El Salvador 2013: Three great producers

Even if many producers in Centrals were hit hard by leaf rust and die-back of trees this year, the producers we work with — the Salaverrias at Las Cruces, Roberto Ulloa at La Divina Providencia and Gilberto Baraona at Los Pirineos — are all doing well.

They are doing great work in the fields and have been investing in fertilizer and plant treatments to prevent this. Fortunately their farms are at good altitude which helps to avoid the problems – the hardest-hit farms are mostly below 1400 masl.

Both Tim W and I spent some weeks in Central America during the season this year. I was there in the beginning of January, and Tim went over in February. This way we are able to cover more ground and follow up with cupping, lot selection etc.

Our first shipment should arrive in Oslo at the end of this week (mid-April)! So far we have El Martillo, La Ilusion, San Felipe, La Independencia, El Pedregal, and Santa Julia on their way. All are processed at Las Cruces. The next shipment should be arriving end of March and will contain some more coffees from Las Cruces as well as the La Divina Providencia coffees and some amounts from Los Pirineos. We have samples for the first shipment from Las Cruces, so contact us for samples.

Farm manager at Santa Julia

Las Cruces wet mill 2013

The super sweet, balanced, juicy, rich and clean coffees from Las Cruces will be back again this year. The coffees are super solid, and work well as single origin espressos, in blends and are a safe bet for any single origin filter brew.

We will again have a broad selection of coffees from the Salaverria family that owes the Las Cruces mill and a good number of farms surrounding this wet mill. Some of the farms are the same as last year, and some are new to us like La Independencia and El Pedregal. Santa Julia is a farm recently purchased by the family, with all old Bourbon trees, at an altitude of around 1600 masl. We will also have El Martillo, La Ilusion, San Felipe – same farms as last year – in the first container, with a couple more farms to come in the next shipment.

The coffees are in general all from the higher altitudes, with either old bourbon trees or a mix of bourbon, pacas and even some catuai and pacamara trees mixed in some of the blocks.

All the coffees are again going through the same preparation as we initiated last year at Las Cruces together with the producer. Which means: they are going through an extra washing and rinsing, then are soaked in clean water over night after being mechanically demucilaged on Jotagallo eco-pulpers. Read more here from last year’s Las Cruces post…

One benefit of having a long-term partnership is that they now are more experienced with the “new” process and are able to fine-tune to improve even more. As always the cherries are extremely ripe when harvested, and the quality control at the mill is even more impressive than last year. They are focusing more on preparation on selected farms and have a great system for lot separation.

We have found that the soaking process helps these coffees hold up really well in terms of aging. Even if they are dried on patios, they are dried under very well controlled circumstances at higher altitudes, with temperatures at acceptable levels.

These guys are doing a lot of experiments with organic farming as well. They are heavily involved in the development of the organic fertilizer Huisil. It’s widely used for all their coffees, with a minimum 50/50 split with normal traditional fertilizer. A couple of their farms are now 100% converted to organic and there will be more to come.

We have cupped coffees of the same varietal side by side several times on a block with chemical fertilizer VS Huisil (organic), and the cup quality seems to be slightly better for the plants with organic treatment, which is a promising development!

 

Parchment drying at La Divina Providencia

La Divina Providencia 2013

We are continuing our relationship with Roberto Ullua and his farm, La Divina Providencia. He’s definitely producing some of the most complex and unique coffees I know in El Salvador. The farm is located in the Santa Ana region, but is in an area called Pala Campana, which has different soils and a micro-climate compared to the rest of this region. He has a mix of old bourbon trees and the varietal they call Kenyan, which is a varietal planted in that area some generations ago. All together the soil, climate and varietals result in a more acidity-driven, complex and floral coffee than found anywhere else in Central America. For more info see post La Divina Proividencia…

Roberto Ulloa is one of the most passionate farmers I know of in terms of agronomical practices. His approach to coffee farming is all about soil treatment and making the root systems healthy enough to harness the maximum potential of the plant. His philosophy is that the quality is all made in the fields, and that old trees can contribute to more structure and complex flavors. This reminds me of the philosophy of some of the greatest wine producers in Burgundy.

He recently changed the mill where he is processing his coffees from La Gloria to Las Lajas. Even here we are currently doing trials on different processing, fermentation and soaking methods as well as drying on raised tables etc. We will have small amounts from the trials this year of regular washed, soaked, naturals, etc.

Nursery with different varietals at Los Pirineos

Los Pirineos

Gilberto Baraona, the owner and producer of Los Pirineos, has his farm located in Usulatan, east of the Santa Ana region. He’s a progressive farmer experimenting a lot with varietals, processing and drying. He’s taken part in some research project to develop new varietals and this has resulted in a great seed bank with coffee varietals from all over the world. He’s also doing some trials on planting different varietals in different altitudes to see how they perform in terms of flavor.

This year he built a lot of raised drying beds that are covered with shade to both produce naturals and to see the effect of a slower drying on raised tables on cup transparency and flavor. Especially important is whether this way of drying the coffee can extend shelf life and decrease the rapid development of aged flavors that often occurs early in Central American coffees. He’s got his own mill at the farm that allows him and us to do a lot of trials in general to improve the final product.

–Morten

Yirgacheffe single farmer project

This year, we were given the opportunity to support and be a part of a new and unique Ethiopian project:  small- to medium-sized farmers, who previously delivered cherries to the Cooperatives in Yirgacheffe, have constructed micro–mills with the support from micro financing organizations, the government and the Yirgacheffe Cooperative Union.

They are now able to produce, sell, and export their coffees directly as Single Estate Coffees. We truly believe this pilot project can change the way some of the Ethiopian specialty coffees are produced and traded. We currently have coffees from three great farms in our portfolio.

Mesele Haile with his disc pulper

“One Farmer, One Roaster”

The man behind the program, Tekle Mammo, has been working with coffee growers all his life. He took the initiative and called the project “One Farmer, One Roaster”. He started this project in 2011 together with Yirgacheffe Union by convincing three small farmers in Yirgacheffe to take a loan and invest in hand pulping machines for washed coffee.

It was a success: at this point there are several farmers taking part in the project, and most of them have invested in and constructed proper micro-mills where they are able to produce washed coffees based on the same quality standards as the most successful cooperatives.

Direct trade and financial support

There is still a lot of unrevealed potential both in terms of volumes and processing for these producers. They still need money to invest, build warehouses, have guards on their property, build drying tables and more fermentation tanks, etc.

We are adding 1 extra USD per kg for this coffee that will be handed over directly to the farmers next year. It is earmarked for investment in equipment that will help the farmers to develop and increase both quantity and quality. The prices for these coffees reflect the extra effort, risk and investment taken by the producers.

The money after cost of production and export fees goes entirely back to the farmer. Our goal is to link roasters to the farmers and give them exclusive rights in their home market or country to that specific farm in the future.

A unique opportunity

Yirgacheffe is known for its complex, floral and acidity-driven coffees. The farms are located in the most interesting areas in Yirgacheffe, with altitudes up to 2000 meters above sea level. Normally the coffee cherries from the farms and micro regions in this area would be blended at the wet mills with cherries from hundreds of other farmers.

In this case we have the opportunity to buy coffees from specific areas from farmers that are able to pay extra attention to picking, ripeness, processing and drying.

The coffees are also dry milled privately and we are able to follow up and do extensive sorting and grading prior to export. We have been physically present during this process to make sure the preparation is done according to our specific standards.

Please stay tuned for more information — if you have questions, you can always email us at info@nordicapproach.no

Kenya 2013: One Co-op, different wet mills, and a bunch of different coffees

2013 Purchase

This year we took three trips to Kenya all together to follow up with our partners and select the cream of the crop. We have so far bought a great bunch of AAs and ABs and some are already shipped. The coffees are carefully selected and totally meet our requirements for what stand-out Kenyans should taste like. We will have some samples to be sent out soon. First come, first serve!

The first shipment will at least contain the following coffees, and should arrive and be available for purchase from end of April if all goes well.

AA Gichatthaini Lot 008 (Gikanda Coop) 72 boxes of 30 kg
AA Thunguri Lot 202 (Rumokia Coop) 56 boxes of 30 kg
AB Gichathaini 008 (Gikanda Coop) 50 bags of 60 kg
AB Karogoto Lot 255 (Tekangu Coop) 50 boxes of 30 kg

*The lot number refers to the specific batch/outturn number from the wet mill/factory.
*Gichatthaini AA and AB lot 08 is the different screen sizes from the same outturn

Second container will at least contain:

AA Gichatthaini lot 081 (Gikanda Coop) 34 boxes of 30 kg
AA Thunguri lot 154 (Rumokia Coop) 50 boxes of 30 kg
AA Tegu lot 164 (Tekangu Coop) 30 boxes of 30 kg
AA Karindundu lot 229 (Barichu Coop) 36 boxes of 30 kg
AA Kagunyo lot 156 (Rumokia Coop) 36 boxes of 30 kg
AB Gichatthaini lot 081 (Gikanda Coop) 50 bags of 60 kg
AB Kagunyo lot 156 (Rumokia Coop) 50 bags of 60 kg
AB Kangocho lot 088 (Gikanda Coop) 50 bags of 60 kg

More TBA

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Timing is everything

In Kenya it is all about correct timing when it comes to cupping for purchasing.

My first visit this season was in December, and there was hardly anything to cup other than coffees from larger estates. As we’ve mentioned before, we generally find the coffees from Nyeri and Kirinyaga (where there are mainly cooperatives) more attractive. Normally there are some good amounts of coffees from the co-ops by this point, but the harvest this year was slightly delayed.

Tim went back in mid-January and was able to cup enough to see the general potential for this season, which was promising, but it was still too early to actually pick and choose from the wet mills and co-ops we work with.

Finally I was there with a group of clients tagging along on a longer Africa trip in February, and the timing was perfect. A lot of the coffees from our preferred co-ops and wet mills were just coming in to the dry mill and we had a lot of great stuff to choose from.

One Co-op, different wet mills, and a bunch of different coffees

I’ve had many questions the past year regarding if our coffees like Tegu, Karogoto or other well known Factory names is the same coffee as other roasters have. In general I would say no – normally, (and especially for the AAs and PBs), we are buying the total amount of an outturn when we find something we like.

As many of you know, the Cooperative structure in Kenya is organized in a way where you have the Cooperative Society as the umbrella organization e.g. Gikanda Cooperative Society. A Cooperative Society can have everything from one to six different factories (wet mills) The name “Gikanda,” for instance, is the short version and a combination of the names of the three factories (wet mills) under that Co-op: Gichatthaini, Kangocho, and Ndaorini.  Another example is Tekangu Cooperative Society, which comes from combining Tegu, Karogoto, and Ngunguru.

There is no such thing as one “Tekangu Coffee” or even one “Karogoto Coffee” unless you specifically ask an exporter to blend all the different outturns for you. Meaning every Cooperative, wet mill, or even Estate will deliver many different outturns that are kept and sold separately. That’s the beauty of the Kenyan coffee industry. The trade of quality is mainly based on lot separation.

Cupping in Kenya

Selection through cupping

Back to why timing is important: If you plan only one trip during the season, book your ticket too early, and only have a couple of days to cup, what you will be able to access and cup through during those days is really random. That’s why we almost always do at least two or three trips post-harvest.

The coffees received and processed at the cooperative wet mills in Kenya are normally kept in conditioning bins at the wet mill’s warehouse until the factory manager decides to deliver that specific outturn to their dry miller and marketing agent. This can take a while after harvest, since in Kenya they often take the coffees into conditioning at what they call the black stage, meaning when the coffees are stable at 15-16% moisture, but still not totally dried to the target of 11 – 11,5%.

Some do it because they believe it’s good for the quality, but it’s also a matter of logistics, as they will get free space on the drying tables for new coffees coming in. This can in our opinion benefit the coffees anyway, as they get a resting period during drying, but it can create delays on parchment delivery after harvest. When they have free space on the tables, they then finish of the drying down to 11% before delivery of the parchment to the dry mill. They will also normally spend some time to handpick and sort their coffees before they are delivered.

All the Co-ops we work with are then delivering several different lots from each wet mill.

Even from the top Co-ops and wet mills you will have some great coffees, some mediocre stuff and normally some basic commercial outturns. It’s a shame to hear this kind of misperception from people that have cupped one outturn from a wet mill, e.g. “Kangocho is not cupping well this year” … !!?

Parchment sorting

Direct — before the auction

When we are there to cup at the right time, when the good wet mills are delivering their best outturns to be milled or if they are recently milled and graded, we will normally have the first right of  refusal for the coffee. If we commit while we are there it can be pulled out from the auction catalogue or sold to us even before it’s registered for the auction. If we are not there it can either go to the auction and be available for everyone, or there might be other buyers cupping and buying that coffee before we even get the chance to get a sample sent. That’s the name of the game.

That said, as we are working in a close relationship with the wet mills, marketing agents and exporters. We do have some priority on some of the Co-ops, and will always be able to access coffees direct from the Co-ops without having to go through auction. There is nothing wrong with the auction system, either –  it is transparent and the money mainly goes back to the farmer anyway — but the fact is that the co-ops we work with are attractive and the best lots will hardly ever reach the auction room.

–Morten

“One Farmer, One Roaster”

One Farmer, One Roaster project manager Tekle Mammo

(A guest post by Seife Tuuloskorpi of Ethiopian Beans about a project he is working on in Ethiopia. Read more about our partnership here, and please email us if you are interested in buying this coffee!)

Tekle Mammo has been working with coffee growers all his life. He has taken the initiative on a project he calls “One Farmer, One Roaster”. He started this project last year together with Yirgacheffe union by convincing three small farmers in Yirgacheffe to take a loan and invest in hand pulp machines for washed coffee.

Hand pulper for washed coffee. 80kg of red cherries takes 15 min to pulp.

By investing in a hand pulp a small farmer like Olke Bire produce micro lot of 30 bags

All cherries comes from his back yard and the whole family is involved in the coffee processing.

By producing this excellent micro lot of 30 bags, Olke Bire sold his coffee directly to a micro
roaster that paid him far better prices than he would get on the local market.

With the profit Olke Bire made from the last crop, he has invested in a water hole in his back yard — so now he and his family don’t have to walk 3km to have fresh water!

This year, 16 farmers in Yirgacheffe have been inspired by Olke Bire’s success and are investing in hand pulpers. Seeing this reminds me why I started working with coffee– this is the real deal, noy aid but empowerment… I am glad to support the project “One Farmer, One Roaster.” What a Beauty!

Project facts:

Union: Yirgacheffee

Current crop: 16 farmers

Process: 3 sun dried, 13 washed

Area: Each farmer has 4 – 12 hectares

Average volume green beans: 50 bags (60kg each).

Altitude: between 1700-2300

Districts: Yirgacheffe, Kochore, Wonago, Gedeb

–Seife

2013 Offer lists updated

As you may have noticed, it’s taken a few weeks to get our January offer list updated — I blame the after-Christmas hangover. But we’ve also spent a good amount of time revamping our offer list to make it more user-friendly and descriptive of the specific attributes of each coffee. Brief cupping notes are included for each coffee plus clickable links to the in-depth description page. Nice!

Check out the new lists here!

We have also split it into two lists. One is our normal January/February list with fresh, stellar lots from Rwanda, Burundi, and Colombia plus favorites from Kenya, Ethiopia, El Salvador, and Honduras.

The other list is made up of great coffees that we are discounting for reasonable volumes — they are still cupping really well, and we need to make room for the upcoming crop from Kenya, Ethiopia, El Salvador. The harvest is pretty late in East Africa from the best regions, so remember that fresh crop will not come in until May at the earliest!

Also included are price levels for different-sized orders. There are now price levels for under 600kg orders (less than 1 pallet), medium-sized orders (where most people will find themselves), and over 3500kg orders (50+ bags, roughly) which are entitled to a discount. Everybody has different needs for different order sizes, and as always I will try to accommodate as best I can — this way it will be simple for everyone to figure out where they stand. NB: Mixed pallets are always welcome! The price levels are for total orders, even a pallet with 12 bags of 12 different coffees.

As always, if there are any questions, give a ring or send an email to your friendly neighborhood American in Norway and I’ll sort it out!

-Alec

Huye Mountain

Rwanda is a small landlocked country in East Africa. Belgians introduced coffee there in the 1930s, but even though coffee has been cultivated for generations, only recently are we seeing truly great qualities of the Rwandan washed coffees. Until the year 2000 they focused mainly on high volumes and compromised on quality, and coffees were home processed and sold to local traders. The industry started to undergo privatization in 2001: the first private washing station was established in 2002, and the first container of fully washed, traceable, quality coffee was exported in 2003.

Today Rwanda has more than 300 washing stations spread throughout the whole country. There are significant differences in the flavor attributes in the different regions due to climate, soil, altitude and growing conditions. Small holder farmers with less than 200 trees pr farm make up the majority of the industry. One tree produces an average of 1,7 kg cherries, meaning it takes hundreds, or sometimes even thousands, of farmers to produce and deliver enough cherries to a washing station for one regular batch of coffee.

Huye Mountain wet mill is located in an area where we have found the most complex and fragrant Rwandan coffees. The producer is investing a lot in quality control and sustainability programs for the surrounding farmers and local workers. They work actively to control the process and drying by strict protocols, and are separating their coffees based on daily pickings and different processing methods. This enables us to carefully select only the best batches throughout the harvesting season.  They also have three small shade grown coffee plantations belonging to their mill. Huye Mountain employs a licensed Q Grader and cupper, which is rare for a wet mill, and has a lab to test the coffee, enabling them to continually tweak their processes to increase quality and provide quick feedback to the producers of the cherries.

For more information on Rwanda, see our earlier post here and this video from the farm: http://youtu.be/hSBo3mqLb_I

Washing Station: Huye Mountain Coffee

District: Southern Province

Commune/Local municipality: Huye

Altitude: Coffee grown from 1700 – 1900 masl

Producer: David Rubanzangabo

Farmers: N/A

Varietals: Different traditional types of Bourbon

Grade: Screen 15 and up.

Production: Pulped and dry fermented, graded in washing channels, soaked in water and, skin dried under shade with intense parchment hand-sorting before sundried on African beds.

Process: Cherries are hand sorted for unripes and overripes by the farmers before they go in to production. A 2 disc Mckinnon pulper removes the skin and pulp. The coffee is then dry fermented for 12- 16 hours, dependent on the weather conditions. It’s then graded in washing channels in to two grades based on density before soaked under clean water in tanks for 18 hours.

Drying: Sun dried up to 15 days on African drying beds with wire mesh. Coffees are covered in plastic during midday and at night.

Notes: The producer is investing to improve quality. Coffees are separated by blocks, daily pickings and, and parchment is thoroughly sorted during drying to decrease potential off flavors and number of defected beans.

Cupping notes: Red currant and citrus aromas. Sweet, transparent and bright with red berry acidity profile. Light and complex, but well structured with high flavor intensity. Good range of complex red berry flavors and hints of floral notes. Delicate with good intensity and juiciness, floral and transparent in finish.

Download Information: Huye Mountain (pdf)

Mahembe

(photos to come!)

Rwanda is a small landlocked country in East Africa. Belgians introduced coffee there in the 1930s, but even though coffee has been cultivated for generations, only recently are we seeing truly great qualities of the Rwandan washed coffees. Until the year 2000 they focused mainly on high volumes and compromised on quality, and coffees were home processed and sold to local traders. The industry started to undergo privatization in 2001: the first private washing station was established in 2002, and the first container of fully washed, traceable, quality coffee was exported in 2003.

Today Rwanda has more than 300 washing stations spread throughout the whole country. There are significant differences in the flavor attributes in the different regions due to climate, soil, altitude and growing conditions. Small holder farmers with less than 200 trees pr farm make up the majority of the industry. One tree produces an average of 1,7 kg cherries, meaning it takes hundreds, or sometimes even thousands, of farmers to produce and deliver enough cherries to a washing station for one regular batch of coffee.

A producer who has grown up in the area (Justin Musabyiama) owns Mahembe washing station. Justin used to work as a driver for the National Organization of coffee (NAEB), but decided in 2010 to move back home, and start a wet mill on he’s fathers coffee plantation. He has an 8 hectare farm and he’s buying cherries from the surrounding smallholders. The area he’s located in is new for  quality coffees as there are not yet as many producers located in the higher altitudes. Nevertheless, we found this coffee to be unique with a great future potential, and different from other coffees from Rwanda in general. The way he has organized the operations and the work he is doing on the ground on quality improvements and close follow up on production gives great results in the cup.

For more information on Rwanda, see our earlier post here

Washing Station: Mahembe Coffee Washing Station

District: Eastern Province

Commune/Local municipality: Nyagatare

Altitude: Coffee grown from 1700 – 1900 masl

Producer: Justin Musabyiama

Farmers: 500 farmers in total

Varietals: Different traditional types of Bourbon

Grade: Screen 15 and up.

Production: Eco pulped and wet fermented, graded in washing channels, soaked in water and, skin dried under shade with intense parchment hand-sorting before sundried on African beds.

Process: Cherries are separated in a flotation tank before they go in to production. A Penagos eco pulper removes the skin, pulp and 70% of mucilage. The coffee is then wet fermented for 10-12 hours. It’s then graded and washed in channels in to two grades based on density before soaked under clean water in tanks for 16 hours.

Drying: Sun dried up to 21 days on African drying beds with wire mesh. Coffees are covered in plastic during midday and at night.

Notes: The producer is investing to improve quality. Coffees are separated by daily pickings, and parchment is thoroughly sorted during drying to decrease potential off flavors and number of defected beans.

Cupping notes: Blackberries and citrus aromas. Sweet, intense and ripe with mature cherry flavor and currant acidity profile. Well structured with a medium intensity. Good range of complex berry flavors. Dense, rich and warming fruit notes in the opening, delicate with good intensity and juiciness. Balanced and subtle with a delicate and soft finish.

Download information: Mahembe (PDF)