Hacienda La Esmeralda Special 2010

As if the two new Kenyan coffees weren't enough we are now also ready to present this year's lot of the famous La Esmeralda Special 2010.


Wednesday June 16th from 16:00 - 17:00 there will be an open public cupping, where you can taste this spectacular coffee.


So what makes the Esmeralda Special so special?
Well, first off it's the variety Geisha, that was imported from Ethiopia into Panama in the middle of the last century. This variety apparently took really well to the Panamanian micro-climate around the town of Boquete and the Peterson family have done a great job in cultivating it. The coffee is selectively hand picked and then mechanically demucilaged, washed and then dried with sun or a combination of sun a machine drying. All the Esmeralda Special lots on auction were (of course) vacuum packed.

The Esmeralda Special have been awarded many times and it's the first farm I know of to have an internet auction for their own coffee. We like how the usual Buyer/Seller power has shifted in this regard. Since the farm started entering the Best of Panama competition (Panama's equivalent to Cup of Excellence) they have achieved the highest ever price for a coffee paid to the farm. This year the winning lot from BoP reached an astounding $ 170,20 pr pound! (Compare that to the Fair Trade minimum price of about $ 1,26 pr pound and you get an idea about how high this price is).

Esmeralda Special have won:
· 1st Place “Best of Panama” (2010, 2009, 2007, 2006, 2005, 2004)
· 1st Place Specialty Coffee Association of America Roasters Guild Cupping Pavilion (2007, 2006, 2005)
· 1st Place Rainforest Alliance Cupping for Quality (2008, 2007, 2006, 2004)
· And actually many more competitions - we just can't be bothered to list more now...

New Harvest from Kenya on the streets

Thanks to everybody who turned up to try our 2 new coffees from Kenya. Many turned up to just have a sip and the ones who could get seats saw a small presention where we talked about these 2 wetmills and why and how we choose to put some extra effort to get these specific coffees.

We have now put some of the pictures from Gatina and Kieni on Flickr.

Good questions from everybody- we love to discuss why a coffee have a specific taste.

A nice harvest indeed.

New Coffees from Kenya!

On Wednesday June 9th at 16:00 o'clock we're proud to present two new Kenyan coffees!

The coffees are from two different Wet Mills - or factories as they like to call it in Kenya - both in the Nyeri region: Kieni and Gatina

Casper and Linus spent a week in Kenya in February visiting different mills and societies just as the harvest had been completed, but before any of these coffees were snatched up by others.

You can read about their trip here and here.


So join us on Wednesday at 16:00 when the two new coffees will hit the shelves and we'll be offering free samples brewed on French Press. Linus and Casper will show pictures and tell about their trip and how we source and buy coffees.

At 17:00 we'll be doing an open cupping session of these new coffees where we hope you will join in.

We'll be back with more info about these coffees and new labels for them in due time.

On the current situation in Guatamala

The harvest is finished in Guatamala and we have visited and selected this years lots from Finca Vista Hermosa. While we are waiting for the coffee to be all ready for export, nature is demonstrating its power in Guatamala.

After an erupting volcano and a tropical depression, the president has declared the country in a state of "national calamity".

Edwin Martinez of Finca Vista Hermosa has made a post about the situation here.

Edwin finishes his post with the statement that if "you’re wondering how you can help. You can visit, sometime when the airport is not shut down, and drink good coffee. Tourism and coffee are the #1 and #2 sources of revenue for Guatemala.."

We can promise that we will follow up on his proposal!