De Mello Postcards
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We are incredibly excited to release this coffee! In 2019, we proudly ran a micro-financing project to connect our community here in Canada with a farm we’ve been working with in Honduras called San Jacinto. Our goal, through the help of our community, was to help fund our beloved coffee producer, Donã Isaura Martinez, in order to enhance the quality of coffee by improving working conditions and building infrastructure on the San Jacinto farm.
The Honduras San Jacinto hosts a delicious unique and exquisite tasting notes of grape bubblegum, wild berries, jam, and orange caramel. This medium roast coffee has a well balanced acidity profile, wine-like body, and is a perfect autumn morning cup to start your day.
Donã Isaura Martinez is a second generation coffee producer, who is now in her late 70s. She is also a certified organic trader. Before our financing project, it was hard to predict the future of her farm, due to her age and lack of helping hands. However, we couldn’t just stand by and do nothing.
The initiative itself was quite simple. From our San Jacinto sales in 2019, we put aside $5 from every wholesale bag sale, and $1 from every retail bag sale, and put it towards the project.
The result of this micro-financing project was the acquisition of raised coffee drying beds. These beds are an effective and efficient way to improve coffee quality, by allowing air to circulate more evenly, therefore drying the coffee cherries more uniformly, leading to a more consistent flavor.
When we received a new batch of coffee from Donã Isaura this year, we were so excited to notice a fantastic improvement in the quality and flavor in the coffee.
As a roastery, we are determined to keep building similar collaborative, harmonious relationships with our coffee producers, and aim to continually improve social conditions, in any way we can.
We also hope you can join us in this journey!
We recently launched a micro-financing project to connect our coffee community in Canada with Doña Isaura’s farm in Honduras which wrapped up at the end of February 2019—thank you to everyone who purchased this coffee during that time and supported this initiative. This meant that $1 from every pound of wholesale San Jacinto sold, and $1 from every retail back of San Jacinto sold (or $1 per half pound) was put towards building raised coffee drying beds on the farm.
Oftentimes, increased quality in the cup leads to an increased premium for coffee producers. Raised beds, coupled with longer drying times, are a cost-effective and low impact way to hopefully improve quality. In life, as in coffee, there are no guarantees but we hope this can be the first step of many alongside Doña Isaura.
We know it can be hard to read all of the information about every coffee — we don’t think you need to. However, we provide it all here for those who are interested. For those who don’t have the time, here’s what we hope you learn about this coffee.
In September 2017, we were approached by an organization called TFO Canada and offered the opportunity to connect with a wide range of Honduran coffee producers.
As part of this meeting, we were introduced to Edgar and Karen Carillo, a young brother and sister who operate Pacayal Coffee in La Paz, Honduras. They themselves are coffee producers and saw that there was a need in their department to better represent and support their local coffee growing community. As such, they reached out to people in search of funding, and after taking in some capital, began the process of developing a group of farmers that would be represented by Pacayal.
Edgar is a hard worker. He has gone everywhere from Europe to the United States and Canada, tirelessly working to connect his producers with these markets, and is highly motivated to shift all of these producers he works with to the Fair Trade Organic market, or better, the specialty market. As he says, “la mejor idioma es la calidad” — The best language is quality. The quality of Pacayal Coffee has spoken for itself as in short order, he’s found himself a specialty market base in the United States, Northern Ireland, and Europe.
We are amongst his first buyers in Canada, and we see a lot of potential in Edgar and Pacayal. Honduras is an emerging coffee market, its volume has exploded in the last few years, especially in Canada. While there is some truly exceptional coffee being produced in small sections of the country, there is still a lot of growing and learning to do for other producers to meet these growers standards.
Pacayal currently shares a dry mill, and is still in the process of building their own washing station where cherries can be brought for processing by the producers who don’t have such a set up in their own farms. They’re also working to build a cupping lab and quality control centre in the same space. This will lend a great deal to increasing the quality of all of the producers they are supporting, and should go a long way to connecting them to the global specialty market.
Edgar sent us several samples from Pacayal producers, but the ones that won came from Doña Isaura Martines, who is basically his superstar producer in the Pacayal roster.
Over breakfast in her modest home outside the town of Opatoro, La Paz, we learned a lot about her unique story. Her father, Don Antonio, was at one time the largest coffee producer in all of Honduras. He started with his own farm and slowly began to purchase land from those around him, growing to encompass six distinct fincas accounting for around 50 hectares of land. In Honduras, many producers operate on less than 5 hectares, so this is a huge operation.
Don Antonio was also very advanced for his time, technologically speaking. He built a beneficio in 1982 on his own land, which is now mere steps from Dona Isaura’s house, including depulpers, fermentation tanks, and drying patios, as well as an office and bodega for storing coffee. From these patios, at around 1700masl, you can see all the way to El Salvador, the San Miguel volcano visible on clear days.
Don Antonio spent his whole life selling coffee at bottom barrel prices, and this is why he kept growing his land. At this point, volume was the way he was going to stay afloat. In 1998, Dona Isaura took over the farm and has been tending to it ever since. She continued in the same path as her father, selling large quantities of coffee at local market price until only three years ago in the 2015 harvest, when she began working with Pacayal Coffee.
With their help, she took the first step of becoming Fair Trade and Organic certified, which brings her a minimum of $1.90. However, on the basis of her lifetime of knowledge and skill as a coffee grower, Edgar has worked to connect her also with the specialty market, with buyers like us, who are willing to pay a premium based on the quality. As such, we paid $3/lbUSD FOB for this coffee, $1.80lb over the current market price and $1.10 over the FTO minimum.
Working with Doña Isaura represents a challenge and an opportunity. At 76 years old, with two children who are no longer interested in working on the farm, the future of San Jacinto and her other farms is up in the air. This is in fact a real example of how a lifetime of producing coffee for little money was likely a hard pill to swallow for her children, and they moved to the city in pursuit of other opportunities.
While Doña Isaura is doing a great job for her age, she’s also working with a well-equipped but dated beneficio for processing, plus an enormous volume of harvest that can make consistency difficult. As well, due to a lack of connected specialty buyers she’s had little chance to receive feedback on her coffee, from which she can learn to improve her harvesting and processing.
Our hope is that we can continue to work with Dona Isaura and focus on lot separation where we can work closely on the whole process together for the education of all, and are in talks about the possibility of investing into improving the infrastructure on her farm to assist with this.
As part of our ongoing purchasing philosophy, we’re always seeking to develop levels of purchasing in which we buy from one producer or group of producers who have ore access to the specialty market and/more resources while also purchasing from those who are more on the fringe of the specialty market. Honduras is a great place for this as the market is growing very rapidly and many producers are seeing the ability to earn more for their coffee.
To be specific, our purchases in 2018 then include the always exceptional Beneficio San Vicente in Santa Barbara as the more resource based operation, while Dona Isaura represent s the latter part Next year, we hope to add another small producer who is attempting to access the specialty market.
We are a small buyer, as far as the overall coffee production of Honduras goes, but it is our hope is to work together to increase the quality of Dona Isaura’s coffee, and to progressively pay more each year, thereby lending some level of economic security. We also hope these efforts will lead her to greater success with the broader specialty market.
Aricha Highlights
• Aricha washing station offers complex and floral Yirgacheffe grade- 1 coffees. You can
either find washed or natural processed coffees.
• In 2019, just one year after reviving the station, four Aricha coffees made the final
selection of The Ethiopian Cup.
The road to the Aricha washing station
• As soon as you pass the city of Dilla, you’ll notice the road roughening. A bumpy A8-
highway, that feels like a country-side mountain bike trail, takes you to the Aricha
mountains. Then a curly rocky road leads you to the gate of Aricha washing station. The
famous Naga Singage mountain looms over the station and the Wogida river creates a
continuous serene rush of water, only interrupted by singing Gedeo women stirring
parchment and coffee cherry.
• If you’re looking for floral and complex-tasting Yirgacheffe’s, Aricha is the place. The
recently revived washing station collects coffee cherries from Yirgacheffe’s most potent
coffee forests. The washing station provides an income for surrounding communities.
And coffee roasters find the finest natural and washed grade-1 Yirgacheffe’s on the
market. But it wasn’t always like this.
Dormant washing station turns into Yirgacheffe coffee hub
• The Aricha station, in the words of the current manager, was a dump. A neglected,
abandoned, and the out-of-business station that did not process a single cherry for
years on end. Grass covered the entire terrain and the buildings were in decay. The
surrounding smallholders had to deliver their cherries to another washing station
further up the road. A far from an ideal situation, since transport goes on foot or by
mule. But just a few months before the harvest of 2018, the communities met with a
new potential station owner. Faysel Yonis, the founder of coffee exporter Testi Coffee.
Faysel shared his plans to make Aricha a hub for quality Yiracheffe coffee. After the
traditional coffee ceremony, the elders expressed their enthusiasm and gave their
blessing. Faysel’s vision goes beyond coffee and business. Because besides reviving the
station, Faysel started to work with the community to build an electricity-network for
surrounding villages. Testi Coffee is also coordinating the construction of a school and
plans to give families access to clean water.
• Aricha experienced rapid developments and innovations in a short period. This is
because Faysel appoints well-equipped managers to run operations before and during
the harvest. Adham Yonis, the nephew of Faysel, is the manager of Aricha. He was born
in Dire Dawa (Ethiopia) and raised in Texas (US). Adham also served in the US Army
for eight years. After twenty years of living in the US, he returned to Ethiopia and
joined the family’s coffee business in 2014. When you visit the washing station during
harvest, Adham will introduce you to Yirgacheffe cuisine. You will then enjoy a tour of
the station and see how cherries are processed during night-shifts.
The coffee communities of Aricha
• Today Aricha is a Yirgacheffe coffee-hub. Testi Coffee estimates that one-thousand
smallholders from different communities come to Aricha to sell their cherries. During
collection, Adham marks the lots per community to ensure traceability. In the hills
surrounding the station, you find four coffee communities; Aricha, Gersi, Idido, and
Reko Onancho.
• All four communities submitted micro-lots for the 2019’ Ethiopian Cup and ranked
among the top-scoring coffees within the auction. Each farming family received a
portion of the auction premium to improve their livelihoods. When you search for lots
from Aricha, be sure to look for the community names as well.
We know it can be hard to read all of the information about every coffee — we don’t think you need to. However, we provide it all here for those who are interested. For those who don’t have the time, here’s what we hope you learn about this coffee.
A pleasure to introduce myself and comment a little on my story:
In the year 1955, my father Patrocinio de Jesús Rodriguez Ortiz began cultivating cafe Arabigo (Typica) and since then I have inherited this from him. 25 years later, I began to grow my own coffee, beginning by planting a half manzana (~.9 acres) of the varieties Pache San Ramon, Caturra, Bourbon, Catuai as these are the highest quality coffees. Continuing to the present day, my children and I continue working to improve the management of these coffee fields by, for example, planting trees such as Cuje. Gravileas, Pine, and others.
Also, we undertake practices of soil management including weeding and draining, in order to conserve the environment and our soils, and we also continue fighting for our common house or, that is, everyone’s home who is fighting against megaprojects and monocultures.
It is worth mention a little of my story from the 11 of April in the year of 2013, I was unjustly detained for peacefully protesting against the mine, for which we were detained four days for having defended our common house, being a right of all and being a constitutional right of free expression, because we know the damages these mineral extraction companies cause.
Thank you for your close attention,
Miguel Angel Rodriguez Cordero
Miguel is part of a group of coffee producers in the municipality of Mataquescuintla, in the Jalapa department, 40 miles southeast of Guatemala City. Jalapa is, for the most part, a largely overlooked coffee producing region despite coffee figuring as the one of the region’s most common agricultural products.
This is our first time buying from Miguel, who was brought to our attention by Bows x Arrows Coffee Roasters. He’s part of a group of coffee producers in Mataquescuintla who have organized around a shared resistance to the Escobal silver mine, located in the nearby town of San Rafael des Flores.
Estimated to be the third-largest silver mine in the world, Escobal is owned by Canadian-based Tahoe Resources, and operated by a national subsidiary named Minera San Rafael (MSR). This is the mine Miguel is referencing when he says he was detained for peacefully protesting. The mine received its final permits for extraction in 2013 and began functioning in 2014.
The areas around Mataquescuintla and San Rafael have been the focus of mining development since 1694 when silver was discovered there. In 2006, these efforts regained forced, specially regarding the land concession that included the Escobal mine.
Canadian companies have been involved with the development of this project for over two decades. In 1996, Mar-West Aruba mining company — a subsidiary of the Canadian firm Mar-West Resources — was awarded the Escobal concession and since then company changed hands several times before becoming property of Tahoe Resources in 2010. Tahoe Resources is registered in British Columbia, with offices in Vancouver B.C. and Reno, Nevada.
Peaceful resistance to this project has been ongoing since 2010.
In 2010, a series of information sessions took place throughout the surrounding communities to discuss the economic, social, political, legal, and environmental impacts of this project in their communities. This led to emergence of coalition between the local Catholic diocese and the local indigenous Xinca peoples for the purpose of organizing local plebiscites and also organizing to protect the legal rights of the affected community members. Much of the resistance from the communities is rooted in their fears that the project will damage their water sources, upon which their agricultural lifestyles depend.
Between 2011 and 2012, four formally recognized municipal plebiscites received a No vote to the mine of above 98% by participating voters. After these were held, the Guatemala Chamber of Commerce brought a constitutional challenge against these actions only to see the Constitutional Court rule in favour of the plebiscites. There were also an additional 8 good faith plebiscites held in 2013 where the No vote won in percentages ranging from 93-100%. In the municipality of Santa Rafael Las Flores, closest to the mine, the plebiscite was blocked by municipal authorities.
In December of 2013, the Constitutional Court further endorsed the results of community plebiscites regarding mining projects, stating that is is mandatory for a community to hold these votes and to take the results into consideration. The court referred directly to the plebiscite held in Mataquescuintla, and based its ruling on the International Labour Organization’s Convention of the Rights of Indigenous and Tribal Peoples. Their statement was that “it is the unquestionable right of peoples to be consulted but it is [also] necessary to reinforce the proper procedure (for consultation).”
During 2011-2013, 280 citizens also registered formal complaints against the Escobal mineral extraction license. These complaints argued that the environmental impact report was inadequate and that Tahoe Resources had fail to conduct good faith consultations with the community members as to the impacts of the Escobal project. On April 3 2013, the Mining Office at the Guatemalan Ministry of Energy and Mining announced the license had been granted and all 280 complaints would not be processed.
In the time since these plebiscites, private security firms hired by MSR, in conjunction with the police, have cracked down on the local communities. This included a violent exchange in April 2013, when peaceful protesters were fired upon by private security guards, resulting in seven being injured.
A military state of siege was then declared in May 2013 by the central government, effectively squashing most community consultation being planned in the areas affected by the Escobal project. MSR has also funded the building of a police station in order to increase police presence in the area, and has had up to 6 local mayors on its payroll.
Hugo Loy, Mayor of Mataquescuintla, is one of the sole holdouts. As a result, there’s been an increased “criminalization” of these peaceful protestors that has resulted in 100s of arrests. All have been released, and no evidence has ever been presented. This is part of a broader attempt to destabilize the communities resistance.
Nevertheless, the communities have carried on in their combined resistance. In July 2017, the Constitutional Court ruled against Tahoe Resources and suspended their mining license. The mine has been closed since then, and Tahoe Resources has filed an appeal, arguing that past local precedent backs their position and assuring stockholders they will be functioning again soon. In early September 2018, the Supreme Court ratified the Constitutional Court ruling, upholding the suspension. Tahoe has no agreed to go forth with a consultation as demanded by the ILO, but doubts remain of whether this will be done in good faith.
This is a clearly complex and variegated issue, but our hope is that we can showcase the layers of struggle that coffee producers face, beyond the already large struggle of selling coffee at a sufficient price. Miguel, a second-generation coffee farmer, has previously sold his coffee on the commodity market and this is one of his first opportunities to sell his micro-lots. Now, he and his peers find themselves struggling as land defenders in an area of the world where environmental activists are killed or injured in record numbers.
We hope that in buying from Miguel (and another yet to be released lot from Randolfo Pacheco), we can provide support to this community in their time of uncertainty, and bring the struggle of the Mataquescuintla community to the forefront.
Further reading: Mining Watch, LA Times, The Guardian.
The group has an excellent relationship with a medium sized Estate in Jalapa, Finca la Concepción that often has their mill unused during harvest as they are not a large operation. An excellent wet milling service is offered to them at a very low price, the mill-manager, Roberto, is part of the anti-mining resistance and wants to do all he can to help the producers realize the highest quality possible from their coffee, as does the owner of the Estate. The producers get to concentrate on producing exceptional cherries, which are then processed and dried separately. Cherries are floated prior to depulping to remove over and under-ripes, and then fermented in small tanks covered with plastic, or clean nylon bags when the quantities are tiny, for between 24 and 36 hours depending in the weather. The mill sits at 1552masl. The coffee is then washed in channels and density sorted carefully dried on the patio for over eight to ten days.
The December Dripper is the first flat-bottomed pour-over coffee dripper with adjustable brew flow. For coffee lovers, that means that it makes brewing a better cup easier than ever! For coffee brewing nerds, that means precision control overflow restriction after the brew bed. You can maintain an optimal grind size with a wide range of brew recipes and achieve an even extraction every time.
HOW THE DECEMBER DRIPPER WORKS
The December Dripper is a flat-bottomed pour-over coffee dripper, similar to a Kalita Wave dripper or a commercial coffee brewer. Having a hockey-puck shaped coffee brew bed sets things up for an even brew dynamic, meaning the water interacts with all of the coffee grounds in a similar way, whether you’re talking about the grounds at the top of the bed, the bottom, or one of the corners. Other drippers come in some sort of cone shape, setting things up for an uneven brew.
The main innovation of the December Dripper is a variable aperture base. The ability to change the number of openings at the bottom of the dripper allows you to slow the flow of water through the dripper, consistently reaching your target brew time. In most other drippers, which have no adjustable flow control, you can only control flow by varying the amount of coffee you’re brewing, or worse, by adjusting the grind away from what’s optimal. Both of these stop-gap efforts to finish your brew on target diminish the quality of the coffee in your cup. Why buy an expensive bag of specialty coffee if you can’t get a great brew every time? Even the most skilled baristas are limited by the confines of traditional pour-over drippers.
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Here are some recommended settings, but adjust your variables to taste:
20g coffee for a single cup (300mL or 10 oz) using Stage 1
40g coffee for a double serving (600mL or 20 oz) using Stage 2
Use Stage 3 to increase flow when needed
Use Stage 0 to extend the brew time by stopping the flow
and resuming as desired, or to reduce dripping when your
brew is complete.
Process: Washed, oak-tank fermentation Producer name: Esnaider Ortega
Farm names: Finca La Esperanza
Farm area: 2.5 hectares
Variety: Yellow Caturra
Details: Cherries floated to remove defects prior to depulping, depulpled same day of picking, fermenteted in wood tank for 38 hours, dried for 30-33 days in shaded raised beds.
Esnaider is a third generation coffee farmer from San Agustin in Southern Huila. We had the pleasure of spending several weeks travelling beside him in October during our trip to Colombia and developed a very close relationship that puts our team in near daily contact with him. A shy and humble young man, he truly lives and breathes coffee, not only working in the farm all year round but also working as a sample roaster for our Colombian coffee partners Fairfield Trading.
At 27, Esnaider has already shown that he has the potential and the drive to become one of Colombia’s best coffee producers, and as a result his coffee is in high demand around the world. We can proudly say that for this year’s main harvest, which runs from November – February, we purchased the lions share of the farms production including these yellow caturra lots that will be presented in the competition, some 24 bags.
Esnaider and his family operate a small farm of about 5 hectares in size, 2.5 of which belongs to Esnaider himself. His goal is to produce nothing but 86+ coffees and he is in the process of or has already planted a wide range of coffee varietals in his pursuit to create a “menu” of coffee for buyers to consider from him.
That being said, the majority of his farm are varietals common to the average Colombian coffee producer — caturra, colombia, and castillo. Amongst his newly planted varietals are Tabi, Yellow Catuai, Geisha, and Typica. Esnaider is a big fan of yellow coffee, and has been trying to plant as much of it as he can! This is interesting because yellow coffee varietals tend to produce more mucilage than their red counterparts, which leads to a sweeter coffee in the long run.
During our visit last fall, Esnaider told us about a new project he was working on. A long time ago, when his grandfather was producing coffee, he didn’t use concrete or tiled fermentation tanks but rather “roble” or Colombian oak. As Esnaider is always in pursuit of new ways to increase quality and develop new flavours in coffee, he decided to build some oak fermentation tanks himself and to ferment his yellow caturra in these tanks.
Our interest was piqued, and so we asked for him to send us samples of these coffees when they were ready. Esnaider also sent us yellow caturra fermented in his traditional tiled tanks, and it was fascinating to see how these wood tanks did indeed infuse the coffee with a distinct flavour difference — notably we found that the coffee was deeper, sweeter, and held more complex tropical fruit flavours ranging from pineapple to papaya and passionfruit. Point-wise, while the yellow caturra in tile tank yielded a result of 86.5 to 87, the wood tank boosted that score to 88 to 88.5, a remarkable difference and one that pushed this average varietal into competition worthy standing.
We were very impressed with the quality of this coffee, but even moreso by Esnaider’s gung ho attitude to try something new. As a result, we agreed to a farmgate price of 12 times market rate for our two favourite lots of this coffee and are proud to showcase it in this setting as a competition coffee. We then purchased the rest of his yellow caturra wood lots at a more sustainable long term price of 4 times over market.
Esnaider and his family are in many ways very typical smallholder coffee producers. They are not wealthy, they don’t have exceeding amount of land or access to resources, and they struggle with low market prices alongside their neighbours.
However, due to Esnaider’s diligence to improve through cupping, visiting other farmers, and the generational knowledge learned from his family, he’s actively changing the future for himself and his family and is becoming an example for the entire community around him. In fact, just last week, Esnaider’s family hosted 50 other coffee producing families at their farm to show them what they are doing to improve quality!
We’re thrilled to promote a true small producer on the competition stage, rather than promoting estate farms with large resource sets and networks. Beyond that, we’re also excited to put forth a staple of Esnaider’s annual coffee harvest — rather than choosing an exotic, low yielding and costly varietal like Geisha, this yellow caturra lot is simply one of the best of several lots harvested throughout the year that he was able to raise the quality of to a competition worthy level.
Washed: white rose / jasmine blossom soda / rose hips / orange creamsicle / ginger soda / pomegranate juice / candied apricot / candied papaya
Natural: rose / hibiscus / coffee flower honey / mango / peaches and cream / strawberry rhubarb jam / guava / papaya juice / grenadine
Honey: lilac / red rose / violet / jasmine / blackberry / dark cherry / orange candy / grenadine / rosemary / ginger tea
Bombe/Abore Washing Station
SNNPR Region
Sidama Zone
Bensa District
Bombe Village
Bombe site / Abore Washing Station
GPS Coordinates: N6° 32.442′ E38° 50.460′
Details
Coffee varieties: 74/158, 74/110 and local variety known as Setami and Mikicho
Soil type: loamy clay
Certifications: NOP and JAS Organic Certified, C.A.F.E. Practices
Wet Mill site location – 1905 MASL
farm elevations – 1850 to 2100+ MASL
Personnel
Owner: Assefa Dukamo
General Manager: Matiyos Werana
Assistant Manager: Tefera
Process Control Manager: Samson
Processing Coordinator: Eyasu Bekele
Mechanic: Berasa
Demographics
Local people group name: Durato, Faficho
Local language(s): Sidama, Amharic
Processes
Special Prep Washed screen size isolation 13, 14, 15, 16, 17
Special Prep Natural screen size isolation 13/14, 15, 16/17
Special Prep Honey
2018/2019 Washed Coffee Production Totals
We exported multiple lots, comprised of a total of 130 x 60kg bags, plus 21 x 60kg bags of Dry Ferment Washed micro lot, accounting for the entire top lot Washed production of Bombe Village at the Abore site this season.
Dried Parchment Pre Processed – 198 bags / 26,190.648 lbs / 11,880 kgs
Dry Ferment Dried Parchment Pre Processed – 33 bags / 4,365.108 lbs / 1,980 kgs
2018/2019 Honey Process Production Totals
We exported a total of 20 x 60 kg bags of Honey Bombe
Dried Parchment Pre Processed – 35 bags / 4,629.66 lbs / 2,100 kgs
2018/2019 Natural Process Productions Total
We exported multiple lots, comprised of a total of 110 x 60 kg bags, accounting for the entire top lot production of naturals from Bombe Village at the Abore site
Naturals Pre Processed – 88 x 85kg bags / 16,490.408 lbs / 7,480 kgs
Naturals in Dried Cherry = 30,507.2548 lbs / 13,838 kgs
Bombe Relationship
The producers of Bombe live high in the lush and lovely Bombe mountain valley. They are part of a member organization consisting of 667 producers in various parts of the mountain range, which also include producers from Bombe and Shantawene. We’ve worked with this group since before it was officially founded (more on that below). The last two years, these producers chose to process their coffees through the Bombe Washing Station to our specifications. Like the other coffees from this site, the Bombe coffees are always stand outs on our cupping tables. It is dense coffee, with heavy concentrations of the smaller screen sizes (the majority of the coffee screen sizes at 14 and 15), just a touch larger than the average screen sizes found in the Shantawene and Keramo lots, which also reflects a slightly larger concentration of the Mikicho variety than the other coffees have. Mikicho is easily identified by its larger cherries with wavy leaves, the seeds appearing elongated and canoe-shaped. No doubt, this is a distant relative to the Gesha variety, and the prominent cup characteristics that stand out in all Bombe lots are lush, tropical fruit tones and delicate florals.
Prior to the 2017/18 harvest, this producing group delivered coffee cherries to a different washing station nearby, called Shantawene washing station, where we first encountered the coffees and purchased them as mixed lots. Up until the 2017/2018 harvest, all coffees from Bombe, Keramo and Shantawene villages were processed together and sold under the name of Shantawene. We were noticing different cup dynamics from the cherries that came from different areas, and eventually began to isolate coffees by village. This led to the move to Bombe site washing station and getting even more isolation in the lots. For the past couple seasons, all producers we work with from Bombe, Keramo and Shantawene all deliver cherries to the more centralized Bombe site Abore Washing Station.
Details
Coffee varieties: 74/158, 74/110 and local variety known as Setami and Mikicho
Soil type: loamy clay
Certifications: NOP and JAS Organic Certified, C.A.F.E. Practices
Wet Mill site location – 1905 MASL
farm elevations – 190 0 to 2100+ MASL
Personnel
Owner: Asefa Dukamo
General Manager: Matiyos Werana
Assistant Manager: Tefera
Process Control Manager: Samson (Sami)
Processing Coordinator: Eyasu Bekele
Mechanic: Berasa
Demographics
Local people group name: Durato, Faficho
Local language(s): Sidama, Amharic
Processes
Special Prep Washed screen size isolation 13, 14, 15, 16, 17
Special Prep Natural screen size isolation 13/14, 15, 16/17
2018/2019 Washed Coffee Production Totals
We exported multiple lots, comprised of a total of 110 x 60kg bags, accounting for the entire top
lot Washed production of Shantawene Village at the Abore site this season.
Dried Parchment Pre Processed – 142 bags / 18,783.192 lbs / 8,520 kgs
2018/2019 Honey Process Production Totals
We exported a total of 43 x 60 kg bags of Honey Shantawene
Dried Parchment Pre Processed – 66 bags / 8,730.216 lbs / 3,960 kgs
2018/2019 Natural Process Productions Total
We exported multiple lots, comprised of a total of 158 x 60 kg bags, plus 40 x 60 kg of 48 hr.
Semi-Anaerobic Natural, accounting for the entire top lot production of naturals from
Shantawene Village at the Abore site
Naturals Pre Processed – 128 x 85kg bags / 23,986.048 lbs / 10,880 kgs
Naturals in Dried Cherry = 43,174.8864 lbs / 19,584 kgs
48 hr. Semi-Anaerobic Pre Processed = 38 x 85kg bags / 7,120.858 lbs / 3,230 kgs
48 hr. Semi-Anaerobic in Dried Cherry = 12,461.5015 lbs / 5,652.5 kgs
Shantawene Relationship
We have worked for several years now with the producers of Shantawene, our first season
beginning in 2015. Shantawene village is situated between the village of Bombe and the Bombe
mountain. The producers are part of a member organization consisting of 667 producers in
various parts of the mountain range, which also includes producers from Bombe and Keramo.
We’ve worked with this group since before it was officially founded (more on that below). For the
last two years, these member producers deliver their coffee cherries to the Bombe site Abore
Washing Station for processing to our specifications. We always anticipate every lot from
Shantawene each year, as they are to us the quintessential Ethiopian coffee – full of dynamic
herbals and sparkling acidity, with articulate fruits. This coffee continues to stand out as a team
favorite on the cupping table. Like Keramo, it is a dense coffee, with heaviest concentrations
comprised of the smaller screen sizes (the majority of the coffee screen sizes at 14 and 15).
The larger screen sizes are a treat for the very few roasters who get them. In screens 16 and
17, we find heavy concentrations of fruit juice and lovely tea-like subtleties that the smaller
screen sizes tend to hide with heavy-handed perfumes.
Prior to the 2017/18 harvest, this producing group delivered coffee cherries to a different
washing station nearby, called Shantawene washing station, where we first encountered the
coffees and purchased them as mixed lots. Up until the 2017/2018 harvest, all coffees from
Bombe, Keramo, and Shantawene villages were processed together and sold under the name of
Shantawene. We were noticing different cup dynamics from the cherries that came from
different areas and eventually began to isolate coffees by the village. This led to the move to
Bombe site washing station and getting even more isolation in the lots. For the past couple
of seasons, all producers we work with from Shantawene, Bombe, and Keramo all deliver cherries
to the more centralized Bombe site Abore Washing Station.
What is EA – Decaff
“Ethyl Acetate (E.A.) – This naturally occurring ester (present in bananas and also as a by-product of fermented sugars) can be isolated and used as a solvent to bond with and remove caffeine from green coffee. First, the coffee is sorted and steamed for 30 minutes under low pressure in order to open the coffee seeds’ pores and prepare them for decaffeination. The coffee is placed in a solution of both water and ethyl acetate, where the EA will begin to bond with the salts of chlorogenic acids inside the seeds. The tank will be drained and refilled over the course of eight hours until the caffeine is no longer detected as a present. The seeds are steamed once more to remove the ethyl acetate traces, though EA is only harmful to humans in very high quantities (400 parts per million or more). The coffee is then dried and polished for export.”
Take advantage of a great program dedicated to bringing the highest-quality,non-chemical-processed decaf coffees to market. Our Origin Select Decaf offerings are single-origin blends of coffees selected by cup quality grown by multiple smallholder producers. Our Colombian E.A. (ethyl acetate) decafs are cupped as regular green samples and specifically identified for decaffeination, which happens in-country in Colombia before the coffee goes to export. This allows us to maintain both the integrity of the quality of the coffees we choose to decaf, but also to extend our intentional and responsible sourcing to our decaf offerings as well as our “regular.” This process works by soaking green coffee in a bath of water and a solvent called ethyl acetate, which is naturally derived from fermented sugar, among other natural sources. The solvent bonds to the salts of chlorogenic acid within the coffee, which allows for the extraction of caffeine. The coffee is removed from its bath and steamed at low pressure to ensure no traces of E.A. are left, and the finished product is almost entirely free of any but the most trivial (0.1–0.3%) caffeine content.
According to legend, coffee was first discovered by an Ethiopian farmer named Kaldi who observed his goats begin to jump and dance after eating the red berries of the plant. Dancing Goats is a De Mello mainstay, a blend that pays homage to the fascinating history of the little beans we all love so much. Rich caramel notes blend with a smooth pecan and dark cherry finish to create a cup that’s familiar but forward.
Despite Brazil’s major status in the history and presence of coffee, it’s oft-maligned as an origin for producing low-quality coffees in massive volumes. However, this is slowly changing and we are proud to be allied with a group of quality-focused small producers that are showing the true potential this country has as a top-tier coffee country.
All of these producers are based in the Serras de Minas micro-region of Minas Gerais, and due to the volume capacities of this region, we’re able to receive coffees on an ongoing basis year-round. Each new shipment is made up of coffee produced by a specific community — the current installment features a group of nine producers situated around the town of Posses — and is constructed to match our desired profile, one that is rich in caramel, nut, and dark red fruit flavors.
Brazil is an incredibly unique coffee producing country. Through a combination of protectionist measures such as guaranteed floor pricing and also the luxury of incredible volume outputs, Brazilian coffee producers are typically able to pick and choose when they wish to sell their coffee and to whom in order to get the best for themselves.
However, the current system has incentivized a volume over quality mindset which has left producers putting very little effort into improving quality. For many farmers producing 2000 plus bags a year, the notion of gaining extra by putting more work in seems pointless as they’re able to reap such a reward already with little effort at all.
In the Serras de Minas micro-region, it becomes a little trickier. Producers are growing between 400-1000 bags, a monumental amount for many coffee producers, but such a small amount that they are often overlooked by major brokers who would buy their coffee. Add to this the fact that this region is very hilly and features some of Brazil’s highest altitudes, it renders mechanical picking impossible, thereby slowing down production and volume even more so.
As such, this region represents a great opportunity for quality incentives. If these producers can receive more for higher quality, they see the benefit as they can maximize their returns and make the farming more profitable despite its relatively small size.
We hope you’ll enjoy this true taste of Brazil, produced by a dedicated group of coffee farmers who are focused on showing all their country and their specific terroir can show!