I guess I’m a slow learner because it took me 4 days of visiting16 micro mills (and 1 mega mill), cupping 48 individual lots of coffee and traveling through the Tarrazu, West Valley and Central Valley regions with Jason to fully understand & appreciate the phenomenon in Costa Rica.
This phenomenon is being called “The Micro-mill Revolution” by Francisco Mena of Exclusive Coffees. He has personally visited all 150 micro-mills that now operate through out Costa Rica and works with many of them to increase quality through proper growing, harvesting and processing techniques.
A micro-mill is small coffee farm (typically producing 1000 bags or less, or 152,000 lbs of coffee) that also has its own wet mill and processing on its farm. What this allows a farm to do is process their own cherries to ensure the absolute best quality and taste. This also allows the farmer to separate varietals (Typica from Caturra, etc…) for micro-lots as well as introduce unique processing methods for individual coffee roasters needs (washed, honey, red-honey, naturals). What this really means is complete traceability and a totally individual identity for each lot of coffee we bring in.
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
Chris and myself along with Nan & Gerry (of Good Earth Cafes) just finished visiting the Meirsch family in Nicaragua. Together we toured Matagalpa and Jinotega to see their 5 unique coffee estates, each show casing a different cup characteristic that stand out from one another.
The Merisch family is a 3rd generation coffee family that currently evolves 2 generations, with a 3rd (or the 4th in total) not far behind. It was easy to see how close this family is to one another and how important family is to them. When staying at Erwin Merisch’s Seniors home, you were always in the company of his siblings and wives, their children as well as cousins. We certainly didn’t feel like outsiders either, as we were welcomed with open arms.
We are pleased to announce the introduction of our newest Direct Trade coffee, a Colombian coffee from the region of Tolima. For the rest of this season, we are offering some of the best coffee from Colombia there is. We have been working hard to find a co-operative to work with since judging the Cup of Excellence Competition back in March 2009. Since then our standards for Colombian coffee went through the roof, and needless to say, it has not been easy finding something to meet our new expectations.
This particular lot has prominent aromas of brown sugar, apricot and star anise with a red apple sweetness & acidity. Flavors of toffee and caramel finish notably clean.
Cupping Score: 89.0
This lot is the sum of the work from 44 individual farms, each contributing the equivalent of about 2 and a half bags (about 185kg) of finished coffee. It comes from the very mountainous area in the southern end of Tolima, around Planadas near the border with Huila. Tolima is filled with an ecosystem of numerous rivers, lakes and abundant native forests which is the optimal area for growing coffee.
Fratello Coffee is introducing 6 new coffee next week. These seasonal coffees are Fresh Green Arrivals. We did not buy a lot of these coffees and expect them to move very quickly. Each of these will be excellent selections to have over Christmas holidays, especially the very rare (just over 300 lbs of each available) Award Winning:
Costa Rican Calle de Copy COE #3
Colombian Villarrica COE #4
Also available:
Nicaraguan Finca Limoncillo, Direct Trade, Single Estate
Panama Esmeralda Diamond Mountain, Rainforest Alliance, Single Estate
Yes it is hard to believe that it took us this long to FINALLY join Twitter, but we have finally done it.
For up to the minute reports on what is new in the coffee industry and for updated cupping information on the newest coffee coming out, please follow me. I’m found as FratelloCoffee2.
Fratello Coffee just won the # 3 Lot of Costa Rican Celle de Copey – Cup of Excellencetoday. This was a HUGE achievement and the highest ranking coffee Fratello has every won. Jason was part of the jury down in Costa Rica this year and helped approving this coffee as being one of the top 5 that Costa Rica has to offer this year.
Look for this coffee to be available late this summer/early Spring. Some incredible coffees are available now and coming soon to Fratello…..a few of these are:
These coffees are all limited quantities, so enjoy them while you can. There are a few other origins we are working on, each as exciting as the ones above. Looks like its going to be a tasty summer.
Last June I was lucky to be chosen to be a judge at the Honduras Cup of Excellence competition. This was a great event that really opened my eyes to the possibilities that Honduras has to offer with its coffee profiles. Honduras borders Guatemala, El Salvador and Nicaragua, and often Honduran coffee will cross borders and will be sold as those varietals instead. Guatemala is currently the largest Central American exporter of coffee, however if Honduran coffee wasn’t smuggled into other countries – they would probably be the largest exporter.
Honduras has a long history with coffee and many of the estates/farms have been controlled by the same family for many generations. An interesting fact is that 91% of the farms in Honduras contribute to 50% of the coffee sold in Honduras. What this shows is how many small estates there are to work with in this country, the challenge is finding them. Of the 38,000,000 lbs of coffee sold in Honduras, 45% is sold as an Organic/Fair-trade/Organic Fair-trade and only about 10% is even offered as a single estate. Most of this is from huge farms and sold for commercial use.
Our goal when planning this trip was to establish a Direct Trade partnership with a family and farm who’s products stood out as exceptional on our cupping table when sampling late last year.
In the west of Honduras is a region called La Paz, and in this region is an area called Marcala. Marcala is known for the quality of coffee produced, and has a history & tradition that reaches back to the late 1800’s. Families have owned and worked there farms for 4 generations and practice harvesting techniques that produce clean, sweet and rich tasting coffee. One hour south of Marcala is the town Opatoro, and just out side Opatoro is a very small village called La Florida, and just a few miles out side La Florida is a small coffee estate called Arenal (Arenal Estate is situated 70 km from El Salvador). (Read the rest of this post)
