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New Coffee Monday!

Hi everyone! It’s a new coffee kinda Monday! As I mentioned last week it’s a really exciting time of year for me (to be totally honest I’m generally excited for most of the year!) as I have a lot of new coffees to share with you all! Here’s a quick summary of all the new tasty + delicious coffees that have just gone live at hasbean.co.uk

El Salvador Finca San José Washed Red Bourbon
Cherry truffle, big body, red wine
In the cup I want you to imagine a cherry truffle chocolate that’s been drenched in red wine. This big bodied, well structured and balanced coffee finishes with milk chocolate and a gentle sherry like kick.​
https://www.hasbean.co.uk/products/el-salvador-finca-san-jose-washed-red-bourbon
£6.50 for 250g, £24.70 for 1kg.

El Salvador Finca San José Washed Amarangia Bourbon
Kit Kat, caramel, orange
In the cup this takes like someone took a Kit Kat chocolate bar and mashed it up with a pink wafer. In the mid palate expect carmel and high sweetness that finishes with pink grapefruit and oranges.
https://www.hasbean.co.uk/products/el-salvador-finca-san-jose-washed-amarangia-bourbon
£7.00 for 250g, £26.60 for 1kg.

El Salvador Finca San José Washed Elefante
Golden sugar, champagne, peach
In the cup a golden sugar like sweetness meets champagne in the most unlikely of pairings. The peach acidity and brown sugar sweetness runs through the aftertaste.
https://www.hasbean.co.uk/products/el-salvador-finca-san-jose-washed-elefante
£9.00 for 250g, £34.20 for 1kg.

Red Rum (new Red blend!)
40% El Salvador Finca Alaska Washed Bourbon
30% Kenya Kiriga Estate AB Washed
30% Guatemala El Limon Washed Caturra
https://www.hasbean.co.uk/products/red-rum
£6.00 for 250g, £22.80 for 1kg.

Rwanda Buf Nyarasiza Washed Red Bourbon
Passionfruit, apricot, panna cotta
In the cup this passionfruit creamy coffee also has apricot and hints of mango, it’s pretty much a tropical fruit panna cotta. The mouthfeel on this is really huge, but remains smooth and silky throughout.
https://www.hasbean.co.uk/products/rwanda-buf-nyarasiza-washed-red-bourbon
£7.50 for 250g, £28.50 for 1kg.

Costa Rica Don Mayo Finca Bella Vista Yellow Honey Caturra
Single cream, red grape, milk chocolate
In the cup I want you to think single cream meeting sweet red grapes. As it cools you’ll find milk chocolate and a thick but silky mouthfeel.
https://www.hasbean.co.uk/products/costa-rica-don-mayo-finca-bella-vista-yellow-honey-caturra
£6.50 for 250g, £24.70 for 1kg.

New Coffees!

Hi hi hello there folks!

Yes I know I normally post on social media when I have some new coffees to share with you but to be totally honest I’ve got so many on the way that I’m not sure I want to fill your newsfeeds with that many individual tweets, FB posts and Instagrams! So I’ve decided that I’m going to try and focus the releases into small batches where a couple of coffees will go on at once and then I’m going to do a blog post (just like this!) letting you know about all the new tasty and delicious things.

“OK shhh now Steve stop telling me about telling me things and how about you let me know about these new coffees that I came here to find out about?!”

Yeah yeah alright! I just like to chat sometimes so – heeeeey good lookin’ (that’s me!) whaaaaaat ya got cookin’…

5 coffees from Beto @ El Limon in Guatemala! And a naturally processed Canario from Fazenda de Cachoeira in Brazil I’ve got a big folder of pictures and videos from my recent visit to El Limon that I’m working to get up on Flickr for you to all enjoy, have selected some of my favourites as the product images for the new El Limons : )

Guatemala El Limon Natural Pacamara
Papaya, floral, blackcurrant
In the cup this is a sweet papaya blended up with a bunch of geraniums! At the start of the sip there’s papaya, then a twist towards floral and I’m going to be specific here – geranium, finally finishing off with blackberry. As it cools you can also expect to see a little black tea starting to appear, a delicious, layered and really interesting cup.
https://www.hasbean.co.uk/products/guatemala-el-limon-natural-pacamara
£9.00 for 250, £34.20 for 1kg

Guatemala El Limon Washed Pacamara
Orange mousse, blackcurrant
In the cup this coffee is super creamy and smooth, think orange mousse and a blackcurrant aftertaste that goes on and on.
https://www.hasbean.co.uk/products/guatemala-el-limon-washed-pacamara
£7.00 for 250g, £26.60 for 1kg

Guatemala El Limon Natural Caturra
Sultana, papaya, glacé cherry
In the cup think black tea with sultanas floating in it, shall we call it sulTEAna?! Then comes the acidity of papaya and glacé cherry, a really complex and interesting coffee.
https://www.hasbean.co.uk/products/guatemala-el-limon-natural-caturra
£6.50 for 250g, £24.70 for 1kg

Guatemala El Limon Black Honey x Natural
Marzipan, fig, hazelnut
In the cup this super sweet and complex cup immediately hits you with Marzipan, which is closely followed by something else sweet and delicious, fig! There’s then a really rather delicious hazelnut finish that is long and true.
https://www.hasbean.co.uk/products/guatemala-el-limon-black-honey-x-natural
£7.00 for 250g, £26.60 for 1kg

Guatemala El Limon Washed Pache
Yoghurt, lemon rind, dark chocolate
In the cup this reminds me of Greek yoghurt and lemon rind but the finish does a right turn into dark chocolate and delicate allspice.
https://www.hasbean.co.uk/products/guatemala-el-limon-washed-pache
£8.00 for 250g, £30.40 for 1kg

Brazil Fazenda Cachoeira da Grama Natural Canario
Cacao nibs, treacle toffee, peanut
In the cup this cup make me think of cacao nibs covered in treacle toffee. Its chewy mouthfeel finishes with a pleasant peanut crunch.
https://www.hasbean.co.uk/products/brazil-fazenda-cachoeira-da-grama-natural-canario
£6.50 for 250g, £24.70 for 1kg

Coffee Project

I’ve been reading loads recently about coffee varietals, but have found it difficult to find one place where all the knowledge is pooled. So I plan over the coming weeks to write a whole heap of individual papers for each varietal I know about, and then at a later stage once its done pool them all together in a downloadable pdf.

I hope the first will go up this weekend at some point, and I’d love any one to comment if they have something to add or if they think I may have something not quite right. Please comment below and I’ll dive in and edit, or email me. Even if you are not sure I’ll investigate just in case.

Dollar against the pound

If you have been listening to the news you will have heard about the collapse of the pound against the euro and the dollar. Bad news if your going on holiday, good news if you relying on export.

Unfortunately every coffee transaction we do is done in US dollars (or the transactions of our importers) and this is impacting on the prices we will be paying for coffee in the coming months.

Were paying 25% more for everything without giving the farmer a penny more. We hope it balances out, as the pound was way to strong for way to long, but it couldn’t have come at a worse time with everyone watching the pennies, and the doom and gloom over the economy.

So why do I tell you this? Well I think were going to see some rises in the price of coffee. Certainly with Brazil we have already seen this, and if things don’t balance out soon the centrals will certainly be hit with this.

I also think specialty will be hit more than anything else simply the more you pay the more your effected. But as always we will try to keep this under control and react when we need to. But as always we will keep you posted.

Wine Thoughts pt2

Continuing from my post about the wine model and coffee I have some more
A good friend of mine who works for our favourite importers, Grant sent me a power point file of a presentation he did on wine and coffee and the links and separators. I asked him if he minded if I shared, and the good guy he is he said yes. You can go and see it at the link below but I’ve also done a summary

http://faq.hasbean.co.uk/wine/wine.htm

Separations
•Bottled wine is ready-to-consume – requires no additional preparation
•Coffee has potential for error in preparation (extraction, freshness)
•Packaged coffee deteriorates with age
•Historical image of coffee as cheap, easily available, everyday
•Wine is alcoholic and associated with good times!
•Wine grown by professionals, not subsistence farmers

Parallels
•Growing location – exotic, tropical, emotive
•Estate production – clear provenance and denomination of estates, appellation
•Varietal recognition and variation
•Sommelier/Barista expertise
•Award winners – COE and similar
•Affordable luxury

I like it, I think its give a different view. Also a good posting across on Jim Sever at the link here http://www.jimseven.com/2009/01/07/the-wine-model-doesnt-work/, which I think, also makes some good points against. Using the model.

It’s a little more complex than I originally thought (as always) but its really made me think, and I’ve loved the emails you guys have sent.

New in my mug

Just a very quick post to let you know the latest in my mug is up at http://www.inmymug.com

I’m really proud of this one its a 20 min first part of an interview
with two of the brothers from La Perla in Guatemala. Its the best so far as it has less of me talking and that’s got to be a good thing. I found it really interesting I hope you do to, let me know what you thoughts.