In My Mug

This coffee is from the town of Mubuga in the Karongi District in the Western Province of Rwanda, approximately a 3 hour drive from the capital city Kigali.

Processed at the Karongi Washing Station where ripe cherries are delivered to the mill are graded, sorted, de-pulped using Pinalhense pulper (4 MT/hour yield) and then double fermented (12 hours wet and then 18 hours dry.) The parchment is then soaked in clean water for 24 hours.

The parchment is then rinsed thoroughly and sorted in washing channels and then dried on raised beds.  The drying period averages 15 days. The coffee is turned by hand at regular intervals and the raised beds allow for air circulation around and under the coffee. During the hottest parts of the day, the coffee is covered to avoid over-exposure to sunlight and heat. The coffee is then transported to Kigali for dry milling and export (road transport to port of Dar-es-Salaam in Tanzania).

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 to export coffee profitably. Simultaneously, world coffee prices plummeted in the 1990s due to increased worldwide production and consolidation of purchasing by multinational corporations.

Rwanda currently produces less than half the amount of coffee it produced in 1990. However, it makes a much higher quality coffee now and has been involved in the Cup of Excellence program in recent years, being 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 on how to maximise their efforts in this area.

In the cup expect something super quaffable, a lovely creamy cup that may very well make you think of a banana milkshake!  This is super sweet; think fudge and Dolly Mixtures melted and mixed together.  On the finish there's a little pop of spice but that creamy sweet mouthfeel carries on and on.

• Country: Rwanda

Well, well, well...what do we have here? Might it be a world-exclusive coffee only available at Has Bean? I think we might!

This coffee is from a farm we're supporting for the ninth (!) year, and it's one that I am very proud to be working with and linked with; the owner is my very good friend, Stephen Hurst.

I’ll let Stephen Hurst tell you the story of how he came to own ‘Inglaterra':

“Maybe it had always been an idea in the back of my mind... so a couple of years ago when some friends in Brazil mentioned that a small coffee farm was for sale, I had a look.

The farm's name (Fazenda Toca Da Onca) meant ‘hiding place of a small wildcat’. The locals now call the farm ‘Inglaterra’. The previous owners had abandoned Toca Da Onca/Inglaterra; we had to start again, almost from scratch. Some surviving coffee trees were pruned right back and the coffee that you are now drinking is that re-growth from the original, old trees.

Information for the coffee people: the varietals are Icatu, Acaia and Catuai. In future I expect coffee cherry varietals to become as well known as wine grape varietals, and to a much wider audience. The farm is located near the lovely spa town of Pocos De Caldas in the coffee growing heartlands of Brazil’s Minas Gerais state. The farm’s elevation is 950–1300 meters, and it has rich soil. It's on the edge of an ancient caldera/ super volcano whose outline can be seen on satellite images. 50% of the farm is virgin Mata Atlantica forest, and it will stay that way as long as I own it. I am replanting some areas with the help of my local friends Gabriel and Cristiano, without whose assistance this project would never had started”.

Back to me!

We think the Bourbon varietal probably originated on the island of Bourbon, or perhaps in Ethiopia. It's a varietal with many sub-varietals. It's at high risk from pests and diseases and is decidedly average in terms of yield, but the cup profile tends to be anything but average. It hasvery close links to the SL28, Typica and Caturra varietals.In the right environment, because of its low yield, Bourbon tends to produce a very high quality cup (there is evidence that the lower the yield isthe higher the quality will be, becausethe plant can use its energy more efficiently). I don’t think it is a coincidence that my top three coffees of all time have been from the Bourbon varietal. For a little more information about the Bourbon varietal make sure to have a look at the varietal section of our articles here.

In the cup this is like a melted bar of Cadbury's Dairy Milk Whole Nut. It's super-balanced and absolutely rammed full of milk chocolate with a nutty hazelnut edge, there's also a silky mouthfeelthat really reminds me of melted milk chocolate.

• Country: Brazil

My friend in Guatemala has been buying from these guys for a couple of years now and was very keen for me to go meet them. Located around 1 hour's drive to the east of Guatemala City in the small town of Palencia, this farm sits at an altitude of around 1600 meters above sea level. It's owned by Guadalupe Alberto Reyes who used to be the Mayor of Palencia and has helped to build and develop the town.

Palencia is not part of the 8 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 this. I like being in places that are working to be hot and up and coming, as well as those established players.

The farm produces mainly Caturra and Bourbon, and does some experimentation with Pacamara, ooh we do like experimentation!

In fact the experimentation comes from the motivation of “Beto,” who in the last two years has really focused on the farm. He wanted to take more care in every step that they take, from picking to processing to shipping, and also the agronomy of the farm. This is very much a family affair, with his wife and son also working on the farm, along with siblings. 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 that they have built up a new wet mill so they can separate different lots and have control over the quality of all the coffee. Previously the mill could just 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 the process them. Again another sign this is a hot spot for Guatemalan coffee.

When I visited the farm Beto was the perfect host, welcoming 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 and 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.

But more importantly you can tell this is a farm on the up. A farm on top of their game. Every question was dispatched with exactly the right answer, every suggestion was listened to and taken on board, and in the coming years, I think this will be one of the most exciting relationships we have.

In the cup there's plenty of dark chocolate alongside mashed banana, think of a banana sandwichsprinkled with dark chocolate.  On the finish there's also a lovely soft waft of sherry.

• Country: Guatemala

Finca San José is the pride and joy of the Rodríguez family, and is now in the hands of a 4th and 5th generation of coffee producers. The story begins in 1815 when José María Rodriguez and Josefina Rodriguez (Great grandparents) planted the first coffee trees with their own hands.

Through the generations the farm has passed through the hands of many committed farmers like José's son Israel Rodriguez, who was then followed by Jose Maria Rodriguez, who took care of the farm until it came to the most recent owner, Gloria Mercedes Rodriguez Fontán.

Ever the strong woman, Gloria has overcome gender barriers in an industry that has historically been the province of men and personally supervises every step at the farm level. Gloria not only takes care of San José, but together with her siblings' support, she manages five other small farms which collectively add up to 38 hectares.

The mountain slopes of Finca San José are fully shaded by trees that help to maintain and preserve the crop and the surrounding environment. In addition to the trees' diversity, the farm is home to a variety of wild animals and birds, which can be seen in their natural habitat. San José is nested in the north-western slope of an extinct volcanic crater that holds inside it a small lagoon named Nymph Lagoon, due to the abundance of water lilies.

This year San José has 17 full-time workers performing several activities such as shade tree and coffee pruning, vegetative tissue renewing, and weed control. All of this work is done skillfully by hand. Approximately 60 more seasonal workers assist in the harvest process, earning their livelihood from picking and selecting coffee cherries only at the peak of ripeness. The people who harvest coffee have extensive experience and share a commitment of growing a superior quality coffee.

Gloria believes in maintaining highly motivated staff; the farm's permanent workers are receiving almost 10% above the legal wage, while the seasonal workers received almost 50% more during harvest due to the importance of this specific task for the end quality.

One of Gloria’s major blessings is to have Antonio Avelino as her farm manager or “mandador”, as his level of commitment, knowledge, and shared philosophy of quality makes him an integral part of this effort.

At Finca San José, coffee goes through extensive quality control in addition to being grown under standards that support specialty coffee production. The unique micro-climate conditions include an average altitude of 1,500 meters (above sea level), an average temperature of 17° C, rich and loamy clay soil, and the coffee is grown mainly to Bourbon variety. Some other works done to the farm this past year included the 3 foliar fertilizations and 2 soil fertilizations, including one of organic fertilizer named Huisil, based on soil studies to ensure specific requirements. Where possible, workers ply the farm with stem bending or “agobio”, and perform coffee shade pruning to balance sunlight and shade requirements under sustainable levels. They also perform weed control, mainly manually.

One of Gloria’s commitments is to reinvest an important share of the economic benefits from this activity into the farms, impacting the people who toil the fields and maintaining the quality of the production chain from seed to cup.

In the cup expect a chic a cherry cola! (Savage Garden, anyone?) A bucket load of sweetness mixed in with cherry and a sparkling effervescence. But this isn't just any normal cherry cola, it's definitely been working out; thick gloopy mouthfeel, beautiful smooth chocolatey body, and an amazing aftertaste.

• Country: El Salvador

For a long time I struggled to find a Kalosi that I wanted to stock, for over 2 and a half years I tasted so many samples but nothing came close to what I wanted so the struggle continued.  Last year that streak was broken and much like busses I waited for so so long then 2 came along at once!  And guess what?  I've gone and got 2 again this year!

Sulawesi (Celebes) was influenced and controlled by the Netherlands from 1605 until World War II. In 1669 the Dutch East India Company took control of the trade in Sulawesi. The Dutch built Fort Rotterdam in Ujung Pandang (now Makassar) in the mid 1600s. It was not until 1905 that they finally gained control of the whole island, becoming part of the Dutch state colony of the Netherlands East Indies. The Dutch East India Company was in control of coffee production in Indonesia during most of the 1700s, and introduced Arabica Coffee (Typica) to Sulawesi in 1750.

Indonesian coffee has traditionally been processed with the Giling-Basah (or wet-hulled) method, like Sumatran coffee. In 1976 TOARCO, a Japanese-Indonesian joint-venture, introduced the traditional washed process to Sulawesi, similar to that found in Central America.

TOARCO owns the Pedamaran plantation, which is at 900 – 1,250 metres above sea level, and purchases wet-parchment (at 40% moisture) from small producers at 1,200 – 1,800 m.a.s.l. Coffee is driven to Pedamaran plantation immediately and gets dried on patios at their mill facilities. If a producer wants to sell their parchment coffee to TOARCO they have to get certified to TOARCO's standards for selective-picking, storage, transportation, moisture levels, etc. Farmers are issued ID cards that allow them to sell their coffee at various purchasing points in the Tana Toraja region, during the market of the week.

This lot comes from those small producers at the higher altitude areas, rather than the plantation.

Most of the coffee produced in Tana Toraja is S795 variety: it's a Typica hybrid. This proves once again how importantly the variety translates in the cup. Indonesia has a great deal of Catimor and a Robusta-heavy Arabica hybrid, but Tana Toraja has kept high-quality varieties.

In the cup don't expect to find a 'traditional' Kalosi, this one is super clean and loaded with creamy smooth milk chocolate!  There's a big huge mouthfeel and soft muted acidity throughout.

• Country: Indonesia

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.

This is a Pacamara varietal coffee. Pacamaras are a little crazy on the cupping table. Pacamaras are exciting. I like Pacamaras! I could ramble on about Pacamaras for a while — oh, wait a minute — in fact I did! If you'd like to know more about this fantastic varietal, make sure to have a look at the article I wrote...

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 it's a real Mojito of a coffee: clean, crisp and refreshing with hints of lime and a slight mintyedge. There's also an extraordinary body that adds a delicious creaminess, an amazing marriage of complexity.

• Country: Nicaragua

My friend in Guatemala has been buying from these guys for a couple of years now and was very keen for me to go meet them. Located around 1 hour's drive to the east of Guatemala City in the small town of Palencia, this farm sits at an altitude of around 1600 meters above sea level. It's owned by Guadalupe Alberto Reyes who used to be the Mayor of Palencia and has helped to build and develop the town.

Palencia is not part of the 8 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 this. I like being in places that are working to be hot and up and coming, as well as those established players.

The farm produces mainly Cattura and Bourbon, and does some experimentation with Pacamara, ooh we like experimentation!

In fact the experimentation comes from the motivation of “Beto,” who in the last two years has really focused on the farm. He wanted to take more care in every step that they take, from picking to processing to shipping, and also the agronomy of the farm. This is very much a family affair, with his wife and son also working on the farm, along with siblings. 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 that they have built up a new wet mill so they can separate different lots and have control over the quality of all the coffee. Previously the mill could just 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 the process them. Again another sign this is a hot spot for Guatemalan coffee.

When I visited the farm Beto was the perfect host, welcoming 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 and 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.

But more importantly you can tell this is a farm on the up. A farm on top of their game. Every question was dispatched with exactly the right answer, every suggestion was listened to and taken on board, and in the coming years, I think this will be one of the most exciting relationships we have.

This comes from a small and experimental lot of Pacamara.  Last year we had some for the first time after the year before Beto had already sold it all, this year I'm super excited to have it back for a second time!

So in the cup this starts off just like the washed Caturra, with big sweet creamy milk chocolate, and a wonderful fresh green apple acidity. The difference comes in the aftertaste, gooseberry and green grape with a big caramel aftertaste.

• Country: Guatemala

The Kieni Wet Mill is located in Nyeri in the central highlands of Kenya at an altitude of 1,700 metres above sea level and is run by the Mugaga Farmers' Cooperative Society.

Nyeri County has cool temperatures and fertile central highlands, lying between the Eastern base of the Aberdare (Nyandarua) Range, which forms part of the Eastern end of the Great Rift Valley, and the Western slopes of Mt. Kenya. Nyeri town (county headquarters) acts as a destination for those visiting Aberdare National Park and Mt. Kenya. It is in Nyeri County, at the Treetops Hotel, (a rustic tree house hotel) where the young Elizabeth went up a princess and came down in the morning as queen of England. Her father, King George VI, died on 5th February 1952, the night she spent at Treetops while on honeymoon.

Most of the coffee beans from Nyeri develop and mature slowly producing extra hard beans. This quality is also evident in the cup. As a result Nyeri is traditionally known as the heart of Kenya’s black gold coffee.

Coffee is mainly grown on the slopes and the upper plateau where most of the homes are located, the farms are demarcated into small family plots where each individual family looks after their own coffee.

The coffee is wet processed, where the fully ripe cherries are; pulped, fermented, washed then dried slowly over 2- 3 weeks where the moisture content is reduced to 10-12%.  The coffee is then delivered to the dry mill.

In the cup expect a super traditional Kenyan that's been shaken up with a Tiki twist. First thing you'll get is the huge creamy mouthfeel, like double cream with some clotted cream added in for fun. Then there's a big hit of juicy tropical fruit which finishes with a super sweet pineapple acidity. A deliciously different Kenyan. 

• Country: Kenya

The growing region of Yirgacheffe in central-southern Ethiopia is world famous and has some amazing plant stock. This coffee comes from 800 smallholders in the town of Gedeb, which is about 40 km south of Yirgacheffe (pronunciation: Irgachefe) town, heading towards the Kenyan border, at an altitude of around 1,900–2,100 metres above sea level.

• Country: Ethiopia

Right folks, listen up!  Long coffee name right here to please allow me to explain!  Costa Rica (I'm guessing you worked this out!) is the country it's from.  Don Mayo is the name of the micro mill where the coffee is milled and processed.  Finca La Loma is the farm that the coffee was grown on.  Yellow Honey is the processing method (if you want to learn a little more about processing be sure to check out our processing videos) and Caturra is the varietal of coffee bean (more information about Caturraavailable in our varietal archive) See I told you it was all important stuff!

Finca La Loma is located at an altitude of 1,850–1,900 metres above sea level in the Tarrazú region of Costa Rica, and is owned by Hector Bonilla and his family. We first had a chance to enjoy coffee from this farm last year in 2014, and I'm delighted to see it back for a second year. I came across it on my trip to Costa Rica in January 2013, because we were already working with the Bonilla family on coffee from the neighbouring Finca Bella Vista.

The Don Mayo mill is somewhat of a celebrity in the world of coffee mills, winning a beautiful selection of awards for its coffees, which are bought by many top buyers from around the world and I am (of course) very pleased to be one of them.

In the cup you can expect a big bowl of creamy, melted vanilla ice cream, not only in flavour but also in mouthfeel. When you mix this with its delicate and sweet peachy acidity you get a cup that's all about the mouthfeel: deliciously viscous and full.

• Country: Costa Rica