé, but you can see a lot of development in the zone, and this farm is a perfect example of that development. I like being in places that are working to be hot and up-and-coming, as well as those that are established players.

One of the main reasons I love El Limon is Beto's desire to experiment; the farm mostly produces Bourbon and Caturra, but he also plays around with a few other varietals. The experimentation is thanks to Beto's motivation; he has really focused on the farm over the last few years. He wanted to take more care in every step they take – from picking to processing, to shipping – and also take more care in the agronomy of the farm.

This is very much a family affair: his wife and son also work on the farm, along with Beto's siblings. In fact, his son is studying agronomy at the local college for the benefit of the farm.

The dedication and care devoted to each step of production is reflected in the fact that the family has built a new wet mill, so that they can separate different lots and have control over the quality of the coffee. Previously the mill could process only one lot; now the farmers are able to process many lots, and keep separate days' pickings and varietals in their own parcels. 

With this wet mill came another opportunity, which was for neighbours and people within the region of Palencia to bring their coffees to the mill where they could get them processed. It's another sign that this is a hot spot for Guatemalan coffee.

As time moves on, Beto doesn't want to stand still and is continuing to invest in the farm. He showed me lots of new planting during my recent visit, and a lot of building work around the wet mill. He is also building a QC lab and new accommodation for people working on the farm. It was a real hive of activity.

Beto and his family have always been the perfect hosts whenever I visited the farm. They are such welcoming people and take great pride in showing me around their farm. One of the kindest things they've done for me is to welcome me into their home when I am visiting, and they always prepare the most amazing meals! When you travel as much as I do, mid-trip you find yourself longing for something big, home-cooked, and not from a restaurant or roadside pop-up cafe. Traditional Guatemalan meals are just the ticket, and I always look forward to the food – but mainly I look forward to the company.

This is a mash-up of dark chocolate with sweet and zingy citrus. It starts with peach and lemon, but it picks up a little grapefruit on the finish. The background of dark chocolate sticks with it throughout.

• Country: Guatemala

Clean cup: (1–8): 6.5

Total: (max. 100): 87

Brewing Tip

Roasting Information

I've been telling the story of Hasbean and Finca Limoncillo for many, many years now. I don't intend to stop any time soon because it's such a big, big, big relationship for me. 😊

So much of where we are today has come from this relationship. I'm really proud of everything that's happened in the past, and super excited for where we can go in the future.

Our relationship with Finca Limoncillo began in 2007, and back then we were buying their delicious coffee as part of a buying group. I loved it from the very first time I cupped it, and it was a coffee I just had to get. It was only after the auction closed that I discovered it was owned by a family in Nicaragua who were already good friends of mine, and indeed probably the only people I knew from the whole country!

The following year I visited the farm with our importers, and I spent the whole trip begging them to bring the coffee into the UK for us. Eventually, thanks to my supreme Steve pester power, they caved in (probably just to stop the flow of emails and phone calls!) and kindly did so.

This setup worked well for a time, but we received notice a couple of years ago that the importers were not going to be buying the coffee again (and for reasons other than the cup quality). This led to some frantic phone calls and a thorough search down the back of the sofa for loose change to fund buying twelve months’ worth of coffee all at once. There were many, many obstacles in the way of doing this deal, but we were lucky in that we were able to pull everything together in a very short amount of time.

The upside of all of this is that we now work directly with Finca Limoncillo instead of going via anyone else, and this is a relationship I’m super happy to have. This coffee has gone from a one-off Cup of Excellence buy to a fantastic long-term relationship that I'm so very proud to have.

Finca Limoncillo is located in Matagalpa and, at 171 hectares in size, it. is. huge! Situated at an amazing location, it boasts nine waterfalls within the farm and is owned by the Mierisch family; as I have already said, they’re good friends, and also well-respected producers in Nicaragua. They’re known for their experimental processing, varietal work, and exceptional coffee.

The fact that the family are friends helps us drill down into the details of what they do for the people who work for them. The information continues to prove to me that good people grow good coffee.

This is lovely and balanced natural with plenty of currants and slices of dried apple upfront, before Muscovado sugar is liberally sprinkled over the top.

• Country: Nicaragua

Clean cup: (1–8): 6.5

Total: (max. 100): 87

Roast Information