Its time for another free public cupping event which will be help this Friday March 12th at 1:30.

We are going to be tasting 13 different varieties of African’s from 5 different countries:

• 4 x Ethiopians
• 4 x Tanazanias
• 3 x Burundis
• 1 x Rwanda
• 1 x Kenya

I hope that many of you can make it as we are sure to discover some amazing flavors.  Our office is located at:

4021 – 9th Street SE in Calgary.

Fratello coffee is going to be holding a casual public cupping of 10 fantastic coffees that we offer. We invite the public to come to Fratello on Feb 10th at 1:30 to taste a wide variety of offerings.

If you have not come out to one of our last cupping sessions this is a great way to learn about the distinctions amoung different coffee regions. You don’t have to be an expert to join us, just an interest in learning about some great coffee!

Here are the coffees we will be cupping on Feb 10th at 1:30

Guatemalan Montecristo, Single Estate, Rainforest Alliance, Direct Trade

• Cupping Score: 88.5
• Varietal: 100% Bourbon
• Processing: Fully Washed / Sun Dried

Nicaraguan Finca Limoncillo, Single Estate, Direct Trade

• Cupping Score: 88.00
• Varietal: 25% Bourbon, 20% Caturra, 15% Java
• Processing: Fully Washed / Sun Dried

Panama Hacienda la Esmeralda – Diamond Mountain, Single Estate, RFA

• Cupping Score: 89.50
• Varietal: A blend of Typica, Bourbon and Catuai
• Processing: Fully Washed / Sun Dried

Colombian Tolima Tierra, Direct Trade

• Cupping Score: 89.0
• Varietal: 70% Caturra & 30 % Colombia
• Processing: European Prep – Fully Washed / Sun Dried

Bolivian Caranavi Villa Oriente, Organic Fair Trade

• Cupping Score: 86.00
• Varieties: Typica (80%), Catuai (both red and yellow) and 20 % Caturra
• Processing: Fully Washed / Sun Dried

(Read the rest of this post)

Fratello Coffee is going to be holding a public cupping of the top 10 Cup of Excellence coffees from the Brazilian 2009 competition.  If you are interested in tasting these coffees, please come to Fratello Coffee on January 12^th @ 1:30. 

The auction for these coffees will be on January 19^th.   26 lots of coffee were awarded the prestigious Cup of Excellence award this year; however, Fratello Coffee will only be focusing on the top 10 coffees. 

What we’ll be cupping is:

Lot #1  Fazenda Ouro Verde

• Pupled Natural Catua
• Region: Chapada Diamantina
• Cupping Score: 91.08

Lot #2  Fazenda Sant’Ana

• Pulped Natural Yellow Bourbon/Acaia
• Region: Sul de Minas
• Cupping Score: 90.83

Lot #3  Fazenda Recreio

• Pulped Natural Yellow Bourbon
• Region: Mogiana – Vale da Grama
• Cupping Score: 89.42

Lot #4  Fazenda Monte Verde

• Pulped Natural Yellow Bourbon
• Region: Sul de Minas
• Cupping Score: 89.15 (Read the rest of this post)

Good day all you coffee lovers.   I’d like to invite you to come to Fratello Coffee this Thursday at 2:30 for another free public cupping.  This week we will be sampling 16 different Sumatran & Indonesian coffee.  Each of these are from different cooperatives, each processed differently and each to deliver a different profile in the cup.

Sumatrans are typically known for their Earthy flavor profiles and often described as woody, dirty and inconsistent in their roasting profile.  Our goal is to bring you a coffee which still offers these classic cup characteristics, at the same time as bringing something much cleaner, sweeter and syrupy to the table. 

What we’ll be tasting is:

• Sumatra Permata – Organic Fair Trade
• Sumatra Sidikalang Tabu Jamu – Natural, double pick
• 5 x Sumatra Mandheling Grade 1
• Indonesian Flores Grade 1 Organic “Green Dragon”
• Indonesian Flores Bajawa Ngura Organic
• Indonesian Java Sagulins
• Sumatra Sidikalang Estate – Fully Washed
• Sumatra Aceh Tengah Organic
• Sumatra Takengon, Aceh – Pulped Natural
• Bali Kintimani Organic – Natural
• Sulawesi Toraja Sapan Minanga

We hope that you can make it to this event.  This will be a fun and casual atmosphere to taste some of the nicest coffees available from these regions.

Our first public cupping this week was a great success!   We had a lot of fun and got to taste some amazing Ethiopian coffees with fellow coffee enthusiasts.  It just wouldn’t be fair to share these coffees with others.

We will be doing an exploration of 6-10 different Indonesian and Sumatran selections first week of December.  Stay tuned for the actual date/time which we will announce next week.

Here are a couple photos from the event.

We want to invite anyone who loves specialty coffee, especially Ethiopian Coffees to come by Fratello Coffee tomorrow at 11:30 am. 

We are going to be hosting a free cupping for the public, of 7 very rare and special Ethiopian coffees.  What we will be cupping is:

1. Ethiopian Beloya Micro Lot#12, Full Natural
2. Ethiopian Beloya Micro Lot#10, Full Natural
3. Ethiopian Aricha Micro Lot#26, Full Natural
4. Ethiopian Aricha Micro Lot#14, Full Natural
5. Ethiopian Idido Misty Valley, Organic, Full Natural
6. Ethiopian Sidamo, Organic Fairtrade, Fully Washed
7. Ethiopian Amaro Gayo, Organic, Full Natural

This is going to be very casual.  We want to share with you some of the most sought after Ethiopians every processed, all on one table for you to enjoy. 

We are located at:

4021 – 9th Street SE

Tel – 403-265-2112.

Fratello Coffee was on TV last week as Channel 10 News Shaw Magazine wanted to have a short interview to discuss coffee cupping.   More and more people in Calgary (and other cities obviously) are starting to hear about what us roasters do on a daily basis. 

It is hard to describe coffee cupping in a 3-4 min video, but I think that Lisa from Shaw Magazine did a great job putting this video together.

To view this video click: Shaw Magazine

If you would like to talk more about coffee cupping, and if you and your friends would like to potentially do a coffee cupping evening please contact Russ by putting a response on this post.

Russ

Ok, here we go again…..We keep finding new coffees that keep blowing me away.  Fratello has a new Brazilian coffee, exclusive to us in Canada that you need to try.  Daterra is an extraordinary producer who’s plantations are located in the Cerrado region (State of Minas Gerais) and in the Mogiana region (State of São Paulo).  They were also the first to introduce Rainforest Alliance in Brazil.

Daterra’s Sweet Blue gave us sweet chocolate and syrupy orange aromas compliment a thick mouth feel and clean finish.  Balanced flavors of dark chocolate fudge and mild almonds.  Cupping Score: 90.

Daterra is a coffee grower and exporter best known for its innovative research, its respect for the environment, social responsibility and its high quality coffee.  Daterra is by no means a small coffee producer; however, they are very well known for the quality of coffee they produce.  This is evident when looking at a few of their awards:

1. Cup of Excellence finalist in 2001;
2. Best coffee from Brazil on the cupping for Quality by Rainforest Alliance in 2005 and 2008;
3. Espresso Blend used by World Barista Champion Troels Poulsen in 2005;
4. Espresso Blend used by World Barista Champion Klaus Thomsen in 2006;
5. Sustainable farm model by Illy Cafè in 2008
6. Four out of the six WBC finalists used Daterra coffee in their blends in 2008.
7. Daterra has a “Penta Pack®” packaging system (vacuum packaging) patented internationally.  This was used to ship Brazil’s Cup of Excellence winner lots in 2006 and 2008.

The Sweet Blue is a Micro Lot from Daterra which produces only 5300 – 7950 lbs of coffee per year.  Sweet Blue is the Mundo Novo varietal.  Their processing methods on this coffee is a pulped natural at the wet mill, 100% sun dried and followed with their Penta System for both packaging and quality control (See bottom of this post for more information on that).

Daterra’s plantations are located at an average altitude of 3,800 ft (1,150 m) under a stable temperature of around 25ºC, which constitutes the perfect environment for Arabica Coffee production.  The plantations are divided into 215 mini- farms and further subdivided into 2.816 blocks called “quadras”, each of which is planted with a specific coffee variety.   (Read the rest of this post)

Fratello Coffee is introducing an exciting new coffee to our portfolio at the end of May.  We have found an Organic fresh crop Ethiopian that we just had to buy which is replacing the Kembata currently available.

Flavor description: Intense tropical fruits, blueberry and strawberry in both the aromas and long lingering flavors.  Thick syrupy body and full of character, yet notably clean and bright through out. 

Grade: 1

Region: Idido, Gedeo Zone Yirgacheffe

Processing: Natural / Dry-Processed

Crop: February 2009

Varietal: Heirloom and Longberry

Cupping Score: 91

Ethiopia, the birth place of coffee has 5 growing regions, each producing very distinct characteristics from the other.  In the south of Ethiopia is a district called Yirgacheffe which is just north of the Kenyan border.  Yirgacheffe is currently producing the most exotic flavor profiles in this country and possible the world.  

(Read the rest of this post)

I have just returned from Pereira Colombia after judging the 2009 Cup of Excellence competition.   Although tired, I’m thrilled about this experience.  It is so exciting going through the cupping process and seeing the award ceremony’s on the final day. 

 The Cup of Excellence competition is the most thorough and competitive screening process a coffee farm will put their coffee through.  The goal of COE is to bring out the best coffee a current region has to offer in the current crop year.  After the competition is over, the COE award is given to the top farmers who represent the best coffees that this region has to offer.  These coffees are then put in front of the world on an on-line auction which rewards these farmers for their focused attention to improving quality coffee, and puts a spot light on this region show-casing their excellence.

Stage one Involves the submission from the farmers current crop of coffee.  Of the 512,000 families growing coffee in Colombia, only 374 submissions were sent in this year, which was relatively low do to the fact that Colombia’s crop forecast is 30-40% lower than the year before. 

All of these coffees are cupped and analyzed in Colombia by local cuppers.  All coffee scoring an 84 or higher (out of 100) move on to the second National Cupping jury.  The National Cupping Jury is chosen from the pool of local cuppers.  They are chosen for their cupping skills in the first stage. 

(Read the rest of this post)