This month at Blue Coffee Box, we are featuring 6 new gourmet coffees for June. Instead of doing a post on each coffee, we decided to put them all in one place for you.
Below you will find the list, as well as the roasters we are sourcing these coffees from this month as well.
Gourmet Coffees
Bwishaza
Producer: Bwishaza co-operative
Varietals: Red Bourbon
Processing: Washed
Altitude: 1650m
Country: Rwanda
Region: Near to Kibuye, Lake Kivu
Cupping Notes: Blood orange, black tea, caramel
Roaster: Horsham Coffee Roasters
Bwishaza is a co-operative owned and operated washing station. They produce a range of different processes specifically for us and these include experimental washed coffees and natural processed coffees.
This lot is one of their larger ones processed using a washed double soaked method. Ripe cherry is hand-harvested and delivered to the washing station and flotation in tanks is used as the first step to removing any defects.
The coffee cherry is then pulped and fermented for 12-16 hrs before being graded in grading channels. The coffee is then soaked a second time for 10-12 hrs before it is dried on raised beds.
Fazenda Inhame
Producer: Marco Aurelio
Varietals: Catuai
Processing: Natural
Altitude: 1200m
Country: Brazil
Region: Campos Altos, Cerrado Mineiro
Cupping Notes: Nutty, chocolate, stone fruit
Roaster: Horsham Coffee Roasters
The farm is owned by Marco Aurelio and is managed in partnership with his son Bruno (an agronomist).
They have a strong environmental focus concentrating on the preservation of local water sources and indigenous fauna and floral. Harvesting is done using a combination of mechanical and manual picking.
They use a selective mechanical approach that does a great job of picking cherry that is ripe and leaving unripe cherry on the trees. After harvesting the coffee is dried on concrete patios until reaching 30% moisture content.
The coffee is then moved to mechanical driers that gently reduce the moisture content down to 12%.
This method helps to free up drying space on the concrete patios as it can be challenging to find enough drying room during the peak harvest time.
Kahawa
Producer: Iriga Wet Mill
Varietals: SL28, SL34, Ruiru 1, Batian
Processing: Washed
Altitude: 1200m
Country: Kenya
Region: Meru
Cupping Notes: Redcurrants, grapes, berry
Roaster: Crosby Coffee
A complicated cup where the sweet currants and raisins mingle together with the aromas of merlot and citrus.
The main crop in Kenya harvests between September to December with a fly crop or mitaca harvesting in June through August. The coffee is fully washed, fully fermented, and sun-dried on raised beds.
The cup score is 86+. Processed at the Iriga Wet Mill situated in the Nyambene hills in Meru county where the rich, red murram earth with its volcanic composition and high acidity is perfect for coffee and two rainy seasons provide an average annual average rainfall of 1,000mm.
The Iriga co-operative support farms in the Mukui, Kioja & weru micro-regions and has 320 members each cultivating an average of 30 hectares each. The farmers are small-scale farmers with low-income levels and coffee is their main source of income.
Jaguara
Producer: Cadeexsa Wash Station
Varietals: Catuai, Caturra, Bourbon, Pacas
Processing: Washed
Altitude: 1200-1600m
Country: Honduras
Region: Honduras
Cupping Notes: Hazlenut, apple
Roaster: Crosby Coffee
Honduras Jaguara is sourced from members of Asociación Civil Cultivadores del Reino (ACCR), which was formed in 2004, and currently has 177 members.
On average, each producer cultivates 3 hectares of land with a diversity of crops including coffee. ACCR provides training and financing aimed at improving coffee quality and yields to increase farmer earnings.
ACCR also invests in infrastructures such as patios and solar dryers to improve drying processes. At the end of each coffee harvest, ACCR also shares profits with all of its members.
For more speciality coffees like these, be sure to subscribe to Blue Coffee Box. You can check out our past featured coffees here.
