In My Mug

We first discovered this farm through the Mierisch auction 'Los Favorties', which is an auction of their finest lots from their nine farms. They sifted through each one of their lots from every farm; all the lots come from various plots on the farms, different harvest days, cultivars, microclimates and, in some cases, different processing methods.

These coffees are truly the best of their production and the best representation in their class. The lot sizes were kept small to make the coffees unique and exclusive.

The San Jose farm was acquired in November 2003. At the time it was completely abandoned, and due to its inaccessibility it's been a work in progress for many, many years. It's up in the chain of mountains that marks the border of Jinotega and surrounds the skirts of Apanas lake at 1,300-1,400 metres above sea level. San Jose overlooks the long-time favourite farm 'Escondida', and that farm can be seen from the very top of San Jose.

It's an incredibly beautiful farm with amazing views that are well worth the off-road trek up the mountain to gain access (even if we did get stuck two times). Dr. Mierisch said that he may build himself a small house on the farm to retire to one day: "overlooking the coffee plants and Lake Apanas in the background sounds like a dream come true".

In the cup there's tea! White tea, with juicy peach and a satisfyingly viscous mouthfeel that makes me think of cocoa butter.

• Country: Nicaragua

Clean cup: (1–8): 7

Total (max. 100): 89

This coffee is a staple, a big favourite and a stunning example of what a very fine coffee from Brazil should be. Brazil Fazenda Cachoeira Pulped Natural Yellow Bourbon from the Minas Gerais area is one of my all-time great cups. This coffee has always been fantastic, and it has such amazing memories for me.

This farm and its coffee sparked a massive change in what I thought I knew about coffee. I remember the first time I ever cupped this coffee: time stood still as the cup opened my mind to what great coffee is and can be. Gabriel, the farmer, continues to produce great coffee year on year. We have access to the best of the crop this year – and have had for the last three years – on a European exclusive. This is due to the special relationship we, and our importers, enjoy with Gabriel.

Fazenda Cachoeira da Grama has been in the Carvalho Dias family since 1890 and recently celebrated its 109th crop. It is located in São Paolo state, just three miles from the border with Minas Gerais state. It enjoys the typical characteristics of the mountainous Mogiana and Sul de Minas regions, and it's located at an altitude of 1,100–1,250 metres above sea level.

Gabriel de Carvalho Dias is one of Brazil’s leading agronomists. His family owns several farms, and they border each other in this area. With a total area of 417 hectares, Fazenda Cachoeira da Grama has a coffee plantation area of 165 hectares. Everything is done manually on this farm since its topography does not allow any kind of mechanisation. The mill is located close to the spa town of Poços de Caldas, which is 45 minutes away from the farm.

The Carvalho Dias family consider social and environmental sustainability to be very important. The farm has a programme of planting native species of trees to maintain a better ecological balance. There is also a school, a club and an official-size soccer field for the employees and workers. There are 47 houses, all with modern facilities. The waste water is treated in order to avoid polluting the stream that runs across the farm. The farm has a small hydroelectric plant and only buys energy during the peak harvest. Some of the original Bourbon varietal trees are as much as 108 years old.

The beans are harvested on a sheet and prepared by the ‘pulped natural’ process, which separates the greens. The beans receive the maximum possible attention after harvest so that they don't lose any of the body and cup qualities for which this region is famed.

In the cup what really hits you is the outstanding sweetness. There is chocolate, hazelnut and caramel. It's super creamy, with just a little hint of chocolate coated raisin on the finish.

• Country: Brazil

Clean Cup: (1-8): 6

Total (max 100): 90

Roasting Information

"Quick Look" Guide

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Good espresso?

It just wouldn't be Christmas without a Christmas blend now, would it?!

Now in its eleventh year (!!!), it's time to say hello to our Has Bean-y take on the best espresso you should be drinking this festive season.

This blend will only be roasted throughout the month of December so enjoy it while you can! For the first year ever we're offering our Christmas blends with all our grinding options, and also in 1 KG bags.

• 50% El Salvador Finca Alaska Washed Bourbon.

In the cup you really are getting a shot of Christmas! Dried fruit and rich fruit cake meet creamy blackcurrant, along with an edge of molasses and spice.

It just wouldn't be Christmas without a Christmas blend now, would it?!

Now in its eleventh year (!!!), it's time to say hello to our Has Bean-y take on the best filter coffee you should be drinking this festive season.

This blend will only be roasted throughout the month of December so enjoy it while you can! For the first year ever we're offering our Christmas blends with all our grinding options, and also in 1 KG bags.

• 33% Costa Rica Monte Brisas Finca Salaca Black Honey Typica.

In the cup this is like sparkly snow coffee. There's lemon and white sugar with a hint of sparkling effervescence and cloudy lemonade.

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 effects 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.

In the cup expect lemon citrus and a lingonberry jam sweetness. The complexity of this cup makes it take a left turn as it cools into chocolate and caramel, “hey Mr Beaver, why are you beavering around with this Cadbury’s Caramel sweetness and smoothness?!” (sorry an in-joke for those of a similar age to me!)

• Country: El Salvador

Clean Cup: (1-8): 7

Total: (max 100): 88

Well hello there, children. Uncle Steve has a story to tell you! So sit back, relax and enjoy the story of the Kiriga coffee estate in Kenya. :)

The first coffee bush at Kiriga estate was planted in approximately 1954 by colonial settlers. At about the same time, less than ten kilometres away along the same Kigio road, a young boy (Aloysius Gakunga, son of the chief for the larger Murang'a county) helped his father – Senior Chief Ndungíu Kagori – plant the first coffee seedling in the area. The area was known as Gaitegi village, Muranga Location 1 (Loco One). A love affair with coffee had been born!

Several years went by and the young boy grew up. He was riding his bicycle along Kigio road and, as he rode past the vast – by now well-established – coffee estates, he promised himself that he would one day own one of them.

He realized this dream in 1976.

Sadly the boy, or Mr. A. N. Gakunga, passed away in July 2014. By the time of his death, Mr. Gakunga had passed on the love of coffee, and the mantle of Kiriga coffee estate, to Dr. Brian Ndungíu Gakunga. Brian was his second child, and the eldest son out of his six children. According to Kikuyu cultural naming systems, Brian is named after Mr. Gakungaís' father, who was both his grandfather and his pioneer coffee farmer.

• Dr. Brian Gakunga is a coffee farmer who is well known in Kenyan coffee circles. He is a founding member and a former long-serving Honorary Secretary of the Kenya Coffee Producers Association, which is a national farmer's organization that works to promote the economic and social interests of the coffee farmers through active participation in the national and international arena.

The Kiriga coffee estate sits between 1,550 and 1,650 metres above sea level. It is approximately five kilometres from Thika town, which is an industrial town in the central province of Kenya. It's four kilometres from Blue Posts hotel, which has the famous Chania and Thika falls. Thika lies 50 kilometres northeast of Nairobi.

Administratively, Kiriga coffee estate is in the Gatanga constituency of Muranga county, and it's separated from Kiambu county by the Chania river.

Kiriga coffee is Arabica of predominantly SL28 variety (notable for its world-renowned cup quality). The farm has an estimated two hectares of Ruiru 11 variety (which has improved resistance to coffee berry disease and leaf rust); some K7 variety (similar characteristics as SL28, but with better resistance to leaf rust compared to SL28); and a field of the newest Batian variety.

All coffee activities at Kiriga are carried out from the coffee nursery to all the farm operations (pruning, weed control, nutrition, irrigation, basin digging, disease control, infilling, mulching, and planting). Wet mill operations are also carried out on the factory level. Kiriga delivers both parchment coffee and Mbuni (naturals) to the commercial dry mill for milling and grading, in preparation for sale at the coffee auction and in direct sale.

In addition to growing coffee the estate also has, I was told, shoats (sheep and goats), a dairy, and the potential to keep fish. It's all about diversity, and what's more diverse than a 'shoat'?! The estate is also occasionally visited by two hippos, in addition to some bird-life, while also being the home of a family of monkeys.

Kiriga irrigated all its coffee trees – despite the crippling electricity costs involved – during the dry season that happened earlier this year, in order to ensure their high standards were maintained despite the weather.

By the end of last year (2015) the estate changed the cycle of its coffee trees by removing the old heads and growing new heads, which in return gave a higher yield of bold beans with the characteristic 'Kiriga coffee characteristics'. Over 40% of the 'old heads' had to go! This is way above the recommended 25%, and as a result we expect to have decreased yield but increased quality.

At Kiriga they talk about having a 'Kiriga Family'; 30% of the total workforce is made up of resident families who live on the estate, and 50% of those know no other home. The remaining percentage consists of smallholder farmers who commute daily and depend on the estate for survival. There are smallholder farmers who have been part of the family since 1976 and have no desire to work anywhere else, commuting a whopping 10 KM (or more!) daily, past other estates, just to work at Kiriga.

Something really amazing I wanted to tell you about is the Kiriga Welfare Fund. In the past the estate saw its workers get turned away from banks when they tried to acquire loans for dealing with family issues or emergencies. To help his 'Kiriga Family', over the past year Brian has encouraged the workers to set up a welfare group with him as its patron, and Brian has provided money for loaning out to staff according to their most pressing needs.

Brian has also approached a banking institution to see whether they can fund workers to acquire dairy animals on loan and repay from the milk proceeds. Under such an arrangement, 50% of the proceeds would go towards paying for the loan. A market would be readily available and the remaining 50% would be extra income to the workers. This is ongoing and, if successful, it would have the effect of supplementing the workers' wages and greatly improving their quality of life.

During my visit to Kenya last year I was fortunate enough to spend some time chatting with Brian. I even managed to record some of it, too! Make sure to have a listen. :)

Has Blog: An Interview with Brian and Peter from Kiriga (Part 1)

In the cup you can expect fruit – ALL the fruit! It starts off with blackcurrant and is creamy, smooth and balanced with a fantastic body and structure. Then there's a delicious white grape / green apple acidity, a whopping citrus delight, and a black cherry finish.

• Country: Kenya

From the same region in Costa Rica that gave us the wonders of Finca de Licho and Herbazu (i.e. the Western Valley in Lordes de Naranjo, in case you're wondering), we're super excited to have Finca La Casa Vista al Valle back once more!

In the cup there's sweet and juicy lemon but think cloudy lemonade / Lemsip rather than fresh lemon juice. The sweetness for me is white sugar and there's a hint of black tea, all finishing off with a red apple sweetness.

• Country: Costa Rica

Cerro Azul is one of the Mierisch family’s newer coffee projects in Honduras. The name 'Mierisch' might sound familiar; they have brought us Limoncillo, Escondida, San Jose and Mama Mina, to name just some of their amazing farms.

The Mierisch family have been growing coffee for 4 generations, going on 5, in Nicaragua. They have achieved great results with their special way of farming, and more importantly by reaching out to specialty buyers and being at the forefront of coffee development.

This farm is a new experiment for the Mierisch family. They're going across the border of their mother country and driving six hours from their home to neighbouring Honduras. I spoke with Erwin a lot about why they had made this decision, and it came down to his experiences as one of the Head Judges for the Cup of Excellence competitions in Honduras where he had seen amazing potential, but also a lack of care and attention to detail during the processing stage. This detail is vital to truly special coffee, and Erwin and his family are some of the best-qualified technicians of processing whom I have ever met. A match made in heaven.

In 2011 they started the project of revitalising Finca Cerro Azul in the region of the National Park Azul Meambar in Siguatepeque, Comayagua, Honduras, across El Cielito, Santa Barbara. The farm lies on the other side of Lake Yojoa, and is blessed with micro-climates and conditions which are familiar to the family, as they are similar to their lands in Nicaragua.

But the soil is something else, as is the plant stock they have inherited, and this is the first production they have been happy enough to share with special international friends. We are some of the first to taste the fruits of their hard work and long drives to the farm.

In the cup expect a heap of cherry, dark chocolate bitterness and a little bit of funky fruit. This coffee also has a delicate floral side, think Turkish Delight.

• Country: Honduras

Clean Cup: (1-8): 6

Total: (max 100): 88

Roasting Information

"Quick Look" Guide

Good filter?

Good espresso?

Back for a third year we have the coffee that in the past I affectionately started calling 'Monty Burns' : ) In previous years we've only had 1 lot from this mill/farm combo but this year we have 2! A black honey Typica lot that is available on our website and this lot which has been sent out exclusively to In My Mug subscribers and isn't available to purchase on our website.

So I think I should start by explaining this coffee's long and rather complicated name. The mill where this coffee is processed is called Monte Brisas, and the name of the farm is Finca Salaca. The varietal of the coffee plant is Villalobos, and the processing method is natural.

Natural processing, well I could type a bit about what it's all about, or...I could give you a link to a sweet video! https://www.hasbean.co.uk/blogs/processing-videos/7476774-natural-coffee that's 1 of a series of 3 videos we made to explain more about coffee processing methods, I hope you enjoy it : )

In the cup you can taste that it's almost December, a very clean coffee where Christmas cake meets tinned prunes all sprinkled with brown sugar.

• Country: Costa Rica

This is our fourth year of working with this farm, but the first year's lot was so tiny it never made it onto the website and was sold as an exclusive to one of our lucky wholesale partners. Luckily ever since then we've been able to focus a little bit more on the farm: we cupped a lot more pickings and found a little more coffee.

Finca La Chorrera is located near to the city of Pitalito, in the south of the Huila department. It's in the valley of the Rio Grande de la Magdalena, known as "The Valley of Laboyos", which is 180 KM from Nieva – the capital of Huila. Pitalito is also the second largest city of the department of Huila, at approximately 125,000 inhabitants, and is considered one of the largest coffee producers in Colombia.

This farm is located on top of a mountain at 1,735 metres above sea level. The farm contains 70% Caturra (25,000 plants; this lot comes from them), 20% Colombia F6 (7,000 plants) and 10% Castillo (2,000 plants). The farm consists of eight hectares, six of which are planted with coffee. The other two hectares house the mill and inaccessible mountainous areas. The family house, which is also used for drying, is at the bottom of the hill at around 1,400 metres above sea level.

I took some amazing pictures on my trip in 2013 so take a look here, and I took some more on my trip in 2014 – find them here!

The farm is owned and run by the Claros family: Pedro, his wife Nelcy and their six children (Alberio, Edilson, Sandra, Hermes, Diana, and Monica). It's a real family business with everyone pitching into the farm to make it work.

Carlos sent us every day's pickings to cup and we bought everything that scored over 86 points on the cupping table; anything below 86 was sold for commodity. This meant we had to pay a premium for the coffee, but I think it's definitely worth it.

The drying patio was one of the most amazing things I’ve seen, with a greenhouse built on top of the house so that the coffee could be kept turning regularly but also to make sure no one steals it. The latter is not so much of a problem this year with market prices being low, but it was a real problem over the last three years. Of course, Pedro doesn't have to worry about market prices; he always get a premium because he consistently gives quality, but black market coffee goes to the highest market bidder.

In the cup this begins with a white sugar sweetness followed by a complex turn into the land of sweet vanilla marshmallow! There's even more complexity in the form of a white grape and green apple acidity, and a finish that's long and strong.

• Country: Colombia