Here is the link to our latest Coffee Subscription Tasting With(out) Friends episode, starring me by myself again for the month of September. During this episode I talk about…
– a short history about Gilberto and his award-winning farm in El Salvador
– what is the Cup of Excellence award and how does it work?
– what is a honey-process / pulped natural coffee?
– what kind of coffee our 3-bag subscribers are getting (hint: it’s from a brand new coffee company based in Kenya)
As always, thank you for continuing to subscribe to our coffee, and I hope you enjoy.
Filter & Espresso
Los Pirineos Bourbon, El Salvador 1 bag
Producer: Gilberto Baraona
Harvest: February – March 2019
Origin: Tecapa-Chinameca, Usulutan, El Salvador
Cultivar: Bourbon Elite
Process: Semi washed (mechanical demucilage remover)
Flavour notes: Chocolate, toasted nuts & dried fruit
This is the Bourbon Elite (old Bourbon) coffee from the top of Gilberto’s farm (or the top of the volcano if you like.) I think this year Gilberto has produced the best quality ever on his farm and although he got 2nd place with a different lot of Bourbon this year I think the increased quality really shows in all of his coffees. The Bourbon Elite is very sweet this year with loads of brown sugar, toasted nuts and hints of dried raisins and figs. Of course it will always have the chocolaty character that his coffees are so well known for.
Producer: Gilberto Baraona
Harvest: February – March 2019
Origin: Tecapa-Chinameca, Usulutan, El Salvador
Cultivar: Pacamara
Process: Honey
Flavour notes: Chocolate & baked stone fruit
Pacamara is always an interesting cultivar as it was released to farmers around El Salvador a bit early before it was a stable cultivar. That means you can find really great tasting ones and some that are not so tasty. Gilberto has been doing a great selection of Pacamara on his farm and has therefore consistently been in the top 10 of the Cup of Excellence with this cultivar over many years. Like last year, I decided to buy a honey processed Pacamara as I found it to be very clean and have a more pronounced «Pacamara flavour». This is quite a complex and intense coffee with a more fruity flavour, still with the chocolaty character commonly found in El Salvador.
Wearenew, Kenya 3 bags
Producer: Several smallholder farmers
Harvest: December 2018
Origin: Embu, Kenya
Cultivar: SL28 & Ruiru 1
Process: Washed
Flavour notes: Blackberries, red apples & rose hips
Wearenew is a company founded by a group of farmers that decided to start working together towards a common goal of increasing the value and quality of their coffee. They are working in a more organic way that is common in Kenya, mainly with manure as fertilisers, no herbicides and they only use copper spray for preventing leaf rust, which is strangely enough allowed in Organic farming in small quantities. In 1993 their leading agronomist, James Kariuki, started researching everything from farming practices to processing of coffee cherries to figure out a better way to do things. The results are astonishing, and not only are the farmers able to produce over 100kg of coffee cherries per tree per year (average being 2kg per tree) they have also built and are running the cleanest wet mill I have ever seen in Kenya and are processing their coffee with extreme care and attention. Their members / farmers are all growing SL28 cultivars from 1300 – 1800 meters above sea level, with only a few farms still growing Ruiru 11. This makes this coffee very delicate, fruity and clean.
Cheers,
Tim