In My Mug

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 expect a gentle aniseed and liquorice, with a lovely lingering spicy aftertaste.

• Farm: La Siberia

Last year I took my first trip to Kenya. Not to meet producers but rather to get an insight into how the market works, and how we can improve the quality of what we buy from Kenya. This is one project that emerged from the visit.

Much of Kenyan coffee comes from cooperatives, which means it's tough to go to visit a person or build a long term relationship. But by speaking with the coop leaders and washing stations, it is possible to get something interesting going and to work on projects together.

The Chinga mill is located near to the town of Othaya just east of the Chinga Dam. It's approximately 5 KM south west of the town, and is in the Nyeri county part of Kenya.

The mill has some 783 members (587 male and 195 female) and each member only owns a small piece of land of an average 0.3 acres. They harvest the coffee themselves then sell it to the mill, where it is processed and sent to the government auction.

The project part of this coffee was that we asked them if they would naturally process a batch for us. They kindly agreed to do so as long as we promised to buy it regardless of the final cup.

So it's a small lot to make sure that we didn't mess up; we also spread the risk with two different quality of coffee lots, the NL we have here being screen 14 or below. They thought I was crazy as only the poor quality coffee in Kenya gets naturally processed, and they couldn't understand why I wanted only the best quality coffee processed in this way. But they did it, and luckily for us it worked out better than we could have hoped.

NH and NL are new grades, and are basically invented, given these are good cherries selected and then naturally processed. They will not be official grades as yet (and probably not soon, as this is the first time we've seen them used), and are not linked to the similarly named MH and ML grades. MH and ML (traditionally used for Mbuni Heavy and Mbuni Light) were created and used so the packers, mill operators, etc., would have some degree of familiarity with the nature of natural processed coffee.

In the cup this is a Marmite coffee. No, it doesn't taste of Marmite; you'll either love it or hate it! Expectboot polish with liquorice and distinct Pontefract cake flavours punching through. A unique coffee.

• Name: Othaya Chinga

Much of Kenyan coffee comes from Co-operatives, which means its tough to go visit a person or build a long term relationship. But there is a very transparent auction system in Kenya, and an opportunity to cup lots of coffee. This coffee comes from the Kamacharia Co-operative Society – which has 985 active members with approx. 200 trees each (0.5-1 acre of land each).The Production in 2012/13 was 120,000 kg’s cherry and the society has 4 wet mills: Kagumoini (not to be confused with mill of same name in Nyeri) , Riakiberu, Wahundura & Karugiro

This coffee comes from the Murang and is a well known coffee growing area on the foothills of the Aberdare mountains, which rise to 3,700 metres.

Growers selectively pick only ripe red cherries, and transport it manually to the washing station on the same day. Upon reception at the washing station, cherries are sorted to further check for over- ripe cherries, under-ripe cherries, and any foreign matter. Cherries then fed through hopper to de-pulper, where outer skin removed.

After pulping, coffee is fermented underwater for between 12-36 hours, in order to remove mucilage. Post-fermentation, coffee is washed and graded in sorting channels. Processing water is redistributed into seepage pits.

Parchment is then placed on pre-drying beds for 2-3 hours, until any surface water has evaporated, before being transferred to African raised beds, in layers of 3-5cm. In order to prevent parchment cracking, it is turned regularly, and covered at midday heat, to ensure uniform drying. When moisture levels reach 10.5-11%, it is removed from drying tables and placed in conditioning bins, where it is regularly turned to continue uniform drying.

This coffee was dry-milled at Thika Coffee Mills prior to export.

In the cup expect a bright citrus like acidity. It reminds me of one of those lemon lime fizzy pop, with an amazing effervescence.

Name: Karugiro

Episode 324 on Monday the 26th of January 2015 Kenya Kaganda Washed SL28 SL34 AB

Located in the South West of Rwanda, Mibirizi Coffee Washing Station is owned by the Nile Congo Mountains Coffee company and is situated almost 5600 feet (1750 m) above sea level, with an average rainfall of 2000 mm per year and an average temperature of 22°C.

This is the heart of the splendid Mibirizi “terroir” between the high altitude Lake Kivu and the Nile Congo Crest, the region where the first Bourbon Arabica coffee trees were successfully planted and harvested 100 years ago in Rwanda. NCMC was created in 2004, a decade after the genocide, by three entrepreneurs who returned home to assist in the rehabilitation of the plantations of thousands of small holder farmers and invested in the production and the commercialization of a high quality fully washed coffee.

The Mibirizi coffee undergoes meticulous processing and quality control beginning with careful selection. When the cherries are fully ripe, they are carefully picked. After pulping, the dry and wet fermentation process follows, and the beans are fully washed with spring water from the mountains. Finally the beans are slowly sun-dried and hand sorted many times to perfection by women, many of them survivors of the genocide who work hand-in-hand with their neighbours.

Each season, Mibirizi CWS employs an average of 150 people over a period of three months; of those, around 70% are women. Since 2006, this coffee has always emerged among the best coffees in Rwanda. In the 2006 National Cupping Competition, the coffee obtained the second highest score in a contest involving more than 70 different samples of fully washed coffees. In the 2007 Rwanda Golden Cup, it emerged 7th in more than 100 samples. And in the Cup of Excellence 2012, Mibirizi coffee came third and fifth and in 2013 second and eighth with two different lots. In fact we bought the 5th place 2012 lot and have missed it ever since

In the cup it has a huge mouthfeel, with caramel and butterscotch sweetness, unlike the previous lot we had this has huge amounts lemon citrus acidity and a tea like finish. 

* Farmer: Multiple farmers on lot 

Episode 321 on Monday the 5th of January 2014 Bolivia Finca Loayza Feliciano Ramos Washed

http://www.hasbean.co.uk/products/el-salvador-finca-la-ilusion-natural-bourbon