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Yemen Auction #15

Yemen Auction #15

Yemen presents a coffee paradox. This small country in the Middle East is the true birthplace of global coffee commerce and center of origin for the more than 70 countries currently occupied by the coffee diaspora. It is home to heirloom coffee types you cannot find anywhere else on the planet, cultivated using techniques completely unique in the industry. The landscapes in many of its growing areas are so startlingly rugged, steep, and rocky that at first glance they seem downright inhospitable to plant life, much less capable of producing some of the most astonishingly flavorful coffees you’ve ever tried.

Ethiopia Metad Beriti Washed

Ethiopia Metad Beriti Washed

There is no place on earth that produces more tantalizing, sublimely flavorful coffees than Ethiopia. The incredible range of tastes found throughout the country is a reflection of the harmony that exists between the noble coffee tree and the environment in which it was born.

DRC Muungano

DRC Muungano

This exceptional lot came to us thanks to the persistence of the good folks at Mighty Peace Coffee, a U.S.-based importer with boots on the ground in Eastern Congo committed to the vision of coffee as an engine of economic development, environmental conservation, and peace in the region.

Colombia Cup of Excellence #2

Colombia Cup of Excellence #2

The Cup of Excellence (CoE) is the world’s most prestigious coffee quality competition. It identifies the most exceptional coffees grown each year in 10 countries around the world through an exhaustive process that enlists some of the most discriminating tasters in the industry over multiple rounds of evaluation. Then CoE sells the best lots at auction, usually commanding high prices and generating substantial earnings for the farmers who grew them.

Guatemala ECWx Gildardo Perez

Guatemala ECWx Gildardo Perez

In 2018, we created a social impact event we call ECWx. It repurposes the format of the Extraordinary Coffee Workshop (ECW), our regular gathering of the sprawling Intelligentsia Direct Trade community, but diverges from the ECW script in two important ways.

Honduras Caballero Family Geisha

Honduras Caballero Family Geisha

The story of Geisha starts in 1931, when a group of botanists on an expedition in the forests of southwestern Ethiopia collected coffee seed from an area referred to by locals as Gesha. By the middle of the 20th century, descendants of the seeds they collected had made their way to a research center in Costa Rica, reaching Panama by 1963. More than four decades later, the coffee emerged from its anonymity when it floored a group of international judges at a 2004 quality competition in Panama, where it took first place and a new name, Geisha.

El Salvador Malacara SL-28

El Salvador Malacara SL-28

Guillermo Álvarez is balancing tradition with innovation at Finca Malacara, the fabled Salvadoran coffee estate established by his great-grandparents in 1888.

Back then, the stately Bourbon cultivar was dominant in El Salvador, and a key part of the country’s claims to be the source of the world’s finest coffee. So the Álvarez family planted Bourbon and nothing else. The wisdom of the selection seemed to be confirmed when their coffee won a gold medal at the 1900 world’s fair in Paris.

Costa Rica Providencia Honey

Costa Rica Providencia Honey

Coopedota is a smallholder coffee cooperative with an unusual commitment to quality. In our experience, very few cooperatives possess both the willingness and the ability to sift through the coffees of hundreds of growers to identify a handful of standouts like this one.

Mexico Finca Chelín Solok

Mexico Finca Chelín Solok

Coffee growers generally employed two dominant strategies to amplify or multiply the flavors their coffees can produce. One is varietal diversification, introducing new genetic materials whose flavor profiles are different from those already found on the farm. The other is post-harvest processing innovation. At Finca Chelín, a century-old coffee farm perched high in the hills of Oaxaca’s breathtaking Sierra Sur, Enrique López has done both with abandon. This lot features both a new variety and a new post-harvest process.

Honduras Caballero Family Pacamara

Honduras Caballero Family Pacamara

The Caballero family embodies the future the specialty coffee sector is striving for. Two decades ago, they were unsure whether to continue producing coffee. Facing a volatile marketplace and a rapidly changing climate with no reliable roadmap to follow, it would have been easy for them to give up on coffee and do something else. Today they are among the most celebrated coffee producers in Central America with an enviable client list that includes some of the most respected coffee companies in the world. Their story is one of persistence, innovation, and adaptation.

Sapsucker Espresso

Sapsucker Espresso

The Sapsucker is a migratory bird with a sweet tooth, programmed to seek sugar. In its single-minded pursuit of sweetness, it taps into trees for their sugary sap and frequents orchards where it can slurp up the sweet nectar of fresh fruit. It is hard to imagine a more fitting spirit animal for our cupping team: like the Sapsucker, we chase sweetness and cherish fruit acids in our coffees. Which is what makes assembling our Sapsucker seasonal espresso blend such a labor of love.

Holiday Special Selection Bundle 2021

Holiday Special Selection Bundle 2021

It’s time to celebrate! Our 2021 Holiday Special Selection Bundle is here, featuring Bolivia Finca Takesi Geisha & Ethiopia Gesha Village 1931 Natural.

Showcasing some of the most delicious and memorable flavors found in coffee across the globe, this duo makes a perfect ready-made gift for anyone with a love for specialty coffee.