Your Coffee Subscription – December 2022

Flavour notes: Stone fruit, floral & honey
Producer: Khalid Shifa
Harvest: December 2021
Origin: Goma, Jimma, Ethiopia
Process: Washed
Cultivar: Heirloom from Coche forest

Organic certified by Debio NO-ØKO-01

Two years ago, Khalid built a new wet mill on his farm. He is now able to produce washed coffees whereas before we were only able to buy natural- and honey processed coffees from him. Interestingly, I find his washed coffee to be much more expressive and flavourful with more of the classic citrus, stone fruit and floral flavours that are so common for the best Ethiopian coffees. 

In the 2021 harvest, we were able to separate all the different pickings / batches of washed coffee that Khalid produced. We were able to taste them separately and purchase the ones we liked the best. Although the lots we bought taste very similar to one another, it was important to separate each batch as we were able to reject one batch that did not meet our quality standard. In previous years, Khalid would bulk-blend all his batches together into one lot of coffee which is more risky as one bad batch might affect the quality of the bulked lot.

This coffee has a slight less intense acidity compared to a lot of other washed Ethiopian coffees we have offered over the years, but that does not mean it is not packed full of flavour. I love how this coffee changes in flavour as its temperature drops, so make sure you taste it at different temperatures for maximum enjoyment. I chose this to be one of our Christmas edition coffees just because it is such a refreshing and complex coffee that I enjoy drinking during festive times. 

Flavour notes: Winey, blackberries & blackcurrant
Producer: James Mugumo Munyiri
Harvest: December 2021
Origin: Nyeri, Kenya
Process: Washed
Cultivar: SL28 & SL34

I am happy to say that we had jus enough of this beautiful coffee to ship to our most loyal followers, our subscribers. This is a coffee of exceptional quality from a small estate in Kenya that until recently was owned and managed by Mr. James Mugumo Munyiri. Sadly James passed away this year and this is the last coffee he produced. Hopefully his family will continue his legacy. The 10 hectare family farm is  located on the highly productive eastern slopes of Aberdare.  

There are only SL 28 and SL 34 cultivars planted on this farm, which is probably why the coffee is so elegant and fruity. Most of the trees were planted in 1959 and some were planted in 1970.  Thanks to our friends at Kahawa Bora, we were able to finally buy an estate coffee that can compete with the qualities we get from the cooperative societies in Kenya. In fact this was my favourite Kenyan coffee that we bought in 2021 and in 2022. 

Flavour notes: Milk chocolate, stone fruit & ripe red berries
Producer: Fabiola & Diego Baraona
Harvest: February 2022
Origin: Tecapa-Chinameca, Usulutan, El Salvador
Process: Semi-washed
Cultivar: Pacamara

Last month we sent out a honey processed Pacamara from Los Pirineos that was really clean and sweet, with very little «fermentation» flavours.

The lot we are sending out this month is also a Pacamara from the same farm, but it is semi-washed. It means most of the the mucilage was removed with a mechanical mucilage remover before the coffee was dried. However, this lot actually tastes more like you would expect a honey processed coffee to taste like, with slightly more ripe and fermented fruity flavours.

It just shows that we should not assume that a certain process gives a predictable result in the cup.
I mean it is also possible to make a washed coffee taste like a natural processed coffee by prolonging the fermentation. If you still have some of last month’s Pacamara lot, I highly recommend comparing the two.