We, as an industry has come a long way from the traditional concept of espresso. It doesn’t have to be something strong and bitter anymore. Or perhaps, more importantly, it can be a lot more than that. Let’s start by acknowledging that all different styles of espresso have its place and that the important part is the segmentation and re-invention of the drink that has been happening over the last few years. In the end, Read more…
Ever since I got into roasting coffee quite some years ago, before joining up with Nordic, I was always searching for personal stories on travels to origin. Without too much luck. I’ll try to fill that gap a little by giving you my personal and educational insight into Rwanda and try not to get into detail too much. I was asked if I could keep it a bit short so you would hang in there 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. The harvest is more than half way through in general. Depending on the location, climate and altitude it’s about to end for some washing stations 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 Exchange, which sells coffee through auctions). In practise, this means we will now only buy fully traceable coffees directly from washing stations. Where are we 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 a wide flavor spectrum! There are bright citrus like profiles as well as funky and jammy coffees tasting towards honeys and naturals. In other words, 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 Kaya and Alena from Nordic Approach, and a bunch of roasters. Will be back at the cupping tables to finalize coffees the next few days. 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 it’s just great to work with producers when you totally feel the main drive is innovation, not only for the sake of the money and Read more…
From being here almost one month now, I am actually starting to get a hang of this place. But for those of you who do not know Ethiopia, I have listed my favourite fun facts about Ethiopia below. Over 80 languages are spoken in this country. The most widely spoken local languages are Oromo, Amharic, Somali and Tigrinya. Addis Ababa, is the highest capital city in Africa, at 2,400 metres! Allegedly, the Ark of the Covenant that Read more…
I have tried to wrap up what we are currently doing on the sourcing side, and what to expect of this season’s harvest. ☺ In addition to Colombian arrivals it’s the time of year again when everything seems to happen at once, both in Centrals and East Africa. Ethiopia and Kenya is just done with the harvest, we are there and have started to cup, but it’s still early. El Salvador, Honduras and Costa Rica Read more…
We’re sponsoring a new educational project in Tanzania called Coffee Club, with the aim to improve the future for the kids in the regions we are buying coffee from, and increase the quality of the coffee in this region long term. We will sponsor Coffee Club in one school, the school is in the area of the Shilanga CPU that we are buying from. The Sponsorship is a commitment from us to give $10,000.00 to Read more…
Cups on cups on cups on cups of delicious, fresh, acidic, fruity and flavor intense coffees. Black currants, lime, mango, papaya, passion fruit and raspberries. This is just a few of the flavor attributes found in the Kenyan coffees this year. Kenya is famous for their coffees, and for their way of growing, processing, washing and drying coffees. And not the least, exporting coffees. And that’s where we come in, the green buyers. We go Read more…
We’re now under one month away from our first ever conference in origin. Of course it’s not really a conference. First of all, the audience is limited to 30 tickets, so it will feel cosy. Everyone will have time to ask questions, and form long lasting relationships with famers, producers and other participants. Everyone will be staying at the same hotel (Cedrela EcoLodge), included in the ticket price, a cute eco-lodge in Tarrazu. Whereas a Read more…
We cup alot here at Nordic Approach HQ. We cup coffees at 4 different stages: Type sample – This is a sample of a lot that is not yet finished or blended yet. It can give us an indication of what a coffee can be like. And usually it is our Coffee Buyers who are cupping Type Samples, either in the HQ or in the coffee producing countries as they travel around. Remember, this is Read more…
For this blogpost, I wanted us to go through sample roasting. How do we go about doing it? Well, let’s start with the basics. What is a sample roast ? Anything from 50-300 grams of coffee can be roasted on a sample roaster. It usually takes less time than a normal roast, because with such a small amount of beans, the roast development happens more quickly. A normal sample roast for me is between 6-8 minutes. Read more…
For the second year we are doing a small and limited selection of fully washed Indonesian coffees from Java. These coffees are in our opinion pretty unique and different from most other Indonesian coffees. It’s all from Frinsa Estate located in West Java. We were there in September and have done our final selection and approved the PSS samples. These coffees are now ready to ship and should arrive in end December.
This is exciting stuff. We are finally increasing our range of organic coffees, this time from Colombia. We didn’t buy them only for being organic, they taste great too. It’s from a recent buying program we have initiated with an exporter. They also have their own purchasing point (bodega) and agronomists in Planadas in the Tolima region. Tolima lies just north of Huila in the Central/southern part of the country. It has its main harvest Read more…
On my most recent trip to Brazil I visited the three main partners we are working with in Minas Gerais. Two of the coffees we work with are in Sul de Minas area of Minas Gerais, Jaguara and Diquinho. We also work with Augusto, in Mantiqueira. He is a 5th generation coffee farmer following in his grandfather Manoel’s footsteps. We have decided to approach our Brazil buying in a specific way. There is a lot Read more…
Since we started Nordic Approach, we’ve tried to bring roasters along with us into the confusing and complicated world of sourcing green coffee. One of the most important but least-talked-about subjects is: $$$$$$$$$, in this case meaning financing. We have coffees landed in our warehouses available for purchase by any roaster, as little as 1 bag at a time. Up through 2016, we always operated on payment-up-front terms and repeatedly said that we couldn’t finance Read more…
Tanzania has been the most exciting country for me this year, largely ignored and marginalized for never quite having good enough coffee, well I am happy to completely disagree! While there is no doubt there are some areas of concern one should pay serious attention to, and a certain effort in finding great coffees and making sure they arrive in your warehouse tasting as great, what would the point be in only looking in places where good coffees came easily.
Measuring moisture and water activity in green coffee samples Coffee, the liquid deliciousness that binds us all together. Whether it is from Africa, South America or Brazil – we all love our cup of joe, especially when it’s fresh! A fresh brew, fresh roast, or even better fresh harvest. But what makes a coffee fresh? And what makes a coffee not fresh? Maybe you have heard about woodiness or deterioration in coffee. But what does Read more…
Burundi is a tiny country with a history of conflict and struggle, known for its close relation to its neighbour in the north. Yet whenever I have crossed from Rwanda into Burundi I have felt a stark contrast between the two countries. Of course, I see the rolling hills unfold as you travel through Kayanza, and I hear the familiar greetings shared between the two languages of these countries, still, to me there is an Read more…