It’s the time of year where you’re looking for gifts for those who want something a little special. The coffee nut who likes something … unusual.

So we’re going to do the days of Christmas over the coming days (not sure how many there will be, they’ll fill the days until we run out).

So the first day is the return of of the Yellow El Bosque Bourbon from Guatemala. You can only buy this in the pack; you can only buy either of these coffees from us, and it’s a tiny tiny 60kg lot, the smallest you will find.

I hope you enjoy

We have lots of great coffees arriving at the moment, so many it fills me with the biggest excitement. It really is an exciting time, if not expensive for us buying all this stock.

All of a sudden some amazing naturals that I have felt compelled to share with you. This weeks in my mug is an amazing Natural from Costa Rica, sultanas, dried fruit, figs and prunes and super complex. why not watch it below

Next weeks in my mug is another natural, on different but crazy and crazy can be. so it means the third natural I have we wont see for a little while on in my mug so I wanted to share it here. In fact expect some more of these type of posts that if I don’t add it via in my mug, I’ll add them here.

Ethiopia Shakiso Natural

This coffee is grown in the town of Shakiso, located in the Gujii Zone of the Oromia Region in the Sidamo Province of Ethiopia.

Ethiopia is the birth place of coffee, and is the only indigenous place coffee grows. Some of the plant stock can only be found in ethiopia, and has the ability to offer some of the most amazing and diverse cup profiles. With this diversity comes some ends of the spectrum. I have tasted lots of very ordinary lots that I would never stock, and why Africa remains a tough place for us to find consistency and amazing coffee. But I have also tasted some of the most special coffees ever from this region, and Africa has the ability to show the non believers that coffee can taste of other things.

But every now and again something hits the cupping table thats a game changer, that reminds you why you cup everything. This one came as a huge highlight and one of the most exciting samples of this year, wow this is different.

Its a naturally processed coffee, and its full of character, a true natural for my tastes, some will love it, some will hate it, but all will have an opinion on it.

In the cup think floral, jasmine, pear, and buckets of red fruit (strawberry,red current,raspberry), and all just a little bit boozy, big flavours and lovely aftertaste. A huge cup that works super well in both brewed and espresso and very very well through milk.

Area: Shakiso, Region Sidamo
Farm: Mormora Coffee Plantation
Process: sun-dried, natural
Altitude: 1700–1850 m above sea level
Grown: in wild forest conditions
Sorted: hand-picking

You can buy it here and I suggest you do

De-derrrrrrrrrr and another arrives, this time a great filler for the wonderful El Bosque that ran out earlier than we expected.

A tiny lot we fell across that will see us through to the new crop of El Bosqe arrives in a few months time. This exceptional lot has held very well from the current crop and it was such a lovely surprise to find a coffee thats 8 – 9 months since arrive holding so well.

This microlot is from the La Providencia farm located in Atitlan. On the farm, forest area is maintained to provide shade for coffee plants, and natural fertilizer created from coffee pulp and microorganisms is used to maintain the health of the coffee trees.

In the cup it shares much that is great about the El Bosque Bourbon, sweetness, smooth milk chocolate with acidity that’s a little more lemon that grape. Like the el bosque there is some spice thats really interesting in there too. Delicious espresso, ace brewed coffee and a real all rounder.

Farm: La Providencia
Variety: Bourbon, Typica, Caturra
City: Atitlan
Region: Atitlan, Santiago Atitlan, Solola
Country: Guatemala
Altitude: 1525-1675 masl

You can buy it here

I love Machacamarca so much, this is great to have something a little different from the same farm

The legend is back, this is a huge huge coffee, one of our most important and one of my all time favorites. This is a world exclusive coffee, we buy everything from this farm, and we are the only ever buyer of this coffee.

We first stocked this coffee from the 2007 Cup of Excellence lot, and it very quickly became our favourite of that year. It also proved to be one of your overall favourites regardless of its Cup of Excellence price premium. This is now the third year now of building on this relationship, culminating in me spending the week in July 2010 living with the family, picking the coffee and helping with processing. It was one of the most stunning weeks of my life, and the hospitality of Mario and Maria was amazing.

I first met Mario who owns the farm, with his sister Maria, in Corico on the Friday of the 2007 competition when we went to an awards ceremony for the coffees that had made it to the international jury finals. We didn’t know who had won or which coffees we had cupped, just that these guys were behind them. It was a great chance to meet the farmers, as I had an early flight booked and would not be at the presentation day on the Saturday.

The meeting place was in something that I can only compare to a greenhouse. The heat was the worst I’ve ever experienced. A week of travelling around the local area, crammed with far more work than is good for anyone and some serious heat took its toll. I had to go outside and grab some fresh air. Whilst there I got chatting to one of the farmers who then disappeared to kindly get me a bottle of water, which was one of the best things I could have wished for at the time. We chatted some more, swapped business cards and that was that. When he got his certificate, I asked if he minded me having a photo taken with him, and wished him the best for following day.

Once back home, I looked through my cupping scores and decided what I was going to go for as my number one lot of choice in the auction. This coffee was it. I also decided it didn’t matter how much this coffee cost, we were going to secure it. It was only after looking through my business cards that I found out it was Mario who I had met and got on with so well. Since then we have exchanged emails and I really like Mario. They were also really pleased that we were the ones to secure the lot. I have found that it means more when you get to know the individuals involved with coffee, and it seems to work both ways too.

So taking advantage of this special relationship, with the help of our importers who work with exporters and are fluent Spanish speakers, I started to speak with Mario to see if we could secure the coffee for this year. This is our first world exclusive coffee where we have bought all of the beans from the farm. It is only available at Has Bean. We have also tied in some incentives to maintain and improve quality, and paid a great price that is way above the fair trade price, directly into Mario’s hands.

This is the peaberry version of this coffee, the last few years this got blended away with a really ordinary, commodity coffee, never to be seen again. I found this out on my trip in the summer of 2010, and begged them to separate it out for me. A little extra work for them but we promised to pay a little more for it. Finally they said yes, but I bought it without being able to cup it or try it, but a calculated risk when buying from such an amazing farm. I think that that gamble has paid off in the cup. You will find it is cleaner than the standard machacamraca, which means you see more of the acidity, which changes from a grape like one to a lemon / citrus style. There is a trade off in the body is smaller, and the sweetness is turned down a notch or two, but delicious

Farm: Machacamarca BV
Farmer: Maria and Mario Nina Lupe del Rosario Andrade
City: Chulumani
Region: Sud-Yungas
Country: Bolivia
Farm Size: 67.00 Hectares
Coffee growing area: 5.00 Hectares
Altitude: 1790 masl
Variety: Criollo (80%), Caturra (20%) all Peaberry
Type of Soil: Clay
Average Annual Rainfall: 1,790 mm
Type of Shade: Hardwoods, citrus
Weeding: Twice per year
Pruning: Sanitary pruning
Processing System: On-site wet processing, solar drying

You can buy it here

A duo of coffees to introduce here for you.

Malawi Viphya Geisha

Grown in the Viphya North Hills on the grassland plateau overlooking Lake Malawi, this micro lot is of the Geisha vareital. Geisha is an ancient and very rare coffee variety that has gianed a lot of favour of late. The agronomic yield of Geisha is extremely low, which is why it is so difficult to find commercial plantations of this variety. One of the reasons for its new found popularity is an auction lot that fetched a huge premium, in fact it was the most expenisive coffee ever, which in some areas led to a huge rush to rip out perfectly good plant stock and replace it with a varietal that tends only to work at a higher altitude and in perfect growing conditions.

To find out more about Geisha read here or here but it is enough to say the varietal is very controversial.

This is from the same folks as the Msesse that we are stocking, but it originates from a larger co-op. It is still Geisha and still great cup, it is just a slightly larger lot. This has a similar profile to the Msesse, but with with very small differences.

In the cup there is a peach/lemon and summer fruit acidity just like its sibling, the Msesse, but maybe it is a little less defined here. Then you get a milky/silky smooth body and delicious finish. I think out of the two that we have stocked this will work much better in espresso becuase it’s a little less bright and not as in your face clean as the Msesse. Both are delicious, but for different reasons.

You can buy this here

Malawi Mzimba Geisha

Grown in the Viphya North Hills on the grassland plateau overlooking Lake Malawi, this micro lot is of the Geisha vareital. Geisha is an ancient and very rare coffee variety that has gianed a lot of favour of late. The agronomic yield of Geisha is extremely low, which is why it is so difficult to find commercial plantations of this variety. One of the reasons for its new found popularity is an auction lot that fetched a huge premium, in fact it was the most expenisive coffee ever, which in some areas led to a huge rush to rip out perfectly good plant stock and replace it with a varietal that tends only to work at a higher altitude and in perfect growing conditions.

To find out more about Geisha read here or here but it is enough to say the varietal is very controversial.

The good news about the Mzimba Geisha Micro Lot is that it has been growing in this location for a very long time at an altitude of 1600m above sea level upwards, and it’s great tasting.This coffee is so simular to the Mssese I have tried to find out more about why it is so close and if its a co op name change.

In the cup expect the super creamy mouthfeel and clarity that you would expect from a great washed African coffee. This is then backed up by a delicous tropical fruit that zaps your mouth with pineapple, apricot and all sorts of summer fruits. Great mouthfeel. Like last year these coffees have great flavours, add to this a great price. It’s just great coffee.

You can buy it here