Hello, coffee lovers!
Almost half the year has gone, and we have only sent out one newsletter. While there has been news of some new products and coffees, we have relied more on our social media as and when each product and coffee has been released. So, this newsletter looks to the past-present and future.
To be covered:
- Over a dozen new coffees in the last 2 months
- New crops of familiar coffees.
- First time offerings from different Central American regions.
- New African coffees, including two Ethiopians.
- Eastern delight: a coffee from Sumatra.
- Some highlights of new products, including:
- Hario Switch, Pouring Kettle and Smart Grinder.
- Baraza’s new Encore.
- A Magnetic espresso tool.
- A new AeroPress Attachment.
It is a long read so let’s dive in!
Over a dozen new coffees in the last 2 months
After the lack of options last year, we have worked with some old friends, and also new players that have popped-up in South Africa. As a result, we have a number of new coffees. Six are old favourites that are now on the latest crop. The others are new coffees for us. We believe this is the highest number of new coffees we have released in such short a period.
New crops of favourites
Colombians
All our regular Colombians from Caravela are now the latest crop, with the newer crop already picked and on its way for late this year.
Brazilian
For the last 3 years, we have offered the São João, and it has developed a big following. When we got the baker’s dozen of new crop coffee from Marunic, we cupped them all and the São João was once again a favourite; that said there were a few interesting ones on the table. One of them has been added to our Armonizar Blend.
New coffees
Centrals
We always like to consider offering enjoyable coffees from Central America. And with Caravela now more involved in these origins it means we have direct access to some great coffees. Both our new Peruvian El Guayacán and the Guatemalan La Serenata Organic are from Caravela. They have proved popular. We may get more centrals next year again (but will change the origin).
We also have a limited-edition triple-processed coffee from Colombia, from El Mirador…
New African coffees
We aim to always have three Ethiopians at any one time. With the problems we had last year, we thought that may have to come to an end, but the good news is we have found replacements for the Guji and the Yirgacheffe, while the most popular commodity grade coffee we offer Sidama Grade 2 is also now available from a regular source.
Replacing Ethiopian Guji a coffee from Jimma
Those that are regular clients, will know we replaced our long-time offering from Limu with Guji. Now we are returning to the zone that gave us Limu, Jimma and doing a coffee that is proud to be associated with this lesser-known region. Kennisa will be released 1st of June. You can read all about it then here…
Read more about coffee regions in Ethiopia here…
A new Ethiopian Yirgacheffe
After 8 years of sourcing coffee from Haile Selassie Ambaye, we have had to look elsewhere, as a result of last year’s issues. Hence a new coffee from the region from Halo Beriti has been sourced. This coffee has florals and citrus the region is famous for. This coffee has an intriguing story so read more on the Halo Beriti coffee here….
Rwandan or Burundi
Rwanda and Burundi offer similar styles of coffee. Both countries rely on smallholder farmers that mostly grow Bourbon. We have offered Burundian coffees for over a decade now and keeping away from Rwandans. The main reason has been the ability to source transparently and the risk of potato defect we have found in these coffees. It was with trepidation we considered offering a Rwandan again when our supply from Burundi could not be secured. Consequently, we now are offering a lot from Gishyita from Korangi province. Gishyita is a coffee with red currant, blood orange and dried apple with a juicy sweet aftertaste.
Eastern delight: a coffee from Sumatra
Finding a great Asian coffee is something we are always keen to do. After 6 months we can finally offer a good example of a coffee from this region. The Arinagata is a semi-washed coffee grown in the Gayo region of Aceh, Sumatra and harvested near the Takengon River. When tasting it, we were reminded of red grapefruit lightly sprinkled with brown spice and sugar.
Highlights of our new products
For us adding a new gear to our offering means we want to play with it, and only then recommend it. Products that we list we feel satisfy a specific role in a coffee lover’s life.
Hario
We love Hario, a Japanese brand which specialises in high-quality coffee equipment. Here are some of the new products we now are offering:
Hario Switch
A most flexible pour-over offering. Switch between immersion and drip brewing methods with a simple flip of a lever. You can control the extraction time and strength of your coffee with ease. Read more about the Switch here…
Hario V60 Drip Kettle AIR
The Hario V60 Drip Kettle AIR is a lightweight pouring kettle which is easy on the pocket. Read more here… We like this product for those that travel and need a pouring kettle.
Hario Smart G Grinder
The Smart G is a little grinder that could, like the Mini mill, but with a new more modern body shape. An optional extra is the a motor attachment to make it battery-operated.
Magnetic Espresso
The most useful accessory for your espresso machine. The Magnetic Espresso Funnel is a stainless-steel funnel that attaches to your portafilter magnetically. It helps you dose and distribute your ground coffee evenly and prevents any mess or spillage on your counter.
Baratza Encore ESP
The latest version of the best-selling grinder for home baristas. The Baratza Encore ESP is an electric grinder that has 20 grind settings to suit espresso brewing and 20 to suit other brew types. It has an improved burr set that delivers more consistent and uniform grounds for better extraction and crema.
AeroPress Flow Control
The agents for AeroPress were the agents for the Fellow Prismo. With the Flow Control now offered by AeroPress, they took the decision to no longer import the Prismo. The Flow Control works with paper and metal filters, which is a different approach. As a result, the AeroPress Flow Control produces a different style of brew to the Prismo. While it produces an espresso-like brew, it is not quite as intense. We suspect that the Prismo’s filter may be the difference.
A Shot in the Dark
Once again, we are participating in the A Shot in the Dark roasting competition. Are you keen to try the coffees we are submitting? We are offering 250g of the coffee for R90. Drop us an email at orders@quaffee.co.za, telling us you want a bag, and we will add it to your next order. The coffee is a Brazilian Specialty coffee. It’s first come, first serve as there are only 3kgs for sale.
Fin
That’s all for this month’s newsletter. We hope you enjoyed reading it and learned something new about coffee. If you have any questions or feedback, please feel free to contact us at orders@quaffee.co.za, we would love to hear from you.
Thank you for being part of our coffee community.
Happy brewing!
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