Bella Aurora Washed

Luis Joaquin Lovo and his wife Marielo have an incredible passion for their home country of Nicaragua. Though they immigrated to the United States during the civil war in Nicaragua in the  80’s, their heart was always to return. And they did! Upon returning, Luis picked up cultivating coffee on his family farm in hopes to help rebuild the community and the country. 

In addition to coffee farming, Luis and Marielo started Fundanuse, a micro-loan program which is one of the largest in the country. The program not only provides capital but also accountability for entrepreneurs and farmers.

Kayon Mountain

Story: Ismael Hassen Aredo is the owner of the Kayon Mountain Coffee Farm. He operates the farm with his family and a mix of permanent and seasonal employees. The farm is located in Ethiopia’s Guji zone of the Shakiso district. 

Though coffee is often thought of as a staple cash crop in Ethiopia, Ismael has to compete for seasonal employees with a nearby mine. Ismael chooses to incentivise working at the farm by providing competitive wages which are often higher than at the mine. 

Ismeal’s coffee is set apart by his farming, harvesting, and processing practices. He pays careful attention that the coffee cherries are picked ripe and that the cherries designated for washed coffees are depulped the very same day. The drying process for both natural and washed processed coffees takes between 12-20 days.

In the Cup: This is a bright and cheerful coffee with strawberry, peach, chocolate, and mild floral notes.

A Look Into What Our Barista's Know

This is a moment to educate you all on how coffees in Ethiopia are classified and named. You will notice that the varieties listed on the label are 74110 & 74112. This might seem a little strange to you if you are not super familiar with varieties from Ethiopia. Long story short, many heirloom varieties in Ethiopia had been susceptible to CBD (coffee berry disease). Jimma Agricultural Research Center aka JARC took time to travel around the country to discover which coffee varieties appeared to be CBD resistant. These two varieties called out were found to stand up to CBD. Getting back around to why these are numbered, the first two numbers, 74, mean that the coffee was cataloged by JARC that year. The following numbers 110 or 112 are the classification names for the “mother tree” (the original plant from which the coffee cherries were harvested and propagated). Mother tree 110 is from Bishari village of the Metu province. Mother tree 112 is originally from the forest of Metu-Bishari. Both are CBD resistant and high yielding plants.

RECENT COFFEE RELEASES

Alongside those amazing coffees, we've also had some more release in the past few weeks! Here's a quick rundown:

Brazil Yellow Bourbon Natural 

Story: Fazenda Sertão is a farm located in Carmo de Minas, the southeast region of Brazil. This farm is dedicated to raising livestock as well as growing bananas, corn, and of course coffee. A 330-hectare plot of the farm is dedicated to growing only coffee. There you will find bourbon, catucai, and catuai varietals. 

This farm was an inheritance left to Isidro Pereira left by his mother. At the time Isidro had a career as a dentist. Yet, in order to carry on his family’s legacy in farming, he changed careers and became a coffee producer. In turn, he later passed Fazenda Sertão onto his wife and children. They are still carrying on the family tradition of coffee production. 

In the Cup: Heavy body, Nutty, Cocoa, Mild Sweetness

Burundi Kalico Mama

Story: Kahawa Link Company (Kalico, for short) is a conglomerate of seven washing stations located in the Kirundo and Muyinga Provinces of North-Eastern Burundi. Kalico was founded by Angele Ciza who had previously owned a coffee exporting company as well as started her own coffee plantation. Her career has been shaped by wanting to improve the quality of coffee in Burundi and she realized that the key to this aspiration would be found at the production level. She now produces some of the best coffee in Burundi. 

Yet, Angele’s aspirations have grown beyond good coffee. Her most recent endeavor is creating the brand Kalico Mama- a purely women produced coffee. The coffee is grown exclusively by women farmers and is then specially separated out at the washing stations. Further setting this coffee apart, the bags are artfully sewn by local women with disabilities. The goal for this coffee is to promote and empower both female farmers and women with disabilities in Burundi. 

In the Cup: Balanced, Light, Root beer, Vanilla, Lemon finish