All-or-Nothing – Microlot coffee production from small holders.

A special trial from the farmers of Guji, Ethiopia.

A Sweet, Warming (and fruity) Brew

As I write this, the summer is fading into fall and I find myself needing something a bit warmer to get me through the day. This coffee from Hama certainly fits the mood, being a bean that not only warms you up but is also quite sweet (if you put sugar in your coffee better hold back with this one). Smelling these beans reminds me of a (hot?) mixed berry smoothie with aromas of summery white and yellow flowers. There’s a fall aftertaste of sweet tangerines layered into the cup as well.

Why Is Hama So Sweet?

Grown in the birthplace of Arabica coffee, coffees here enjoy an average temperature ranging from 16.5 to 18.5 °C and an annual rainfall of around 1600 ml (that’s not much). Trying to mature coffee cherries in such a cold environment greatly prolongs the maturation process, resulting in a high concentration of sugar. 

Local producers employ natural processing (leaving the pulp on the bean) for 21 days during the dry season. This further concentrates the sugar and ferments the pulp, embedding a fruity acidity in the resulting beans. Careful hand-picking then safeguards the quality, ensuring a sweet and fruity coffee.

BufCoffee – A woman led endevour.

Bufcoffee is one of those companies that you just can’t help falling in love with. Epiphanie Mukashyaka founded Bufcoffee in 2003 because she was passionate about coffee, and she wanted to help lift others in her community who needed a helping hand. As a widow of seven children, Epiphanie knows a thing or two about perseverance – and about neighbors helping neighbors.

In order to follow her dream of bringing high-quality coffee production to her community, Epiphanie learned everything she could about the coffee trade, went through tons of training on all levels of fully washed coffee production and quality control, and quickly achieved something amazing: she became one of the region’s only female coffee producers!

But Epiphanie didn’t stop there, she shared her company’s success with her community by providing water sanitary systems, health insurance for the farmers, and generally improving living standards. They’ve even built a local school!

Bufcoffee Tasting Notes

From the moment you open a bag of Bufcoffee coffee beans and smell the wonderful aromas, you know you’re getting a world-class coffee. The beans are also Rainforest Alliance certified, by the way.

Bufcoffee beans are grown in the Nyamagabe District, part of the Southern Province of Rwanda. The coffee bean trees are located in areas with an elevation of between 1,920 – 2,100 meters, and it’s this high elevation that gives the beans their crisp, complex flavor. Trust us when we say, there’s something special about these beans.

You see, growing coffee plants at higher elevations stresses the bushes, which results in a smaller yield of beans. The benefit to growing coffee fruit in conditions like this is that the beans that are produced have a more concentrated flavor, and a harder exterior – both desirable qualities in high-end coffee beans.

To understand this process better, think of the way stress impacts grape vines. The older the plant, the more the roots must fight for water, and the more stressed they become. Stressed vines produce fewer grapes, but the grapes that are produced are prized for their unique flavor.

If you’re like us, and you love a good pour-over coffee, you’re going to want to try this coffee ASAP. There’s just so much happening in the cup: yellow plum, apricot, champagne, cashew, pineapple and cane sugar flavors. And, on top of that, the acidity is well-structured and kind of tropical.

Sipping this ultra high-end coffee is truly delightful because the flavors just keep unfolding. It really is one of the most interesting beans we carry.

The Bufcoffee Cupping Score

Cupping is a system used to taste, evaluate and grade coffee, similar to, but not completely the same as a wine rating system. Aroma, flavor, body, acidity, and balance are all graded to give a coffee its cupping score.

Scores of 80 points are incredibly difficult to achieve. Coffees rated over 80 are considered specialty coffees, i.e.: the best of the best, and any coffee that approaches or surpasses 90 points is considered out-of-this-world good.

The Bufcoffee cupping score is an incredible 86.5. In other words, this is a coffee you’re going to want to tell all of your coffee-loving friends about.

Every once in a while I come across a coffee that just blows my mind, one that makes me stop what I’m doing and wonder, how the hell did they do this? La Bastilla did this to me before I had even tasted it. At only 18 years old, La Bastilla has accomplished more good than I’ve done in my entire life and their work is inspiring. The company has rejuvenated two abandoned coffee plantations located out in the jungles and purposefully transformed them into bio-dynamic paradises; preserving the forests and native fauna while growing excellent coffee beans. Their efforts in sustainability have been certified by the Rainforest Alliance.

La Bastilla’s quest for coffee excellence wouldn’t be complete without a strong, supportive community however. When they realized their remote location offered no schools for their staff La Bastilla took it upon themselves to create one. They started small, offering pre-school and primary classes to their workers’ children but soon they discovered that the surrounding community were clamouring for a school as well so they opened it up for everyone, growing the school to support 200 students!

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.