Farms

PERU

CUPPING NOTES: Medium Acidity, Smooth Body, Lemon, Herbal, Chocolate
Grade: Grade 1, SHG, EP
REGION: Amazonas
ALTITUDE: 1,600-1,800 M
PROCESS: Washed
VARIETALS: Typica, Castillo, Bourbon, and Catimor
CERTIFICATION: Organic

Details: Located in northern Peru in the Amazonian Andes, this coop began with just 35 small farmers in 2003. The Asociacion de Productores Cafetaleros Juan Marco El Palto (JUMARP) is also known as simply "El Palto." There are 40 women of the current 189 coop members, with approximately 550 hectares of organic and Fair Trade Certified coffee in production. Like their male counterparts, female members are represented on the El Palto Coop Board of Directors, whose mission it is to increase production and profitability in specialty coffee to increase each member family’s income.

 

BRAZIL

CUPPING NOTES: Medium Acidity, Smooth Body, Mandarin Orange, Chocolate, Clean Finish
Grade: SSFC 17/18
REGION: Sul de Minas
ALTITUDE: 950-1,100 M
PROCESSING: Natural
VARIETALS: Mundo Novo, Catuai, Icatu, and Bourbon

Details: This coffee is from small producers in the rolling hills of Sul De Mines. The mild climate, gentle rainfall, and micro climate brings out the best in the trees. The farms are small to medium in size, 10-150 hectares being farmed for generations.

 

UGANDA

CUPPING NOTES: Mild Acidity, Light Body, Floral, Chocolate, Dark Fruits
REGION: Sipi, Kapchorwa District, Uganda
ALTITUDE: 1,500-2,500 M
PROCESS: Fully Washed and Sun Dried
Verietals: Bourbon: SL14, SL28, and Blue Mountain
Certification: Organic, Rain Forest Alliance

Details: UGANDA ORGANIC RFA BUGISU is sourced from family owned farms located in the Bugisu region on the slopes of Mount Elgon in the Kapchorwa district, Uganda. The Bugisu region is named after the Bugisu people who are indigenous to this area. The Sipi Falls coffee project, named after a trio of majestic waterfalls, was established in 1999 to strengthen quality coffee production in the region and create a sustainable income for farmers.

 

ETHIOPIA

CUPPING NOTES: Bright Acidity, Delicate Body, Caramel, Vanilla, Floral, Berry
Region: Sidama
ALTITUDE: 2,000-2,200 M
PROCESS: Natural and Sun Dried
VARIETALS: Local Heirloom - Sidamo
CERTIFICATION: Conventional

Details: It is thought that the coffee plant was discovered in Ethiopia, where coffee is more than an income producing crop and is part of a long lasting culture. Coffee is Ethiopia’s main export commodity, contributing to the livelihoods of more than 15 million farmers and sector workers.
This coffee grown in the Oromia zone on family farms and is processed in a local cooperative. The traditional processing method provides a truly remarkable naturally processed coffee.

 

KENYA

CUPPING NOTES: Bright Acidity, Orange, Lemon, Floral, Effervescent, Sweet Well Balanced
Grade: AB
REGION: Othaya, Nyeri County
ALTITUDE: 1,700-1,890 M
PROCESS: Fully Washed and Sun Dried on Raised Beds
Varietals: SL28, SL34, Ruiru 11, and Batian
Certification: Conventional

Details: Othaya Farmer Cooperative Society is one of key member societies of the Kenya Cooperative Coffee Exporters (KCCE) organization. KCCE is an historic organization of almost 4,000 individual cooperatives. The group was formed in 2009, with the express goal of managing marketing and exporting operations cooperatively, as opposed to contractually with third parties. This lot is processed in Gauge.
The Gatugi Factory has 500 members actively harvesting and delivering to the processing center. 
Gatugi ferments for 27-35 hours depending on ambient conditions. After fermentation, the parchment is rinsed and the water replenished, and the clean parchment soaks for an additional 12 hours, after which it is sorted by density and brought to the tables to dry, typically for two weeks. After drying is complete the coffee is stored on site and eventually delivered to the Othaya dry mill for grading and a final density sort. The established milling and sorting by grade, or bean size, is a longstanding tradition and positions Kenya coffees well for roasters, by tightly controlling the physical preparation and creating a diversity of profiles from a single processing batch. hover around 323,000 kgs, meaning the average member of Gatugi is farming enough coffee fruit for roughly two 60kg bags of export-able green.

 

TANZANIA

CUPPING NOTES: Bright Acidity, Rounded Body, Fruity, Cranberry, Lemon/Lime
Grade: PB
REGION: Mount Kilimanjaro
ALTITUDE: 1,200M-2,000 M
PROCESS: Fully Washed
VARIETAL: Bourbon - KP, N39
Certifiction: Conventional

Details: Grown on the Kilimanjaro plantation Estate, The uniquely fertile area in the region surrounding Mount Kilimanjaro is among the best in the world for the cultivation of Arabica. The entire plantation was planted with 1 million new coffee trees between 2000 and 2005. Every single coffee tree is connected to a drip irrigation system, which ensures an adequate water supply at all times. A central wet mill replaces the previously 8 decentralized processing plants and guarantees consistently high quality standards, while simultaneously reducing water consumption for the "fully washed" processing.

 

INDIA

CUPPING NOTES: Popcorn, Molasses, Rye
GRADE: A
Region: Kerala, India
ALTITUDE: 1,200M - 1,650 M
PROCESS: Full Natural and Sun Dried
VARIETALS: Robusta
Certification: Organic

Details: India Organic Robusta Cherry is sourced from family owned farms organized around the Wayanad Social Service Society (WSSS) located in the district of Wayanad within the state of Kerala, India. WSSS was established in 1974 and supports more than 8,000 small producers. Coffee is cultivated in the Western Ghats mountain range, a UNESCO World Heritage Site and one of the most biologically diverse places in the world with more than 5000 species of flowering plants and 508 different species of birds.  In addition to coffee cultivation, farmers cultivate a diverse range of spices.

 

SUMATRA

Cupping Notes: Dark Chocolate, Earthy, Lingering Finish, Medium Acidity, Full Body
Region: Northern Sumatra Blend
Altitude: 1450 - 1600 M
Grade: Grade 1 Double Picked
Processing: Giling Basha (also known as wet-hulling)
Varietal: Tim Tim, Typica, Ateng, Onan Ganjang, Jember
Harvest Months: November to May

Details: This is from Aceh and Lake Toba, where small-holder farmers own as little as 100 plants up to a few acres of land. Due to the unique processing method, Sumatran coffee usually lacks the acidity and brightness of coffee grown in other regions of the world, but has increased body and deep earthy notes. Wet-hulling is something of a hybrid between a natural and a washed. First the coffee runs through a depulper and then it ferments overnight. The farmers dry the parchment to around 50%. A collector will dry it down to about 25% and then send it through a huller to remove the parchment layer. Finally, the coffee is dried down to about 12-13% before export.

 

BALI

Cupping Notes: Bakers Chocolate, Orange Peel, Juniper, Molasses, Clean
Grower: Producers organized through Subak Abian (SA) a traditional structure of farmer organization in upland Bali
Region: Kintamani Highlands of Central Bali, Indonesia
ALTITUDE: 1200-1600 MASL
Harvest: May-October
Soil: Volcanic Loam
PROCESS: Hand-picked, Wet-hulled, Two-step Sun Dried on Raised Beds
VARIETALS: Bourbon, (S795 & USDA 762) Typica, and Catimor
CERTIFICATIONS: Organic

Details: Bali Blue Moon is a staple named after the hallmark bluish hue of the bean produced from the wet-hulling process called Giling Basah in the Indonesian language. The bulk of Bali’s coffee production comes from small family-owned farms where each producer uses a few acres to cultivate coffee along with citrus trees in the volcanic soils of Mount Agung’s Kintamani highlands. They carefully sort their harvested cherries before depulping and fermenting overnight with their own micro-mills. Then the coffee is washed and laid out on patios to shed the excess water from the coffee parchment. Next the coffee takes a detour from the conventional path of processing in other origins, wherein, the coffee parchment is removed while the coffee still has a high moisture content. This wet-hulling process or Giling Basah leaves the coffee bean exposed while drying on patios to a moisture percentage acceptable for export and gives the beans their distinct bluish color.
Balinese producers continue to maintain a traditional rural lifestyle organized around a Subak Abian, which is a reference to the ecologically sustainable irrigation systems developed more than 1,000 years ago by Hindu priests who practice Tri Hita Karana (the three sources of prosperity), a philosophy focused on the harmonization between the environment, humans and God. These traditions are followed in coffee cultivation, which means pesticides and synthetic fertilizers are never used.