CoE 101
This week we begin our releases of not one, not two but three winners of recent Cup of Excellence competitions in Colombia and Peru. It has been a few years since we have had CoE coffees on our menu, so here are some CoE basics…
In Season
Karyenda: Music (and coffee) worthy of royalty
The karyenda is a traditional drum in Burundi, but it is not just any drum. It occupies the highest order of sacred drums in a country that takes its percussion seriously. It once enjoyed semi-divine status in Burundi, heralding the proclamations of kings at royal…
An architectural approach to agriculture
From our Vice President of Coffee and Colombia Buyer Geoff Watts: The Santuario Farm Project was created in 1999 by visionary farmer-in-training Camilo Merizalde. His explicit goal was to produce extraordinary coffee using traditional heirloom varieties that had nearly disappeared from Colombia. It was a…
Tres Santos Colombia: Linares
From our Vice President of Coffee and Colombia Buyer Geoff Watts: Nariño, Nariño! The mere sound of the name raises expectations. This little state is located as far south in Colombia as you can get, just north of border with Ecuador. And it as has…
A symbol of coffee’s promise
I began working in coffee nearly 15 years ago. During that time I have been on more farms than I can remember and taken more photos than I can count. But I can’t recall a farm photo that means more to me the one of…
How do you spell flavor at Finca Takesi? G-E-M.
Today we begin taking pre-orders for three coffees that are extraordinary by design: our Finca Takesi Bolivia Geisha Special Selection, our Finca Takesi Bolivia Typica Special Selection, and our Finca Takesi Bolivia Catuai Special Selection. They are the surest validation imaginable that the three letters that matter most for cup quality…
ECW 2010: Exploring El Salvador
When I was in graduate school, I attended a lecture by the German filmmaker Wim Wenders. He told the audience that all his films have the same protagonist: the place in which they are shot. I have only seen a few of his movies, but…
Buyers Notebook: Los Delirios Nicaragua
As I write this, a collection of coffee giants is stalking the halls of our Chicago Roasting Works: George Howell, Susie Spindler, Paul Songer, Darrin Daniel and members of the Alliance for Coffee Excellence Board of Directors. The folks who bring you the Cup of Excellence are squirreled away here…
Buyer’s Notebook: La Tortuga Honduras
Our La Tortuga Honduras takes its name and inspiration from the moral of Aesop’s fable about the tortoise and the hare: slow and steady wins the race. In Central America, the hares are easy to spot. The great estates of Costa Rica, El Salvador and…
Buyer’s Notebook: Flecha Roja Costa Rica
The Intelli Sourcing Sessions podcast is back, and just in time: last week marked the start of a month-long run of delicious releases from our Northern Hemisphere partners in Mexico, Central America and East Africa. Today we resume our Buyer’s Notebook series — conversations about…
An Ethiopian Sensory Expedition
Last week, Gesha Village Coffee Estate in Ethiopia auctioned off 21 nanolots from its 2016/17 harvest. Average scores for the best-scoring lots topped 91 points and prices were as high as $85 a pound. Today we offer you the first two of four lots from the Gesha Village auction…
El Boliviazo
Bolivian coffee sits in the long shadows cast by its mighty neighbors. It is bordered to the east by Brazil, a coffee colossus on whose every twist of fate the market moves. To the west lies Peru, a sleeping giant that has emerged from its slumber as an organic…