If it’s good for the planet it’s good for you.

The El Ciprés Farm

The delightful sweetness of El Ciprés comes from its taste (duh) and also the effort they put into the land and people who grow it. As a Certified member of the Sustainable Agriculture Network and the Rainforest Alliance, El Ciprés is awesomely focused on producing coffee holistically.

The Original Home of Coffee.

In the homeland of coffee, hidden among the trees in the Kaffa region of Ethiopa, coffee plants grow wild and free. These coffee plants are thought to be the closest in flavour to the original coffee beans first discovered, according to popular legend anyway, by goat herders in the region. There is a wide range of coffee varietals that grow in this forest and although they are carefully tended to, the farmers don’t really focus on a single varietal. This blend doesn’t mean any loss of quality however, the farmers just harvest the best, ripest beans from the tops of these old, mature coffee trees and the result is a much stronger taste of the bean’s origin rather than any differences in the varietal itself. These beans are then sorted by size and wet-processing is used to preserve their character.

Typical flavours from this coffee are rich and earthy with low acidity and a not-so-subtle chocolate aftertaste. To help enhance the chocolate notes and make a richer coffee we toast the beans a bit longer and darker for our roaster’s-choice.

AA grade coffee from small lots in Kenya.

The land is truly the star of the show in this coffee and the producers know it. Something in the soil gives beans grown here their iconic flavours and rather than messing with it, the producers get out of the way and let the coffee express itself. 

Once properly ripened, these Kenyan beans are Fully Washed, meaning they are stripped of all fruit and mucilage, leaving behind only the seed. This processing technique yields a very clean taste, showcasing the pure flavours of the terroir without any human influence.

What this means for you, is that the surprising tomato aroma is completely pure. All of the rich umami notes, the vibrant acidity and the sweet black grape tannins are are perfectly preserved in your cup: gifts from the Kenyan soil.

Explosive Coffee

Grown high above the potentially explosive Lake Kivu, is grown some truly fantastic gourmet coffee that delights at all roast levels. The beans are hand-picked and fully-washed (i.e. all pulp is fully removed before dying) ensures that the original taste of the beans are come out as cleanly as possible. At lighter roasts you get some very sweet dates and black tea, while darker roasts will savour signature peppery spice and cocoa.

Want a bit of terrifying trivia to go with your coffeee? The rich, smooth taste of this coffee partially comes from highly nutritious volcanic soils. And where you find volcanic soils, you find volcanoes. This wonderful soil happens to come from Mt Nyiragono, an active volcano on the border of the Democratic Republic of Congo and Rwanda.

Mt Nyiragono has steadily pumped 60 cubic kilometers of methane and 300 cubic kilometers of carbon dioxide in caverns under the lake. Then for good measure, laced these gasses with toxic hydrogen sulfide. During the last eruption, a small pocket of gas escaped the chamber and caused the lake to “boil” as it escaped. Should one day the gas chamber explode, say during another eruption or earthquake, 2.6  gigatonnes of carbon dioxide will be released into the atmosphere (about 5% of total global emissions, which is bad) and the toxic gas could kill millions of people in the surrounding region (very, very bad).

Unlike other the other Sumatran coffee we have (#3 Gayo Mountains and #17 Mandlheng), Sulawesi is much cleaner, sweeter, and somehow more pronounced. It has a thick body with pleasantly smooth cinnamon/cardamom spices in the finish. The darker we roast it the more chocolate character and the smoother the coffee becomes. However what you gain in chocolaty goodness loses some of the signature spice flavours that make this coffee so special. 

Works very well with French Press and other infusion methods. Makes for a mean espresso.

Far beneath the sparkling, mirror smooth surface of Lake Kivu, lies a smouldering volcano and a slumbering pocket of carbon-dioxide. At any moment a sudden tectonic shift may cause the CO2 to awaken violently, in a exploding in a cloud of ash and fury, destroying the lake, the forests and the coffee fields alike. Just thought you should know.

Assuming the bubble doesn’t burst in the next century (and smart people say it won’t), you will be able to continue to enjoy these superbly smooth AA grade beans. Roasted light brings out the floral smells of hand picking organic berries. Going a bit darker dries those berries and pours a thin layer of caramel over the surface. Roasting further to dark transforms the caramel into a melted 70%+ dark chocolate bar, dusted with dried berries.

Cauca is a magical place, filled with parks, protected wildlife and clean, precious water and maybe fairies, who knows? What we do know is that this particular coffee here was raised right at the equator, which would normally mean it’s hot and humid but fortunately some caring soul hauled this coffee plant slowly and painstakingly up steep slopes, and planted them in rich volcanic soils. Not only that, they picked the perfect spot, one where mountainous ridges protected the farm on all sides from inclement weather and the ruthless sun.

The result is coffee so smooth it practically glides over your taste buds like liquid silk. Lighter roasts have a floral sweetness with a citrus finish; while medium and darker roasts will enjoy a cashew nut-like cream and lingering chocolate finish.

Quietly nestled in a valley between three volcanoes on the southern coast of Guatemala lies Antigua. Long considered to be one of the top regions for coffee not just within Guatemala, but all of South America. Their secret for coffee excellent lies in the terroir.

Although being surrounded by three volcanoes sounds like a disaster waiting to happen, these mountains are really gentle giants. The trio protects the valley from inclement weather, keeping the fields at a steady temperature of 18 to 21°C. They trap in the rain clouds yet are positioned in a way that generous sunlight spills into the hills. The soil is the rich volcanic type (duh) almost making it impossible to grow anything but top-grade beans.

The result is a coffee that comes with a flavour profile that is unique for South American coffees. Most South American beans are nutty, but these ones are more complex, showing sweet berry and rare citrus flavours when roasted light. Going up the roasting scale lessens the acidity but lemon peel still shows in the nose, followed by aromas of pipe smoke. When you get to the dark levels, the sweet cigar smoke dominates with the nuttiness evaporating and turning to dark chocolate.