In My Mug

Juan Jose Ernesto Menéndez Argüello belongs to the fourth generation of coffee farmers in his family, after the death of his Father in 1995. In 2000 after completing his studies at university he had the opportunity to start working in the coffee industry at J. Hill & Cia, after five years there 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, which he says is very important in his life and gives him the opportunity to apply his coffee knowledge and experiences 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 Star Cupper program organized by SCAA and CQI.

The farm “Las Brumas” is located between 45 to 60 minutes from the City of Santa Ana, with a cultivated area of 60 hectares of coffee yield at a altitude ranging from 1,450 to 1,700 m.a.s.l. that produces around 600 bags of coffee each year, and 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 have been generated by different Ilamatepec volcano eruptions and Izalco to 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 from the Pacific Ocean collides with the high peaks of the Volcanoes Park (Santa Ana Volcano, Cerro Verde Volcano and Izalco Volcano), by being located between these 3 famous volcanoes in El Salvador this unique micro climate reduces the amount of daylight received by the coffee tree helping to have a very slow photosynthesis, improving the maturation process and this in turn improves some attributes which are closely related to maturity like the aroma, sweetness, acidity and flavor.

In the cup there’s plenty of dark chocolate accompanied by hazelnut, if you close your eyes and think of a dark chocolate Brazil nut you won’t be far off! There’s also a slight hint of green apple acidity on the finish that rounds out a delicious cup.

• Country: El Salvador

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. It's amazing to think that was so long ago and this year I'm super happy to welcome this coffee back for its fourth year!

Canton Uyunense is a municipality of Caranavi, and lots of farms can be called a variation on that name. This is a super small lot coming from just 6,000 plants on 2 hectares of land. It's a mixture of Catuai and Typica varietals (this is from the Typica), both red and yellow. Teodocio also has one hectare of land that is natural forest reserve, in which he owns a house where he lives with his wife and two children. He is also planting a new area which we should see start to produce coffee in the next couple of years (and I can't wait!).

This year is the third year that Teodocio has processed the majority of his coffee on the farm, which for me is super exciting. He used a depulper that removes the cherry, then left the cherry to go through a dry fermentation process (aerobic) for 16 hours, and then ran it through the scrubber section of the pulper to remove the final remains of the mucilage. He then transferred the coffee to raised African beds where it dried in around 12 days (depending on local weather conditions).

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, demanding the labour of 8–10 people (who are all family members in this case) to selectively pick, and pick correctly. But because of this he gets more coffee he can sell as specialty, and the cup profile improves too. Teodocio is just as passionate about improving the cup quality as he is about his football!

In the cup this is a really unique coffee, with effervescent blackcurrant (think sherbet) alongside lime zest acidity and an amazing floral finish. Every time I look at this coffee I find different fruit notes, a fruit bowl in a cup.

• Country: Bolivia

Five hours' drive towards the coast from Bangalore lies the small town of Suntikoppa (population: 20,000), among the Coorg Hills of southern India. This is the heart of the coffee growing area in Karnataka state, and all around lie small-to-medium sized farms. Located at 600-800 metres above sea level in these fertile hills is Faiz Moosakutty’s Bibi plantation.

The 250 acre plantation has been in the Moosakutty family since 1960, and it is named after Faiz’s mother. Faiz took over in 1990 and has since embarked on replanting the entire estate, aiming to create a model coffee farm. This process is now 98% complete and the Bibi plantation produces some of the region’s finest coffee. Faiz lives on the farm with his wife, Sonia, and their two children – Rihan and Tara.

Faiz does not cut corners and runs his farm in an environmentally and socially responsible way. The coffee is grown in the shade of indigenous silver oaks, jungle figs and rosewood trees, which provide habitat for a vast array of bird and insect life, and also the occasional elephant from the nearby forest!

While the estate is not officially certified organic, no chemical weed killers are used. Instead, weeds are removed by hand so that the cut plants form a natural green compost. Micronutrients, manure and compost produced from the skins of pulped coffee cherries are important and organic fertilisers widely used on the estate.

Some 100 people work on the plantation, around half of whom live on-site. The farm provides free electricity, free housing and free medical assistance. Faiz also offers interest free loans to assist with the education of workers’ children, and pay-back schedules are kept flexible and worked out on a case-by-case basis. As Faiz told us on a recent visit to London, ‘It is a big responsibility – like looking after a family of 100 people!’

In the cup expect bold flavours, big body, and a chewy mouthfeel. There's leather / tobacco to start, but then there’s a sweetness and nuttiness that takes over in the aftertaste, which goes on and on.

• Country: India

Back in 1870, Fabio Morán and Etifanio Silva decided to conquer this hostile territory, sowing coffee trees in one of the highest summits of the Apaneca-Ilamatepec mountain range. They named the 28 hectares of land Siberia for its chaotic weather conditions along with its difficult accessibility: very apt really. One century later, Rafael Silva inherited the property. It is located at 1,450 metres above sea level.

It is shade-grown only coffee, of which we have two varieties; 75% Bourbon, and 25% Pacamara (this is a 100% Bourbon lot).

The name Rafael Silva might be a familiar one to lovers of El Salvadorian coffee. Rafael and Carmen are the owners of one of my favourite coffees: La Fany. I visited both La Fany and Siberia farms with Rafael and Carmen back in 2007; I stocked this coffee and loved it. But it fell off our radar a little. El Salvador is somewhere we have worked very hard, and we have some amazing friends and coffees, but somehow Siberia farm got lost.

Fast forward to 2012 and the Cup of Excellence. This sample hit our table and we were wowed, really wowed. So much so that we bought it at a crazy price, and this coffee retailed at £12 a bag. You snapped it up. We raved about it and thought it only right to follow up on it. In fact the Siberia farm has been highly decorated; it's been among the Cup of Excellence winners in the years 2005, 2007, 2008, and 2012.

So on my visit to El Salvador, Rafael and Carmen very kindly gave me a day of their time and took me to see their lovely new mill. We cupped some coffees and talked about how we could make sure we had coffee from Siberia farm this year, and also in future.

Siberia farm is located in the Cerro El Aguila canton, between Santa Ana and Chalchuapa, in the region of Santa Ana and the Apaneca-Ilamatepec mountain range. This estate is exactly at the other side of the mountain from the La Fany estate, which we love so much.

In the cup there's plenty of milk chocolate as you'd expect to see from El Salvador and it's accompanied by roasted nuts and what I can only describe as peach cobbler!  1 of the most important parts of this cup is the mouthfeel, it's thick and delicious like the caramel of a millionaires' shortbread.

• Country: El Salvador

Introducing a coffee we have seen before, in fact twice we have had then lost, let me take you on a journey.

The story starts back in 2009 when it seemed like we had been searching for a great Colombian coffee forever. This had been much harder than it should have been, with Colombian yields massively down and lots of the coffee being hoovered up by people with big pockets who just need to have a Colombian, regardless of the quality. We found this farm on an offer sheet of an importer we don't usually use, but bought it as it was tasting great and had a great back story too.

We stocked the 2009 Typica crop from this farm and it was only a small lot, but it was so popular and so enjoyed that it was gone in two and a half weeks. We had expected it would last until the new crop was due to arrive, many weeks later. So we stocked a good amount of it last year (and it still flew out the door).

The coffee become a favourite farm. But this year we found out from Camilo that the importer would not be bringing in the coffee and all the hard work, searching, and cupping would be wasted. So cue the music and a flight to Colombia (tagged on to the start of my trip to the World Barista Championships); I flew out to see Camilo and to try to fix this.

We bought directly, but some communication issues and shipment problems meant we lost this farm. It was so sad, and I don't think I ever truly forgot this coffee.

Fast forward to Seattle last year at the World Barista Championships (yes another championships) and I bump into Camillo and a long conversation we decided it was for sure worth another try.

Camilo is one of the leading lights and the you could say a template for future of the Colombian coffee industry. I’ll try and quantify that statement; for years Colombia has had a great reputation, and has achieved great prices (even when markets were low the Colombian differential was always high). But changes in climate and issues with plant diseases (leaf rust is a huge problem in Colombia) have put pressure on yields, and so put pressure on farms to change traditional plant stock for that of more disease resistant strains such as Castillo, Catimor, and Colombia. The problem with this is that these varietals don’t take into account what's important to me: how it tastes.

Camilo is working with varietals purely for their intrinsic taste values and to make the best farm; not just in the region or in Colombia, but the world. He is constantly asking questions, working with interesting irrigation ideas to work against the change in climate, even building a giant greenhouse for an experimental lot of growing coffee under cover.

This crazy approach to growing coffee is nothing new to Camilo; he bought land that Santuario now sits on, before it had any coffee on it at all. The land had previously been grazing ground for cattle. It was barren and in a rather bad way, but it seemed there was potential for great Colombian coffee to be grown. With an altitude of 1,800 - 2,100 metres, low temperatures at night (but not too low), and high temperatures during the day (again not too high), the land had possibilities.

With active agronomy, soil management, and careful varietal selection, this farm is now one of the most amazing coffee experiments I have seen. If I were to build a farm (and one day I hope this will happen), this would be the model I would follow. Camilo has selected Typica and Bourbon as the main crop (80%) and experimental lots of Geisha, Maragogype, and Mocha (20%). You can see by the map below that this farm has been meticulously planned and every piece designed to fit in with each other.

Aguacatillo is a tablon on the farm, and the first time I’ve seen this lot, and the good news is it's delicious.

In the cup this starts out as baker’s chocolate with lots of​ ​brown sugar alongside a delicious sweet and juicy lime​ ​acidity. A ​chocolate lime sweet in a cup.

• Country: Colombia

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 orange on the finish. Is this the perfect espresso? Well, it's an example of how good a single estate coffee can be in the espresso machine. For me, it's close to perfection in a cup.

• Country: Brazil

A few years back, on a visit to Guatemala, my good friend Raul Rodas (a name you may recognise from such World Barista Championships at 2012, when he WON!) was really keen for me to visit a farm that he'd been buying from for a couple of years. In Raul I trust, so of course I said 'yes'.

El Limon is located around an hour's drive to the east of Guatemala city, in the small town of Palencia. This farm sits at an altitude of around 1,600 meters above sea level. It's owned by Guadalupe Alberto Reyes ('Beto'), who used to be the mayor of Palencia and has helped build and develop the town.

Palencia is not part of the eight regions of coffee from Anacafe, but you can see a lot of development in that zone. San Patricio el Limon 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 places that have established players.

The farm produces mainly Caturra and Bourbon, and does some experimentation with Pacamara, too. Ooooh, we like experimentation, don't we?! 'Yes Steve, we do indeed!'

The experimentation done on El Limon is inspired by Beto's motivation. He has really focused on the farm in the last couple of years. He wanted to take more care in every step that they took in the production chain, from picking to processing to shipping, and also in the agronomy of the farm. This is very much a family affair: Beto's siblings, wife, and son all work on the farm alongside him. In fact, his son is actually studying agronomy at the local college for the benefit of the farm.

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

With this wet mill came another opportunity, which was for neighbours and people within the region of Palencia to bring their coffees and process them at the mill. Again, this is another sign that this is a hotspot for Guatemalan coffee.

Beto was the perfect host when I visited the farm. He welcomed me around the farm and into his home, and he prepared the most amazing meal. 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. This traditional Guatemalan meal was just the ticket and I am sure it saved my life.

Purely as an experiment, Raul and Beto decided they wanted to try doing something different with a coffee. They tinkered with processing methods to see what happened and to see what they could get out of the coffee. When I visited they told me about it, and OF COURSE I tasted the coffee and OF COURSE I bought the coffee!

When farms are processing a coffee, they use a depulping machine that removes the cherry and most of the mucilage. There is a setting on this machine that adjusts how close to the bean it cleans, and therefore how much of the fruit is left behind. The farms Raul works with in Guatemala have, when honey processing, typically used a middle setting (Red Honey). However, Raul wanted to try a Black Honey.

In Costa Rica, where these are most often produced, this would mean leaving all the mucilage and just taking off the fruit skin. However, when they have done Black Honey in Guatemala they have opened the depulper very wide, and some of the cherries have had the skin removed, whilst a few have been left intact. I guess this means it's kind of a hybrid Black Honey x natural process. These were then left on patios for thirteen days, which is about the same time that they use to dry their washed coffees.

You can tell that this is a farm on the up, and a farm on top of their game. When I visited, every question was dispatched with exactly the right answer and every suggestion was listened to and taken on board. In the coming years I think this will be one of the most exciting relationships we have.

In the cup you get the best of both processing worlds colliding. There's Black Forest gateau – made with plenty of cherries – loads of funky fruit, and a little booziness on the finish.

• Country: Guatemala

This coffee is from the Kirehe district in the eastern province of Rwanda, which is approximately a four hour drive from the capital city Kigali.

Ripe cherries are delivered to mill, where cherries are graded, sorted, de-pulped (using a three disk NAICOFF pulper) and then double-fermented (twelve hours wet fermentation, and then eighteen hours dry.) The parchment is then soaked in clean water for 24 hours.

Next the parchment is rinsed thoroughly and sorted in washing channels, and it's then placed on shaded pre-drying tables. After three days, the parchment is moved onto raised African drying tables.

The drying period averages twenty days. The coffee is turned by hand at 30 minute intervals to homogenize the drying, and the raised beds allow for air circulation around and under the coffee. The coffee is covered during the hottest parts of the day to avoid over-exposure to sunlight and heat.

The coffee is then transported to Kigali for dry milling, and then transported on via road to the port of Dar-es-Salaam in Tanzania, where it is exported.

Rwanda is a country that has a troubled past. In the early 1990s, coffee was Rwanda’s most lucrative export with the country exporting 45,000 tonnes of it in 1990. Events in the 1990s, however, decimated Rwanda’s coffee industry. Most importantly, the 1994 genocide claimed the lives of nearly a million Rwandans, destroying Rwanda’s economy and erasing much of the specialised knowledge needed for the profitable exportation of coffee. Simultaneously, world coffee prices plummeted in the 1990s due to increased worldwide production and consolidation of purchasing by multinational corporations.

The country currently produces less than half the amount of coffee it produced in 1990. However, it makes much higher quality coffee now, and it has been involved in the Cup of Excellence program in recent years, becoming the first African country to do so.

Rwanda’s climate, altitude and high quality Bourbon-variety coffee trees give it the ability to produce high quality coffee for the specialty coffee market. Rwanda's also been helped by foreign aid agencies with how to maximise their efforts in this area.

In the cup expect lots of light! It's a bright cup that made me think of Jif lemon juice – you know the stuff … you squeeze it onto your pancakes alongside a whole load of sugar! There's white grape acidity and a white sugar sweetness too.

• Country: Rwanda

In Bolivia, coffee production was traditionally concentrated in the region of Los Yungas where lush subtropical vegetation and environmental conditions helped to produce the amazing quality Bolivian coffee that we all know and love.

Caranavi is located north of the department of La Paz city – 150 kilometers from the capital, is the center of Bolivian coffee production. It's fertile soils and altitude gave Bolivia the potential to produce brilliant and unique coffees.

Due to the many complications and challenges within the Bolivian coffee growing industry many of the smaller farms we have worked with in the past are no longer producing coffee. Whilst this has created some challenges for us it has had a much more significant impact on our exporting partners AgriCafe who have been working with these growers for many years. As a result they have decided to begin farming themselves in an effort to demonstrate what can be achieved with the application of more modern techniques and a scientific farming approach.

Agricafe now manage 7 farms, of which La Linda is the first to bear fruit and is known as The Seed Garden for the other farms in the Buena Vista project.  Alongside this Red Caturra lot the farm is producing Catuai and Typica lots as well as Java, SL28 and Bourbon which are all new plantings in Bolivia. All the coffee has been picked by a group of seven specifically trained female workers.

The newer varieties will only become available next year but we are incredibly proud to support this project and the producers of Caranavi.

In the cup this coffee creates a wonderful new dark chocolate selection box chocolate for me, a dark chocolate raspberry cream! This is a super clean coffee with a velvety texture and creamy aftertaste.

• Country: Bolivia

Finca Mi Tierra is located in the canton of La Montañita, Chalchuapa, Department of Santa Ana in the well known Cordillera Apaneca-Ilamatepeque. Owned by the Gamero Interiano family for over three generations, aware of the demand for specialty coffee in El Salvador, they use only the best agricultural practices for the maintenance of the Finca Mi Tierra, during harvest more than 90 highly qualified individuals are responsible for picking the best beans in addition to the 45 permanent employees who work on the farm.

The average age of the plantations is over 35 years, mainly planted of 85% Red Bourbon , 10% a Tipica and 5% Maragogype. The coffee cherries are delivered immediately after picking to Beneficio Tuxpal , which is transformed with the highest quality standards during wet process selecting only the finest ripe cherries 100% after drying in the sun for approximately 12 days. The coffee stays at rest on parchment for the next 45 days before being threshed and selected to ensure the best preparation and cup profiles.

In the cup expect walnut cake, drizzled in walnut oil, it’s a nut fest. The walnut oil alongside melted dark chocolate make this delicious as a cappuccino, and an amazing espresso. Add to this the stunningsilky and creamy aftertaste, it’s a coffee that's all about texture.

• Country: El Salvador