coffee Costa Rica

2014 preview: Central America

El Salvador has been hit hard by leaf rust in addition to the low harvest cycle. Still, we have a selection of coffees from Jasal this year as always. We are increasing our range of Costa Rica this year compared to the past. We have spent some time there to find new producers and have selected a really good range from different micro mills in Terrazu.

coffee grainpro bags

Warehousing updates

We want to let everybody know about some warehousing changes we’ve started for the 2014 harvest. As you can see on our new offer list, we are landing an increasing amount of coffee in the UK at Eniti, a specialty coffee and tea warehouse that is already quite well known in the industry.

There are several reasons for this, and all are related to giving more flexibility, better service, and a smoother and more economical option for coffee delivery.

El Salvador, honey processed coffee drying

El Salvador February 2014

We just finished up a trip to El Salvador to follow up on this year’s harvest. It is still quite early for the highest altitudes, but there were already a lot of samples to cup, and the quality seems to be great. It’s apparently the lowest crop in 50 years, and a huge shortage of coffee, but fortunately we have locked in a lot prior to harvest. In general we are working out contracts for two–three years at a time, mainly for our special preparations.

Fazenda Ambiental Fortaleza

Fazenda Ambiental Fortaleza

We recently received a range of coffees from the Fazenda Ambiental Fortaleza (FAF). This is a good mix of coffees from small to medium sized separated lots of different varietals and from different local municipalities. This is based on a concept where FAF is growing and processing their own coffee, while also running a coffee initiative to develop a great range of products from the neighboring farms. We think this is a unique concept for Brazil and the flavor profiles are really complex and interesting compared to many other Brazilians we have tasted.

Las Cruces, healthy coffee plants

Las Cruces coffees recovery from leaf rust

As many of you know Central and South America is suffering from heavy leaf rust attacks. This is a small presentation from our producers in El Salvador, Salaverrias, on how they work to recover. Even if they were far better of than many other producers as they have good altitudes and have great farmer practices ,this is great news for the upcoming harvest and the quality. RUST PRESENTATION You can also read more about leaf Read more…

coffee drying on raised beds

Catching up

It’s been a while since we posted some news here – I think it’s about time to do a wrap up so far this year. It’s been a great year up to now and really busy. We have been doing our very best to keep up with the coffees coming in, sample distribution to all of our clients as well as juggling the orders, packing and separation at the warehouse etc. Hopefully we have managed Read more…

coffee farm Burundi

Preview: Burundi 2013

First of all I want to announce that we have 9 fantastic micro lots on their way. They are from different micro regions in the Kayanza area, and are all processed at the wet mill Buziraguhindwa, owned by the producer Salum Ramadhan. Most of the coffees are a result of an improved preparation the producer calls COE-prep, meaning he will do the same cherry sorting and quality control as he would for coffees delivered to Read more…

Rwanda coffee sorting

Preview: Rwanda 2013

We currently have 4 lots of Mahembe coming in soon and one lot from a CWS (Coffee Washing Station) called Gitesi. Again this year it’s all exceptional coffees according to our standards. The four Mahembe lots are all slightly differentiated in flavor, but they all have that mature and warming dark fruit notes. I have never seen any producer in Rwanda processing such dark red and evenly-matured coffee cherries before. And it’s really noticeable in Read more…

Ethiopia, coffee

Preview: Ethiopia 2013/2014

It’s really been working well this year for us with Ethiopia. Most of the coffees were sold out even before they entered port here in Europe, but we have been holding back a little to still have Ethiopian coffees to offer for the next few months. There are a couple of great Yirgas left, as well as some new arrivals from the West. Please ask us for samples if you’re interested. We have also recently Read more…

Coffee drying on raised beds in Kenya

Preview: Kenya 2013/2014

Kenya was kind of challenging this year as well. Not because what we got wasn’t good enough, but basically we couldn’t get enough AA’s with the profile we were looking for. But fortunately some of the AB’s were killer coffees as well! As for Ethiopia most of them got sold prior to arrival, at least the AA. We have some limited amounts left. Some boxes of AA Ndaroini as well as some bags of AB Kangocho. Read more…

Las Cruces, healthy coffee plants

El Salvador purchase 2013

All our El Salvadors for 2013 is now in stock. As many of you know El Salvador, as the other Central American countries had a tough year because of the leaf rust that reduced the crop and quality significantly. Still, our partners and producers performed great, as expected, as they are systematic in their agricultural practices and have pretty good altitude as well. The Salaverria Coffees   We got 9 different farms in from the Read more…

Ethiopia, coffee

Ethiopian arrivals

To be honest I was a little concerned regarding the quality VS the expectations we had on Ethiopian coffees this year. But apparently I shouldn’t have been at all, as they are damn good when landed, even better than last year! When I was there earlier in the season I felt the flavors where slightly hidden and covered and the coffees didn’t performed the way I hoped for. They were good but not as complex Read more…

coffee plants

El Salvador 2013: Three great producers

  Even if many producers in Centrals were hit hard by leaf rust and die-back of trees this year, the producers we work with — the Salaverrias at Las Cruces, Roberto Ulloa at La Divina Providencia and Gilberto Baraona at Los Pirineos — are all doing well.They are doing great work in the fields and have been investing in fertilizer and plant treatments to prevent this. Fortunately their farms are at good altitude which helps Read more…

ripe red coffee cherries

Yirgacheffe single farmer project

This year, we were given the opportunity to support and be a part of a new and unique Ethiopian project:  small- to medium-sized farmers, who previously delivered cherries to the Cooperatives in Yirgacheffe, have constructed micro–mills with the support from micro financing organizations, the government and the Yirgacheffe Cooperative Union. They are now able to produce, sell, and export their coffees directly as Single Estate Coffees. We truly believe this pilot project can change the Read more…

Coffee drying on raised beds in Kenya

Kenya 2013: One Co-op, different wet mills, and a bunch of different coffees

2013 Purchase This year we took three trips to Kenya all together to follow up with our partners and select the cream of the crop. We have so far bought a great bunch of AAs and ABs and some are already shipped. The coffees are carefully selected and totally meet our requirements for what stand-out Kenyans should taste like. We will have some samples to be sent out soon. First come, first serve! The first Read more…

ripe red coffee cherries

“One Farmer, One Roaster”

(A guest post by Seife Tuuloskorpi of Ethiopian Beans about a project he is working on in Ethiopia. Read more about our partnership here, and please email us if you are interested in buying this coffee!) Tekle Mammo has been working with coffee growers all his life. He has taken the initiative on a project he calls “One Farmer, One Roaster”. He started this project last year together with Yirgacheffe union by convincing three small Read more…

Nordic Approach and Ethiopian Beans Cooperation

Ethiopian Beans and Nordic Approach will merge and cooperate on all activities in Ethiopia from this harvest and on-wards. Goal: To be able to supply the best Ethiopian Coffees ever!! We, Seife Tuloskorpi from Ethiopian Beans, Morten Wennersgaard and Tim Wendelboe from Nordic Approach have always had a good relationship and shared the values and goals in regards to work systematically in Ethiopia for quality. Many of our clients buy from both companies, and we Read more…

The latest

View and download September offer list Honduras We have some great new microlots from the Caballeros in Honduras that have just arrived. All of their small farms are separated, all varietals are catalogued, and we were lucky enough to have Marysabel and Moises visit us in Oslo some weeks ago. Read more here: The Caballeros   Kenya The latest coffees from Central Kenya have also arrived, with three from Nyeri (Gitchathaini AA, Tegu AA, Tegu Read more…