Intro
In trying times, it is fortunate we can find happiness in a great cup of coffee. This power of spreading happiness is what keeps us doing what we do. Emails we get from you to say thanks for the great coffee, and the smiles we get when we deliver or when you pop into the roastery make us so grateful for people like you.
The happiness we have seen from those whose coffee we buy. The joy they express to us and their representatives, in saying thank you for us being driven to pay more for their quality coffees and their investment in the future of coffee and the generations to come.
Of course, your support has helped us ensure that we can continually spread happiness. We value everyone who appreciates what we strive to do in an ever-competitive market and world.
In recent months we have seen a surprising amount of news where a few people are affecting the many non-sustainable ways. The withdrawal of the US from the Paris Agreement, the greed of corruption affected the poorest of the poor. We strive to be the few who are trying to make things more sustainable and want to do good and spread happiness through our coffees.
“Be the change you want to see” – Gandhi
In this newsletter
So what is coming up:
- A summary of some of the items we shared via Instagram, Facebook and Twitter
- We introduce our coffee-tasting events
- Cover the new coffees we are offering
- Some local industry news
In case you missed it
We try to share as much as we can about coffee (and when we remember to) on our Instagram, Facebook and Twitter accounts.
So what could you have missed?
Frog Quaffer went to visit to Beaver Creek coffee estate near Port Edward in May. You can read all about it in our report back here… or watch a summary video here….
We also played with soaking green coffee in white and red wine to see how that would affect the taste. You can see some of the pics on our Instagram – we will be tasting results in our shared tasting room on Thursday 8 June around 11 am, we will keep a little for those interested. We will post the results on our website under our blog posts section.
We also got a mention in the flat white e-magazine, take a read of the article if you missed it here….
Coffee Tastings
Roasting at Buitenverwachting is a treat. Now Lars and the Buitenverwachting team have added in a coffee-tasting area, that we can use to do tasting events with small groups. While we prefer you to book, on Tuesdays if you pitch up around 10 am we will do a tasting with you. The price is from R300 per person including 250g of a coffee you taste (you choose). We taste three coffees two ways. First, we do a pour-over and then we do an espresso.
You can book by going to Coffee Tasting Experience.
Update 2022: Our coffee tasting area has been closed, we do offer an informal tasting rather.
New coffees – old coffees
Our main new coffee is a red-honey processed coffee from Long Miles Coffee Project’s Bukeye station from the region of Muninya. The red-honey process is one where the skin and a very little amount of the pulp is removed from the coffee cherry once it is picked. The pulp left on the pip is then the coffee is sun-dried until a desired moisture level is achieved. The dried mucilage is then removed and the coffee is packed. We have offered honey-processed coffees before, but this is the first we have offered from Long Mile’s Bukeye station. We had the Mikuba before, which was only available at the Vineyard roastery or on order, but that we from the Heza station.
We still have quite a bit of the cup of excellence Heza going for a song if you are keen to enjoy a great coffee.
We also have new crops of our normal Colombian coffees now (Asorganica, La Piramide, Los Idolos and Los Naranjos).
That said we could not afford to bring in a new shipment of Quebradón this year (we had to order a minimum of 10 bags and did not have the cash to do so). So the Quebradón we currently have is likely to be finished by the end of June to mid-July.
For those of you who enjoyed Juan Pablo Guerra, this is also coming to an end and will be replaced with an Indonesian as and when that happens (check out the various feeds for when it does).
Also coming to an end is the Las Mingas microlot. We have no other microlot in stock or on the sea at the moment. We have one reserved for us as soon as we are able to pay for it, and it is an old favourite Jaime Casallas – but the best case scenario is we will get that toward the end of the year.
On a budget?
If you missed it in our previous newsletter we have 2 new budget blends, a darker roasted coffee suitable for enjoyment with milk. Called old-school it is a blend of a generic organic Honduran and a traceable Burundi. Also, our medium-to-light roasted average complexity blend Armonizar is proving popular. These blends sell for between R49.90 and R58.50 for 250g. While the sustainability and traceability (never mind quality) of these coffees are not fully to our principles we have tried to be as ethical in sourcing the coffees in both these blends, so they are a mixture of organic and mostly traceable coffees, with price point the guide.
Industry news – AeroPress comp
Do you love AeroPress? Want to compete in the Aeropress Competition? We are a small sponsor of the even that Espresso Lab will be hosting in July.
