Our sourcing has focussed on three primary distinctions for coffee lot styles: microlots, cooperatives, and community lots. We have encountered 87+ cups and complex characteristics among all three. Ceviche, Pisco Sours, ayahuasca, and stunning coffees — yes, we are talking about Peru! We’ve done our best to get coffees shipped Read more…
If you only have 30 seconds, read this: For the second half of the year we will have coffees from Colombia, Brazil, Peru, Uganda, Rwanda, and Indonesia. Samples will start arriving in July/August, and coffees will land from Sept/Oct onwards. Coffees will be slightly more expensive in the coming months, Read more…
Anaerobic Fermentation, Saccharic, Lactic, Skin Contact — you might have seen these terms on our offers list lately. We call these “Special Preps”, and the names all refer to different methods of fermentation which lead to unique and novel flavours in the cup. However, there are a lot of different Read more…
I have said this before, and I will keep saying it: the quality of coffee we are sourcing in Peru is outstanding, given the low income, general lack of infrastructure, and scarce equipment for post harvest processing. Peru has impressed us again this year, both in terms of quality, and Read more…
What to expect Indonesians will be on the water soon and will arrive earlier than ever before. We will have a range of delicious clean washed coffees, and we have expanded our volumes of the experimental preparations we began last year. Plus, we’ll have a selection of naturals. The different Read more…
We are all staring into the crystal ball, trying to predict how our industry will look in the aftermath of the curfews and lock downs. Everyone in the specialty coffee value chain is adapting on the fly, and that includes importers. We are working to keep everyone in the value Read more…
Last summer I went back to Uganda, following up on a project we started in 2018. While there I visited the West Region and launched some new projects. These initiatives in Uganda have yielded some amazing coffees which are on their way to Belgium, estimated to arrive in port on Read more…
By Suzie, Morten and Jamie We published our first origin transparency report with price data from Rwanda today. We are very proud, and just the tiniest bit nervous for our numbers as they go out into the world. We stand behind our numbers, we know we pay our farmers and Read more…
We are amazed by the potential in Peru. With simple equipment, minimal infrastructure and hardly any government support, smallholder farmers are producing amazing coffees. Alas most of them go into a big pile which is sold for much less than it is worth. The country is known for certified coffees Read more…
This is the fourth year for us working with Wildan Mustofa and his family. Wildan is the entrepreneur and producer. His son Fikri recently graduated from university and is involved in processing and operations, while Wildan’s wife, Atieq, manages the financial side of the business. We also began a new Read more…
This blog post is part of a series called Why Transparency Matters. Read all posts in this series here. For several months we have been working on a transparency model, with the aim of releasing a transparency report that breaks prices down beyond FOB, and be clear about our own Read more…
Is your roastery buying volumes of 100 bags or more? Are you in a position to take on some additional financial risk? If you answered yes to these two questions you could save your business money by buying direct from origin. Our sister company, Tropiq, offers sourcing services for companies Read more…
Not sure what it is with Ethiopia as there is always a childish excitement building up when you get close to the season and the first arrivals. You can expect a standout range of washed and naturals this year. And yes, it’s finally happening, we have our first Ethiopian containers Read more…
We are thrilled to announce that we have just received fresh Javas from Frinsa coming in earlier than ever. I am more convinced now than ever before about this being a pretty unique project and concept. The development of the coffees are great as well as the producer Wildan is Read more…
Meet our new colleagues in Tropiq Ethiopia! Ethiopia is a diverted and a complicated place to work in. We are constantly travelling there, and we have an origin office with ground staff, and a cupping lab located in Addis Ababa. We know what we are looking for and will be Read more…
Burundian washed, naturals and honeys are on their way. Oh yes, and some really good ones too. We were there in end of May to visit our producer, Salum Ramadhan, and to cup. Already then the coffees for this season were cupping very well, and much better than last year Read more…
It seems to be a good year for coffees, and our Burundian coffees are tasting great this year! We should be able to make our first selections now the next few weeks with shipments around July/August. We will buy naturals and washed as well as a small selection of honeys. Read more…
It’s been an exciting start for this year’s Ethiopian purchases. First of all we have seen amazing cup profiles, overall much better than last year. Secondly, last year they changed the regulations allowing producers with privately owned washing stations to sell their coffees directly, outside of the ECX (Ethiopia Commodity Read more…
What’s the thing with Huila? Why are we and so many roasters almost addicted to those coffees? Well, I think it’s first of all the combination of tons of fruit, the sweetness, richness and the complexity you can find in many of the great coffees there. But there is also Read more…
Writing this while sitting in a car on my way to Nyeri and Kirinyaga. After some days with loads of cupping we’ll be visiting Kamwangi and Gathaiti among other places.. Hopefully we can find a way to build in some more value to our relationships there. I am here with Read more…
We have the last few years been involved in a project with a producer in Antioquia that’s been having such a great progress and development with his coffees and quality. It’s about great washed coffees of different cultivars, but also naturals dried in an innovative way. But most of all Read more…