Dear coffee subscriber,
As usual we get many new subscribers over Christmas as many of you have gotten a subscription as a gift from someone near and dear. Wether this is your first ever shipment from us, or if you are one of our loyal customers we welcome you to another exciting coffee year. I can assure you that our team is more committed than ever to make sure we get the very best coffees from the producers we buy from, and we will try our very best to make those coffees as tasty as possible for you.
To start off the year we are sending out three very contrasting and delicious coffees. A lot of our followers are big fans of Kenyan and Ethiopian coffees so we figured we would send out some of the best that we bought from those two origins last year. To top it off, we had a small lot of Pacamara from the Caballeros, that we bought exclusively for our subscribers. We hope you will enjoy these three distinctly different coffees. If you need any tips on how to brew them please visit our website to see our brewing guides and make sure you watch our monthly subscription videos to learn more about the coffees we send out.
We wish you all a great 2025.
Kapsokisio (1st & 4th bag)
Flavour notes
Rose hips, hibiscus & red berries
Producer
Several smallholder farmers
Harvest
December 2023
Origin
Mt. Elgon, Kenya
Process
Washed
Cultivar
K7, SL28 & SL34
About 90% of the farmers who deliver cherries to the Kapsokisio wet mill grow the K7 cultivar, which means only about 10% of the coffee is SL28 and SL34 cultivars. This is probably one of the main reasons why the Kapsokisio coffees taste so different from the coffees from central-Kenya.
When we started buying coffee from Kapsokisio in 2012, the cooperative was struggling with drying capacity during the peak of the harvest, which is when the best coffees are processed. Therefore in 2013 we decided to invest in building new drying tables at the wet mill in order to increase the drying capacity at the factory. We managed to raise about $10 000 USD from our customers during our 6th and 7th anniversary that was donated to Kapsokisio in order to have new drying beds built.
Ever since we have always been trying to get our hands on some coffee from this wet mill as it is such a unique coffee with crisp fruity flavours.
Tatmara Washed (2nd & 5th bag)
Flavour notes
Citrus, floral & stone fruits
Producer
Negussie Tadesse
Harvest
December 2023
Origin
Dakiti, Kaffa, Ethiopia
Process
Washed
Cultivar
74110 & 74112
In 2022 we held a fund raiser during our 15 year anniversary and collected money that we donated to Negussie in order to fund the construction of a new wet mill on his farm. The wet mill was completed in October last year and I was able to be there to oversee the first lot being processed at the new mill. It was very beneficial to be able to be there right at the start of the harvest. It meant that we could see the mill in use and uncover any risks and make a protocol on how we would like our coffees to be processed.
Like with the coffees we buy from Echemo, we asked Negussie to separate all daily pickings, to dry the coffees under shade nets and to store the coffees in air tight grain pro bags after drying, making sure every daily picking was properly marked.
We also agreed upon the processing protocol, ensuring good results by controlling fermentation and implementing soaking of the coffee after the mucilage was removed mechanically.
As soon as the coffees were dried, samples were sent to us in Oslo in order to be able to give feedback and evaluate the quality.
The harvest went really well much thanks to the help and follow up done by Fantanesh Keleme and the whole team at Belco in Ethiopia, who made sure Negussie was properly trained and followed the protocols for all the coffees he produced for us. In fact none of the washed coffees were rejected as all of them ended up tasting really good.
My only regret is that we only asked for 20 bags (60kg) of the washed coffees as they turned out to taste fantastic. But we did not want to take too much risk given that this was Negussie’s first time preparing washed coffees on his farm. That also means we were not able to send it out to all our subscribers as the volumes just was not big enough.
We aim to get more of this coffee in the coming years as it is very expressive with loads of jasmine, floral, bergamot, citrus and stone fruit flavours.
A huge thanks to all our supporters for making this project a reality. We really hope you will enjoy this coffee.
Caballero Pacamara (3rd & 6th bag)
Flavour notes
Winey, ripe red berries & tropical fruits
Producer
Marysabel Caballero & Moises Herrera
Harvest
March 2024
Origin
Chinacla, La Paz, Honduras
Process
Washed
Cultivar
Pacamara
In 2018 we won the Pacamara category in the Nordic Roaster Competition with the Pacamara coffee from the Caballeros and it helped us win the overall competition. I believe it was because of the exceptional sweetness that this coffee displays along with the interesting Pacamara flavours that helped us win. Unfortunately this cultivar can be a bit inconsistent both in quality and production yield from year to year and picking to picking. In 2024 we bought two small lots, one picked in February and one picked in March. The later is the one we are sending out this month and it has more intensity of flavour compared to the lot from February that we sold in 2024.
This coffee has intense and distinct red and tropical fruit flavours and a winey acidity. No wonder it is Marysabel’s favourite cultivar as the flavours can be really complex, yet Moises is not the biggest fan, mainly due to the inconsistent mood of the plants from year to year. When coffees are this good, I personally don’t mind that the quality can be a bit up and down from year to year. After all it is a good reminder that coffee is a product of nature.