TOP 5 Espresso and Filter Coffees of 2015

Here we go with our annual best Caffenation Coffees.

Of course these are my personal picks.
Maybe some roast profiles were not to your liking, or it was just not your favourite coffee; i fully understand.

2015 was the year of (relatively) weak Ethiopians.
We struggled to find great El Salvador lots as well. And so was also Panama a bit off the radar.

And again no Brazils that were clean and special enough to be mentioned here. Certainly not for filter.
On filter i like above all 'clean cups'. Coffee's without any disturbing flavors.
I like some extra zesty notes and fruitiness. And a long clean after taste. I suppose you understand.

(you can click on the names to go to the links for some extra info)

1) Kenya Thika Kiriaini AA
2) Kenya Nyeri Ruiruiru AA
3) Kenya Nyeri Kii AB (lot 2)
4) Ethiopia Sidamo Sasaba Natural (summer lot)
5) Kenya Kirinyaga Gakuyuni AB (autumn lot)


For Espresso i talk just clean shots, not milk based coffee's.
With our new roaster -and cooling tray!!-we were more in control of the roasts and so we could keep acidity of those punchy Kenyans low. The balance in general was better. And the flavors lasted longer.
Our idea is that the most coffees only peak 3 weeks after roast.

1) Kenya Thika Kiriaini AA
2) Ethiopia Sidamo Hunkute
3) Kenya Nyeri Karinga AB
4) Indonesia Sulawesi Tana Toraja
5) Burundi Kayanza Gakenke lot8

Right now we are still rolling with these last 2 coffee's.

New crop Rwanda - oh boy - is on its way over.

And soon we expect fresh Colombia and Papua New Guinea wonders.

So stay tuned!

What Greens have we been buying in 2015?

LOTS!
40 different coffees. But more kilo's of the same.
A couple of them never reached any sunlight, cause only for blending, but most were published on my other blog :

COFFEE BLOG

In total we are talking between 45 and 50 tons of coffee, divided in the following percentages : 

ETHIOPIA : 31%

COLOMBIA : 14%

GUATEMALA : 14% 

KENYA : 12%

BURUNDI : 9% 

COSTA RICA : 6%

BRAZIL : 4%

NICARAGUA : 4%

INDONESIA : 3%

RWANDA : 2%

PANAMA : 1%

EL SALVADOR : 1%

Probably this is not fully correct, but it gives an idea.

Ethiopia is classic. Other years it even goes up to 35%, but we had a hard time finding interesting Yirgacheffe lots this year. More good Sidamo's popped up though. 

Colombia we use a lot for blending. Not the most spectacular filter beans, but a good solid espresso base.

Guatemala made a big come back this year after some troubles previous to 2015. Good mouthfeel, spices and excellent blenders.

Kenya in getting more and more important. It became our favorite country and even on espresso we saw some mind blowing results. Super year!

Burundi was in trouble before, but the newest crop 15/16 is better than ever. So expect more to come next year. Value wise the best stuff around at this moment. 

Costa Rica is a classic favorite here. I think we didn't find out lots that were really jumping out, but over all a decent year and moderate prices. 

Brazil is the biggest coffee producer in the world, but not the greatest. Lots of earthy unwashed coffee's, but left and right we found a couple of gems for espresso roasting.

Nicaragua is every year on the list, but mostly for 1 or 2 %. This year we discovered one fantastic blender and bought lots of it. 

Indonesia is never high on the list, but we found 2 nice beans, especially for espresso roasting. 

Rwanda is also on the rise, but we did not blend this one in yet. New great Rwanda lots on our radar though.

Panama. Only one small lot this year. More interesting lots passed by, but in general over priced. 

El Salvador is very often one of our fav country's in Central America, but one way or another we did not roast more than 1 pacamara. Probably more next year, again. 

What have we been missing? 

Honduras - i don't remember i even tried some this year

Papua New Guinea - currently on the cupping table 

Peru - nothing fancy this year

Mexico - mostly we buy the Kassandra, but up to now no other samples of Mexico in sight. weird.

India - too earthy and woody

Ecuador - a down fall here, less and less specialty's around

Malawi and Zimbabwe - nothing cupped unfortunately

Congo - first samples left and right, but not good enough or too expensive

Tanzania - we cup em, but problems with transportation - sloooow - and storage ruin a lot

Ethiopia 2015

Yes, i'm back.
Due to hard work and the fact i put all my writing energy in my coffee book, - should be written by the end of next week...- i didn't do some blogging for a while.

There was a lot to talk about though and one day i will.

But today we stick to Ethiopia.

As you all know, we are big Ethiopia coffee lovers. About 35 to 40 procent of our annual coffees come from the birth land of arabica.
But not so this year.

Why not?
Well, because of 2 reasons.
The first one is the price. For years Ethiopian coffee has been price way below the value. Last year we were able to buy top notch Ethiopians (cupping 86-88 points!) for 5/6 euro's a kilo. This year we pay 8 for the same quality. On our total volume this means easily 40000 euro's of extra costs if we would stick with the same type of coffees and prices. Seen the fact some of the Ethiopian coffees goes into blends on which we have less margin, we had to replace them with some with more conventional Ethiopia or other origins.

Second reason is very simply, because of the quality.
It isn't difficult to find a good Ethiopian, but very difficult to find a superb one.
Main reason is the lack of acidity (and floral touch) in the cup this crop year.
For espresso roasting it's a relatively easy affair. We need less acidity. And so we bought a good amount of Sidamo's this year - Guji, Conventional, ...
But almost no Yirgacheffe.

We are in September and finally we have a couple of very nice Ethiopian coffees entering the warehouse. Hunkute, Biftu Gudina, Suke Quto Pulped Natural.
Again no Yirgs, but quality it is. Although very expensive. 11 tot 13 euro's a kilo. This almost sounds like Cup Of Excellence coffee prices.

Probably the Specialty Scene finally found the tasty stuff and this raised price.

Hoping for a better crop and more Yirgacheffe's next year.
Cheers.

Coffee Reviews

There are dozens of places where they review coffees, but the worlds best known is
Coffeereview.com

Except for a rare exception we talk of course about Single Origin Coffees.

They review a lot of coffees, but only US roasted stuff.
I also think their scores are a tad too high to be true, but it gives already an idea about the beans.

And countries.

If you look at their Top 30 of last year we notice Ethiopia and Kenya with 7 entries each. Duh! Just what we expect, and for European roasters who get their hands easier and faster on those African 'gems' we would percentage wise probably see even more of them.
Panama, Nicaragua and Colombia scored well last year, and this could be right. We noticed great crops in these country's, while Costa Rica, Honduras, Peru, Mexico, Guatemala and others had not their best year.

Nice to see one Brazil in there, Fazenda Rainha, exactly the one Brazilian Fazenda we liked most this year. Their Pulped Naturals are rated very highly by us, although this one was a natural!!

Here a link to our fav coffees of last year.

Top 5 Coffees of 2014

Yearly we list the best coffees we roasted and brewed.
It was a great year with 40 different Single Origin Coffees!!! We are proud we serve this wide variety of beans and flavors. We don't like to eat the same food all the time, or drink the same wines every week; change keeps the appetite high we think.

It's not always easy to keep the quality high though, with such a diversity, but after lots of years of practicing we get it in our fingers. And the help of all those hard working Ethiopians. In 2013 we only bought 1 grade 1 screening, now we had plenty and this you can taste.

Ton loads of fantastic Ethiopian this year!!! 12 in total, with 11 from the 13/14 crop. That's one a month and totally deserved. Even more, we don't understand why other roasting company's buy a lot of more expensive, but average, 'Centrals' in stead of a washed Yirgacheffe or Sidamo coffees. Even conventional labeled Yirgacheffes cupped higher than some award winning Central or South American coffees!
And Kenya on filter of course. Nothing beats the bright fruity cups from Nyeri or Kirinyaga.

For the upcoming year we heard a lot of good on the Ethiopia and Kenya crop, so expect to get us going into the same direction.
This year Rwanda and Burundi beans seem to suffer less from potato disease, and the latest Brazils and Colombian look very promising.

FILTER TOP 5 OF 2014 :
1) Kenya Nyeri Gikirima : Super clean, tomato acidity, melon and of course sweet sweet sweet.
2) Ethiopia Sidamo Guji Grade 1 : Silky, caramel, chocolate, prunes, what a coffee!
3) Kenya Kirinyaga Kiangoi : Sweet citrus, mandarin, raw sugar with a touch of vanilla
4) Ethiopia Yirgacheffe Adado grade 1 : Perfectly balanced cup with florals and chocolate notes
5) El Salvador Ilamatepec Finca Fatima : A sweet crowd pleaser

ESPRESSO TOP 5 OF 2014 :
1) Ethiopia Sidamo Guji Grade 1 : coffee of the year.
2) Indonesia Tana Toraja Washed PB : Sesame, prune, hazelnut, plenty of body and spices.
3) Ethiopia Yirgacheffe Microlot Moplaca Natural : body and sweetness, butter and honey. Fruity
4) Colombia Huila Iquira Castillo : Very creamy and clean cup. Now in our Mr LGB Winter!
5) Costa Rica Tarrazu Monte Canet Estate : Full bodied clean cup with notes of marsepan.
split with El Salvador Finca La Alpina Pacamara : mighty big bean with smoked accent and a chocolate undertone

Who want to read more about all of these coffees, best click here to discover more about most of our coffees from the last 26 months.

And to keep you at the front end of your seat :
Next upcoming Ethiopian coffee and base for Mr LGB Winter 2 :
Ethiopia Sidamo Korate Grade 1  : pipe tobacco, subtle acidity, waffles and mild

and again a Burundi Cup Of Excellence coffee, yes!

Ethiopia Sidamo Suke Quto Late Harvest Pick

This coffee was already on our menu this year, but we are happy to present to you the Suke Quto Late Harvest Pick.

First time actually we buy the same coffee twice with a 6 months interval.

The Suke Quto is an organic coffee from the Oromia Region, and neighbour of our Sidamo Guji.

The farm was established in 2005 with the idea to implement environment-friendly coffee farming practices under the shade of the natural forest canopy. The original farm, around 1950 masl, was only 5 hectares big but has grown to over 221 hectares now. When a bushfire distroyed most of the forest surrounding the farm, many locals started to grown corn and teff on the land (which leads to soil erosion and will leave the land barren after a few years). Tesfaye, the owner of the farm, came with the idea to distribute coffee – and shade-tree-seedlings. Over 150 outgrowers are now replanting the forest and bringing organic coffee to the Suke Quto farm for processing.

After drying and sorting, beans are bagged in Grain Pro bags. These bags conserve the coffee's flavors way better than the old fashioned jute bags only.

Expect great florals and green tea notes. Clean cup. Superb mouthfeel. Awesome! 

Natural Processed Coffees

El Salvador El Molina Jasal
Ethiopia Kochere Grade 1
Ethiopia Yirgacheffe microlot Red Cherry Superior Grade 1

but also the mega funky and 'natural flavored' Pacamara Kassandra from Mexico are in the house.

Enough sweet funky stuff to fill a lot of cups till the new year!!!


The first time i tasted a Dry Processed coffee from Ethiopia i was blown away.
It was August 2007 when Kees Van der Westen brought along 2 bags from Stumptown. He passed them on to Sietse and he gave us a sample.
One of them was the all mighty Misty Valley from Ethiopia and this was our impression :
http://caffenation.blogspot.be/2007/08/two-bags-of-stumptown.html

Since that first encounter i cupped hundreds of 'naturals', with mixed results. It's typical to be very surprised the first time. The coffee is sweeter, much fruitier and has more body.
The down side is the barn yard smell and flavors. It's a thing we also notice a lot with natural wines and mostly you love it or you hate it.

Over the years it became a new kind of fashion to bring this type of coffees and we also sold a lot of them.
But always with a warning: "Be aware, this is a natural coffee and maybe not what you are looking for..."

I think it's good to serve them, but not when you don't have something 'regular' on offer. Sometimes bars offer just one filter or espresso and then is such a natural processed coffee not very smart.

For Ethiopian Naturals we tend to go towards the Grade 1 picks. These are way cleaner then the Grade 3 or 4. Less earthy, less barn yard and more towards sweet and body. Once cooled down it almost tastes like fruit juice with tea and coffee.

For Centrals we see a lot of experimenting going on. Sometimes for the good, sometimes for the worse.
When done properly we find them less funky, but as good as the Ethiopians. So, we like to offer both of them.

Now waiting when the first Kenyan naturals are coming to town. Or would that be too much of a 'killer'?

Here some more interesting info about 'Natural Processing" :
http://stumptowncoffee.com/processing/natural-process/

Oromia Coop Ethiopia

Our newest Ethiopian coffee for our main blend Mr LGB is called Layo Teraga. And again it's a coffee brought to us by Oromia.
For years this Cooperative is bringing very nice, sustainable coffees.
Although active in all Ethiopian coffee regions, we tend to stick to their Sidamo offers.
Here some more information about the organization and their beans :

Oromia is the region where coffee first originated and it is by the Oromo people that the usage of coffee as a food started in the beginning of the 5th century. Oromia is approximately located between 3 degree and 15 degree North latitude and 33 degree and 40 degree longitude. The region is known for its unique native vegetation as well as for being the center of diversity for many different species of plant. The region is the birth place of coffee. The Oromo’s use coffee as food, drink, trade, spiritual nourishment and as a tool for peace-keeping.

Oromia Coffee Farmers Cooperative Union (OCFCU) is a small farmers owned cooperative union which have members from all coffee growing region in Oromia regional state. OCFCU was established in 1999 to facilitate the direct export of coffee produced by small farmers organized in cooperatives. OCFCU works exclusively in Oromia Regional State, which accounts for more than 65 % of the country’s total coffee growing land

OCFCU exports traceable fair trade and organic certified coffees. The fair trade premium and support from roasters are invested in social projects like schools , health posts , clean water , bridge etc

By the fair trade premiums and support from different roasters above 224 different projects has been completed and provided to the farmers. Some of the project completed photo is posted in our website gallery.

OCFCU pays 70% of its net profit back to the cooperatives and the cooperatives also pay 70% of their profit to the member farmers. This shows that farmers are benefited by being paid three times in one coffee season. This has enabled OCFCU to grow from 34 primary cooperatives representing 22,691 household farmers to 274 primary cooperatives representing 254,052 household farmers. The life of farmers has improved and has also got social service in their village.

OCFCU now have a cupping lab for quality control located at its office and have massive central facility for technical, financial, administrative and also high tech processing facility with capacity of 5 – 7 tones per hour. The processing facility has created a job for more than 1,200 Seasonal employees.

OCFCU have recently created its own members bank which is one of the greatest benefits to its own members for the much needed pre-harvest financing. They also provide their farmers with insurance options to cover coffee against loss.

Sidamo coffee information :

• Washed and Sun dried
• Altitude: 1550-2200m(5080-7210ft)
• Cup: Bright acidity, medium body with spicy and citrus flavors
• Harvest: October to January
• Shipment: October to January

Again on the Direct Trade Track

Here you see me and Cocariva Export Manager Wellington Pereira in their local warehouse/factory at Carmo de Minas, Brazil. From this place we just bought 800 kilos of Yellow Catuai coffee beans.

Never been against Direct Trade. It's just so hard to keep up with it.

In the past we've been have a couple of Direct Trade coffees. These beans arrive at our roastery, and our roastery alone.
But not a 100% direct, cause there's always a trader in between helping us with the paper work and logistics. Or a local Co Operative dealing with this.
When the trader comes in, we pay for their help of course, but mostly they pay the invoice at origin. Easy peasy. It costs a little, but your ass is save.

Working via a Co Op we have to pre finance the coffees. And there's always a risk the goods aren't coming, or too late, or the wrong beans were send off.

But, because it's important to have great beans, and exclusivity, and a nice price, these kind of Direct Trade coffees grow in popularity. We are April and our 3rd DT (First 2 Colombia's and now a Natural Brazil) is on the shelf already. Counting for 15% of our total coffee volume this year.
The Brazil one is a special story. Read more here.

Even more gain there is for the coffee farmers! The average price they are getting is way higher than the Fair trade price. And this way they stay more motivated to improve their harvesting and processing methods. So, everybody wins.

By the end of the week we'll have this exceptional Brazilian coffees on our grinders.
And also blended in the all famous Roast ED espresso blend. Enjoy. Rob

La Serrania is the new Decaf (Dutch)

Bijna geen enkele van de espresso bars die we beleveren heeft interesse in onze decaf koffie. Begrijpelijk want het publiek in deze plaatsen vraagt er ook niet naar. 1 van de redenen is omdat onze koffie's veelal weinig cafeïne bevatten. Een andere is de jonge leeftijd van vele bezoekers. Dit maakt dat ze nog goed de cafeïne verdragen en dikwijls ook niet zo vroeg willen gaan slapen. (dit is inderdaad ook een halve grap)

Te Caffenation hebben we altijd de ambitie gehad om alle koffieliefhebbers gelukkig te stemmen en dus ook diegenen die gevoelig zijn aan cafeïne.
En met de La Serrania gaan we hen zeker gelukkig maken, maar niet alleen de cafeïnehaters. Deze koffie is echt top en moet zeker niet onderdoen voor een andere boon. Deze week verstuurden we zelfs 50 zakjes naar online abonnees, als filter van de week. En met rede. Mooie balans, fruitige toetsen, lekker zuurtje en zeker clean genoeg om eenieder blij te maken.

Hier de info die onze online abonnees toe kregen. (voor diegenen die interesse hebben om ook elke week, of om de andere week, een pakje genot in de bus te krijgen : click hier.

Colombia Huila La Serrania Decaf Roast Date : March 25, 2014.

• Nootjes • Blauwe lichtjes rijpe druiven • Beetje bloemig en een mooie balans

Ja, je leest het goed; de filterkoffie van deze week bevat geen cafeïne. Misschien een beetje verrassend en voor sommige met angst om het hart, maar je zal zien, na je eerste kopje, dat ook cafeïnevrije koffie heel lekker smaken kan. Mensen iets bijleren over koffie en koffiegeschiedenis schrijven zijn altijd doelen voor ons geweest. En deze weekkoffie is er eentje die uniek is in ons Belgenland. Bijna al de aangeboden decafs zijn heel goedkope bonen die in een speciaal bedrijf met benzeen van cafeïne ontdaan worden. Het resultaat is meestal ondrinkbaar. Ofwel gaat men grondiger te werk en neemt met een bepaalde boon en decafeïneert via de Zwitserse watermethode. Dit hebben we de voorbije 3,5 jaar gedaan, en dit was wel drinkbaar. De La Serrania is een zorgvuldig uitgekozen blend van koffie's van verschillende boeren in Huila. Onze locale partner Virmax zendt dan deze bonen naar Manizales waar ze met bergwater en natuurlijk bekomen ethylacetaat (zoals bij wijnen) gedecafeïneerd worden. Zo blijven de karakteristieke smaken bewaard en resulteert het vandaag in een clean cup die tijdens bepaalde blindproeverijen zelfs de tafel kon winnen tegenover vele andere dure Specialty Coffees!! De donkerdere kleur heeft geen smaakinvloed.

Best Caffenation Coffees in 2013

Top 5 Filter Coffees of the year :

1. Costa Rica Tarrazu Finca El Licho Natural Villa Sarchi

2. Kenya Thika Karatu AB SL 28/34

3. Ethiopia Sidamo Organic Sidama Union

4. Kenya Nyeri Gakuyuini PB

5. Ethiopia Yirgacheffe Konga Grade 1


Top 5 Espresso Coffees of the year :

1. Mexico Kassandra Pacamara

2. Panama Bouquete Lerida Estate Lot 5 Caturra/Catuai

3. Ecuador Vilcabamba Estate Caturra/Typica

4. Kenya Aberdares Mountains Kagumoini AB SL 28/34

5. Guatemala Huehuetenango Finca La Bolsa

You want more information on these coffee?
Surf to our Filtercoffeesblog.

Ethiopian Cooperatives

Nice link : is interesting for those who wants to know more about Ethiopian coffee.
We did this year coffee from the Hafursa, Konga and Michele coop. Nice stuff.

Filter Coffees Info Paradise

The blog with the Vertigo feel is moving fast.

Meanwhile already 60 coffees on my latest blog.

http://caffenationfiltercoffees.wordpress.com/

Interested in tasting them?

Click
www.specialtycoffee.be

And we send them straight away to all adresses in Belgium.

For the Netherlands or England you can always mail us for more shipping information.

At your service,
Rob

New Kenya (Mihuti AA+)

Every 2 or 3 months we launch a new Kenyan coffee.

For this one and all other coffees; only 1 adresse :
caffenationfiltercoffees.wordpress.com

The Kenyan discription is underneath this link.

Living in Belgium and interested in having some of these coffees at home :
visit our online shop :
specialtycoffee.be

New Caffenation Filter Coffee Blog

Check out
caffenationfiltercoffees
for the latest info on the coffees we send to our online members.

Best Caffenation coffees in 2012

Top 5 Filter coffees :

1. Kenya Chomo AA
2. Kenya Karimikui PB
3. Costa Rica Monte Cadet Estate
4. Mexico COE Lot #5
5. Ethiopia Yirgacheffe Q-Grade

Top 5 Espresso coffees :

1. El Salvador Chalatenango El Progreso
2. Kenya Karimikui PB
3. Colombia El Meridiano
4. Rwanda Vunga
5. Costa Rica Monte Cadet.

Still plenty of the Karimikui available. Who wants some? :-)

Filter Week : Rwanda Vunga

PICKED NOT FAR AWAY FROM THIS GORILLA :


RWANDA WASHED VUNGA NYABIHU BOURBON/TYPICA (ROAST 7 NOV)


Vunga cooperative is a washing station (coffee mill) in Jomba, Nyabihu, Western Rwanda and named after the nearby village. The Vunga station is at 1463 meters, with coffee coming from the surrounding hills ranging from 1700 to 2100 meters. The area borders the Virunga national forest, which has a healthy mountain gorilla population, and is just a couple hours from the borders of Uganda and DRC (Congo).
This area features rugged terrain with steep hills and deep misty valleys, which provide a natural water resource. The Virunga mountain range, which consists of eight major
volcanoes, is a branch of the Albertine Rift, also known as the Western Rift Valley which spreads over Rwanda, Uganda and DRC. The name “Virunga” comes from the Kinyarwanda word ibirunga, meaning “mountains.”

The Rwanda are early this year.
And this one is not only our base for the Little Green Bag, it's also our stunning filter of the week.

A spectacular Autumn coffee that taste like a lot of seasonal veggies : bitter carrots, asperges and nuts.
The cup is clean and has enough acidity to give it a balanced profile till the last drip.

Filter of the Week : Panama Lerida

ROAST 1 OKTOBER 2012 : PANAMA BOUQUETE LERIDA NATURAL CATURRA
De eerste van 2 mooie Bouquete koffie's die we in september binnen kregen.
Panama is 'on the rise' en zowel de Don Pepe als de Lerida farm is daar een mooi voorbeeld van.
Deze koffie is dankzij zijn Natural Processing enorm fruitig. Volop Framboos & Mandarijn, maar ook mooie kruidigheid (lichte cayenne zelfs) en een toets van Jasmijn thee op het tipje van de tong.

Situated in the Highlands of Boquete, Panama, at an altitude of 1600 to 1800 meters above sea level, on the foothills of the Baru Volcano, the quality of this special coffee takes advantage of the deep volcanic soil, the micro-climate (abundant rain and sunny, dry and windy during harvesting season) and its varieties (Caturra and Catuai). The Caturra variety is a mutation of Bourbon coffee discovered in Brazil
while the latter is a semi-dwarf Arabica whose cherries hold solidly to the tree.
The Lérida Estate was founded in 1922 by a retired Norvegian, Toleff Boche Mönniche. Not only did he establish one of the finest coffee farms in Panama, he also had a great interest in the preservation of nature.  Therefore, he made sure that 60% of the Finca Lérida is an ecological reserve.

Kenya Mukurwe

Our new Kenya Man is called : Mukurwe.

What to know about this bean :

Process: Timely and selective hand picking is carried out
in Mukurwe wet mill. Cherry is delivered to wet
mill the same day it is picked. Cherry sorting is
carried out at the wet mill prior to the pulping.
Red ripe cheries are separated from underipes,
overipes and foreign matter. Processing utilizes
clean river water (wet processing) that is
recirculated before disposal into seepage pits.
Sun drying is done before delivery of the coffee
to the dry mill for secondary processing. 
  Varieties:  SL 28 and SL34 
  Flowering: Main crop- October/November, Light crop-
April/May. 

 Average Rainfall: 1000 -1400 mm per year. The rains are in two
seasons , short and long rains. Main crop
depends on long rains that come between  April
and May . Light crop receives adequate rain
between October and November.
  Altitude: 1600 Metres Above Sea Level
  Temperature Range: 18 – 25 Degree Celsius
  Soils: Deep red volcanic soils

Come test for free this brilliant coffee at our Filter Bar (in the shop at Mechelsesteenweg 16).

Colombia Tolima El Meridiano

Our first Direct Trade ever.

This is a specially selected lot of coffee from the Tolima region. We work with an exporter who in turn works to select small lots of significantly superior cup quality, then follows those coffees through the wetmilling and drying stages. It comes from a small growers cooperative with only 58 members; average farm size is only 4.5 hectares, about 11 acres and this should be considered a 'relationship' coffee.

The coffee itself is a combination of Caturra (70%) with the balance variedad Colombia and Typica. This is very high grown coffee so the beans are generally smaller and more concentrated with the minimum bean size being screen 15. Farm altitudes are generally 5000 to 6300 feet. The coffee is fully washed with traditional processing but done in micro-mills on each farm rather than a centralized facility. Further, it is fully sun-dried in both greenhouse and rooftop drying patios.

La Meridiano is shade grown, getting shade from a number of tree species including Plantain, Cambulo, Chachafrtuo, Guamo and Nogal. Shade cover is about 40%.

Taste :

Amazing body and mouthfeel, clean and sweet. Long finish. Complex, crisp, refined acidity. Apple and berry fruit. Harmonious balance.

This should become our basis for the next LGB. Maybe it's even a winner as a single, but then we run out very quickly and also have a small price problem. This one is not our cheapest coffee...