I Like this time of year. Not because the birds are singing or that the days are getting longer, not even that I can start venturing int beer gardens of my favourite hostelries. No its the time of year that we see lots of new coffees arriving in warehouse, and in particular Kenyans – the roasters favourite. (ask most coffee roasters their favourite origin and Kenya’s always up there. )

Thika is an industrial town in Kiambu County, Kenya, lying on the A2 road 25miles to the north east of Nairobi, where the Thika and Chania Rivers meet. The town has changed rapidly over the past years, with many of the once amazing coffee estates (any one remember Gethumbwini) having been turned from farm land to gated communities for wealthy people from Nairobi to live and commute to the more dangerous city and for their family to have a more safe and secure life.

Back in 2010 I first had Kiriga from Thika on a cupping table, and loved it, but like all our Kenyans back then we never got to see it again. Then Brian the current owner  reached out to me on the internet and invited me to visit. So this was one of the first places I hit up. Brian was the perfect host, and showed me around the farm, took me to dinner and made me fall in love with both him and the farm. The farm, funnily enough, is across the road (and I mean across the road) from Gethumbwini I mentioned earlier that’s now a gated community.

So last year we agreed that we would buy a small amount of Brian’s AA (more to come) coffee to see how it went. It went very well, so this year we had many email exchanges about how we can make more of a difference and increase what were doing with Brian. So Brian also sent us his AB lot to cup. Whats AB I hear you cry ?

Well I searched the internet and found this

• AA – AA is a grade of coffee. Beans with a screen size of 7.2 millimeters (approximately 18/64 of an inch and often referred to as a screen size of 18) are assigned the grade AA. This grade of coffee often receives a higher price than other grades.

And AB

 

• AB – Slightly smaller that AA, with a screen size of 6.8 millimeters (or 17/64 of an inch). On average, 30% of Kenyan coffee is assigned this grade.

But in layman terms, they are different and present different cups. Some years AA taste better, some years AB’s sometimes there just different. This time they were both different but delicious. So we have been lucky to secure these two lots from Brian’s farm.

Kenya Kiriga AA Washed

Kenya Kiriga AB Washed

The AA’s Cupping notes are

In the cup you can expect fruit, ALL the fruit! Starts off with blackcurrant creamy, smooth, balanced with a fantastic body and structure.  Then theres a delicious white grape / green apple acidity, a whopping citrus delight finishing on black cherry.

And the AB’s cupping notes are

In the cup expect a lovely lush creamy mouthfeel, with a summer fruit kick of peaches and apricots and fresh bright green apple acidity.

But why stop there, I decided to drive up the road to Nyeri. Nyeri is a city situated in the Central Highlands of Kenyaand is situated about 150 km (a two-hour drive) north of Kenya’s capital Nairobi. It is the country’s most densely populated and fertile area in Central Highlands, lying between the eastern base of the Aberdare (Nyandarua) Range, which forms part of the eastern end of the Great Rift Valley, and the western slopes of Mount Kenya.

Last year we worked with a cooperative called Kieni. Its fair to say Kieni have been one of the most proactive cooperatives and producing consistent quality because of the work of a Danish roastery who has been working with them for a number of years.

The coffee collective have been doing some amazing work with the management team and investing in helping the coop to do great work, a real poster child for working in the region. Becuase of this I had reservations of working with them, not wanting to take advantage of someone elses work. So an email to one of the owners who is also a very good friend, was called for. His reply was why I love working in coffee, “we cant buy all the coffee so of course you should dive in and help them, but only if you pay the same price as we are”. So I did and last year this was a great success, another different cup.

We have followed this up this year with another purchase from them, that we are super excited about. But why stop there, you already learned about AB and AA so we have

Kenya Kieni AA Washed

Kenya Kieni AB Washed

The Kieni AA cupping notes are

In the cup expect a super different Kenyan that’s been shaken up with a Tiki twist. First thing you’ll get is the huge  mouthfeel. Then there’s a big hit of juicy tropical fruit, lemons and oranges which finishes with a super sweet caramel acidity. A deliciously different Kenyan.

And the Kienni AB notes are

In the cup expect fresh orange juice like acidity, with a lovely floral edge, and an aftertaste of Rose water and a gentle fruit sweetness .

So fairly impressive hey ? I’m super proud of thew work we do there, but why stop there. So last year in partnership with an exporter we did a natural Kenyan. This is not normal. Kenyan coffees are renowned for their clean taste, transparent and of course being washed.

So still in Nyeri around 5km outside of the town theres another coop called Othaya and they have a mill near to the Chinga dam (called Chinga). They offered (with some reservations) to start a natural project. We asked them if they would naturally process a batch for us. They kindly agreed to do so as long as we promised to buy it regardless of the final cup. A gamble by us, but one that paid off as you snapped it up. We cupped the sample for the first time together, as you can see I’m at the end of the trip and quite sleepy

But we have built on that and took a large lot this year (less of a gamble) and they have also fine tuned the process, so its even better than the experiment . So here we have

Kenya Othaya Chinga Natural

The cupping notes for the Othya Chinga Natural are

In the cup expect the unexpected. An thread of blackcurrants all the way through, like you would expect from a Kenyan, but with a lovely big body, and a liquorice flavour that reminds me of Pontefract cakes, whilst remaining incredibly clean.

This sounds like I’m blowing my own trumpet. I’m not, I did the easy part, I turned up, cupped some delicious coffees and paid for them. The hard work has come from the exporters, the cooperative, from Brian, pickers workers, managers and the rest. The great news is you can drink them and enjoy their hard work, and I can feel smug in the knowledge we have the best range of Kenyans we have ever had, build on strong relationships, paying a good price and making everyone along the chain super happy, I hope you will be too.

PS if your wondering why the blog post has the title it does watch this video, I sang it the whole trip

Some of you may have tried Cascara, and thought wow that’s it, I’m trying all the plant! But no no no there’s more! An idea that first popped into my head back in 2010 has finally come to fruition. Dale Harris my Director of Wholesale here at Has Bean towers likes to compete in barista competitions, and these competitions require you to come up with signature drinks. I remember sneaking back from Costa Rica with some coffee flowers to try and incorporate into this drink. We never found an effective way to use them, but it’s something that bugged me over and over again.

So with our partners in Bolivia I asked them if they could harvest some flowers for us, and see what we could do. This doesn’t damage the crop, as they are harvested just as they are about to fall from the tree but it does involve lots of work (which is just 1 of the reasons why we love the people we work with).

So the process begins after a coffee harvest when there’s normally a period of dry weather, during this time the coffee plant gets a little stressed at the lack of water. Then the rainy season comes which sparks the coffee plant into creating little blossom flowers, these flowers are one of the most amazing and powerful smells I have ever experienced (if you could make a aftershave of it then it’d be my smell of choice) and these flowers appearing mark the start of the process of the coffee plant creating its cherries for our lovely coffee beverages.

The amounts we have are tiny and won’t be around for long. We’ve also got a number of different varietals that all taste quite different.

We played with brewing it as a tea, and boom a unique drink! Our hard working partners in Bolivia have spent a huge amount of time and energy collecting these and we’re also able to separate different varietals of flower, which surprisingly taste very different.

We have –

Bourbon
Geisha
Cepac
Catura
Java

We even made a brew guide here to help you get the best out of the flowers :

We’re selling them in one brew sachets, that’s how little we have, but it’s an experience you will want to enjoy. Were also selling in a 5 pack so you can try them all side by side.

So for the next 12 working days (taking us up to the 22nd the last royal mail posting day) we have the Has Bean 12 days of Christmas for you, This is going backwards 12 days, not the traditional 12 days after Christmas (any excuse really to post).

This will involve a new item each day, to help you find inspiration for the perfect coffee for Christmas day. Some old favourites, some very new and exciting coffee that will become firm favourites I am sure.

Today its a nano geisha lot from Costa Rica

Costa Rica Finca Salitra Geisha Natural 

This coffee is from a brand new farm that first planted in 2012, so this is the very first tiny outturn just 20 bags. We bought just one of them, this is the very embodiment of a nano lot.

This coffee comes from the Central valley region of Costa Rica in the micro region of Mora, San Jose. The mill is called Web Seed after the owner Webster Seed. The farm it comes from is Finca Salitra and is at an altitude of around 1500-16000 masl.

This is naturally processed which is not rare, but is unusual in Costa rica, what is rare is the varietal. The legendary geisha

In the cup expect a big cup of big base notes of liquorice, and gentle aniseed, but as it cools the floral jasmine and citrus notes mix in what’s unexpected but delicious.

Farm: Finca Salitra 
Region: Central Valley
Country: Costa Rica
Farm Size: 20 Hectares
Coffee growing area: 20 Hectares
Altitude: 1,500 – 1,600 m.a.s.l.
Variety: Villa Sarchí, Caturra, Typica, Bourbon, Geisha
Processing System: Natural

You can buy it here

So for the next 12 working days (taking us up to the 22nd the last royal mail posting day) we have the Has Bean 12 days of Christmas for you, This is going backwards 12 days, not the traditional 12 days after Christmas (any excuse really to post).

This will involve a new coffee each day, to help you find inspiration for the perfect coffee for Christmas day. Some old favourites, some very new and exciting coffee that will become firm favourites I am sure.

So today on day ninth we get a Colombian

Colombia El Meridiano Rioblanco Washed

We bought this cup from the cupping table, and sometimes that means we don’t know much about it.

This is a specially selected micro lot of coffee from the Tolima region of Columbia. It comes from a small growers’ cooperative with only 58 members (this lot was made by 20 of them); their average farm size is only 4.5 hectares, and collectively they produce approximately 1000 bags of coffee per year. So this is an example of smallholders working together to produce amazing coffee.

Tolima is one of 32 departments in Colombia and sits between the big cities of Bogota (the capital) and Cali. Tolima is a southern department, and the county is Herrera. The nearest town to the cooperative is Rioblanco. Meridiano is about 79 mi (or 128 km) West of Bogotá.

The varietals are Caturra, Colombia, and Typica. They are fully washed, and grown at altitudes from 1,550 m.a.s.l. to 1,900 m.a.s.l.

Last year we also had this as decaffeinated, but this was the only lot we felt happy with and there was not enough to decaf.

In the cup this is different to previous years, expect milk chocolate and caramel thats super easy to drink with a light and clean watermelon acidity.

Farm: El Meridiano
Country: Colombia
State: Tolima
County: Herrera
Town: Rioblanco
Producers coop: 58 small coffee growers called ASOCEAS, “Asociacion de Productores de Café Especial de Alto Saldana”
Altitude: 1,500 – 1,900 m.a.s.l.
Varieties: Caturra (70%), Colombia (20%) and Typica (10%)
Processing Method: Washed in micro-mills at each farm
Drying Method: Sun-dried in green-houses and on drying patios
Shade: 40% shade cover – Plantain, Cambulo, Chachafruto, Guamo
Harvest: Main: Oct. – Jan. Fly-crop: April – June
Packaging: Jute bags with Grain-pro liners to extend freshness, (70kg/154lb)

You can buy it here 

So for the next 12 working days (taking us up to the 22nd the last royal mail posting day) we have the Has Bean 12 days of Christmas for you, This is going backwards 12 days, not the traditional 12 days after Christmas (any excuse really to post).

This will involve a new coffee each day, to help you find inspiration for the perfect coffee for Christmas day. Some old favourites, some very new and exciting coffee that will become firm favourites I am sure.

So today on day 8 we have the sister of day six in the non peaberry version of …

Celebes Toarco Tana Toraja Kalosi Typica AA Washed

‘s a long time since I’ve been able to find a Kalosi that I’ve been happy to stock, in fact over two and a half years, then two came along at once.

Sulawesi (Celebes), was influenced and controlled by the Netherlands from 1605 until World War II. In 1669 the Dutch East India Company took control of the trade in Sulawesi. The Dutch built Fort Rotterdam in Ujung Pandang (now Makassar) in the mid 1600’s and not until 1905 they finally gained control of the whole island becoming part of the Dutch state colony of the Netherlands East Indies. The Dutch East India Company was in control of coffee production in Indonesia during most the 1700’s and introduced Arabica Coffee (Typica) to Sulawesi in 1750.

Indonesian coffee has traditionally been processed with the Giling-Basah method, or wet-hulled like Sumatra. In 1976 TOARCO, a Japanese-Indonesian joint-venture, introduced to Sulawesi the traditional washed-process, similar to Central America.

Toarco owns the Pedamaran Plantation at 900 – 1,250 m.a.s.l. and purchases wet-parchment (at 40% moisture) from small producers at 1,200 – 1,800 m.a.s.l. Coffee is trucked to Pedamaran Plantation immediately and coffee gets dried on patios at their mill facilities. If a producer wants to sell their parchment coffee to TOARCO they need to get certified to their standards as far as selective-picking, storage, transportation, moisture levels, etc. Farmers are issued ID cards that allow them to sell their coffee at various purchasing points in the Tana Toraja region during the market of the week. This lot comes from those small producers at the higher altitude areas rather than the plantation.

Most of the coffee produced in Tana Toraja is S795 variety, a Typica hybrid. This proves once again how important the variety translates in the cup. Indonesia has a great deal of Catimor, a Robusta-heavy x Arabica hybrid, but Tana Toraja has kept high-quality varieties.

In the cup expect a full body, with Black Jack sweets, and a strange lychee acidity that finishes with an Opal Fruit (Starburst for the kids) purple sweets (but not overtly sweet).

Location: Pango Pango-Perindingan, Tana Toraja
Altitude: 1,200 – 1,600 m.a.s.l.
Soil Type: Volcanic
Type of shade trees: Various
Rainfalls in mm/year: 4 700 Main crop from September to March; fly crop from June to July
Picking method: manual
Drying method: sun-dried at special open air concrete floors
Varietal: Typica

You can buy me here