3 lb Bundle: Special

Description

Garry’s coffee special features three of our more interesting coffees. Higher acidity, interesting processing, this bundle is leaning towards more exotic coffee tones.

A pound each of:

Congo Kivu Org. – Katana Station – Gr. 3 Natural

I have always had a fascination with the Congo – perhaps from a movie I watched as a child. What a different place and culture!  It is often seen in a dark light, but specialty coffee cultivation serves as a beacon of progress in a troubled place. Although I have still not personally been on the ground in the Congo (it’s on the bucket list). Our close buddies at Olam own a pretty cool coffee operation in the Congo called Viruga Coffee, it is bringing up specialty coffee in the Kivu region that is return, commands a higher dollar value and pumps much needed money back into infrastructure and expansion of the project.

This is an organic certified, natural-processed, grade 3 lot from smallholder farmers in Kivu, a coffee region on the eastern edge of the Democratic Republic of Congo. This coffee was produced by Virunga Coffee Company, an Olam operation that operates 7 washing stations in Kivu on the outskirts of the Virunga National Park. The region has excellent conditions for specialty arabica production with plentiful rainfall, high altitude and highly fertile volcanic soils.

Tasting Notes: A lovely, crisp, and clean, not overly fruity natural processed. We thought it best right around the medium roast ballpark but will make fans lighter or darker depending on your personal taste preference. Lighter roasting is a bit higher acidity, lemony and floral with some grape skin like fruitiness coming through. A bit more herbal spice right at first crack, needs a longer setup time to shine but will provide delicate chocolaty notes with much wilder acidity and fruity tones. Medium roasts were tasty without the wait! Balanced, tasty, and clean after 24 hours. A pronounced chocolaty factor, medium bodied, hints of crisp acidity backed with a little soft fruit tone and spice. Wonderfully smooth and delicate for a Congo coffee. Dark roasts were tasty right off the bat as well, roasty and stronger but with a sweeter then average edge. The smokiness does compliment the strong chocolaty undertones.

Roasting Notes: Slightly two toned at lighter roasts but even roasting for a natural. Medium chaff, have seen a lot worse out of boutique naturals but still higher than average. Darkens a little quickly, try and keep it between 1st and second crack for a smooth and defined cup. Right at first crack or into 2nd crack were our least favorite roasts. Anywhere in-between was quite tasty.

THE PRODUCERS
Virunga Coffee Company was established in 2011 by Schluter SA (now Olam Specialty Coffee Europe) with the vision to: “Change lives in DRC through commerce in a mutually profitable way by being a major coffee actor in Kivu.”

Virunga Coffee aims to achieve this vision by improving the quality and yields for farmers in North and South Kivu, primarily through:
– Developing and implementing field-based support activities
– Introducing Good Agricultural Practices (GAP)
– Investing in processing infrastructure
– Organizing assured organic production in close collaboration with over 2,300 farmers (with a further 1,500 by June 2020)
– Bringing an innovative spirit to the development of new products

As well as providing a stable supply chain and specialty market access, Virunga is actively involved in a number of sustainability and social programs in farming communities. These include an extensive tree planting program, disease prevention outreach to tackle critical diseases such as Ebola and HIV, and equipment to help farmers improve their agronomic practices.

THE PROCESS
Ripe cherries are delivered to the washing station for sorting and flotation to select only the ripest for processing. The cherries are de-pulped using a Penagos eco-pulper, fermented for 18-24 hours and then washed in clean water grading channels. Once thoroughly washed the parchment coffee is dried in the sun on raised African beds for 12-18 days, depending on climatic conditions.

In the daytime the parchment needs to be raked and turned periodically to ensure a consistent drying process and prevent mold or over-fermentation. The coffee is also covered in the middle of the day to protect it from the hot sun, and at night to protect it from rainfall and condensation. Once the coffee has dried to the right level it is transported to Butembo for dry-milling, grading, sorting and handpicking (triage), before being bagged in GrainPro for export.

THE REGION
Hutwe village is located in the Kirumba region of Nord-Kivu (North of Lake Kivu), on the edge of Virunga National Park, bordered by Uganda to the east. The region has excellent conditions for specialty arabica production with plentiful rainfall, high altitude and highly fertile volcanic soils. The region is also very poverty-stricken and has had a severe lack of infrastructure which has made high quality arabica both difficult to produce and very challenging to export. Virunga Coffee Company has sought to overcome many of these problems through hands-on farmer education and investment in local infrastructure such as roads and bridges. This has allowed quality improvements every season and, in turn, higher premiums for farmers.

Ethiopian Guji Org. Natural Gr. 1 – Kayon Mountain Shakiso

Fresh Kayon Mountain has become a tradition around here, marks one of our favorite times of the year, new Ethiopian season!

Beautiful coffee and screen. The Kayon Mountain Coffee Farm is 500 hectares with about 300 hectares planted in coffee and has been owned and operated by Ismael Hassen Aredo and his family since 2012. It is located 510 kilometers south of Addis Ababa, and the property crosses the border of two villages—Taro and Sewana—located in the Oromia region, in the Guji zone of the Shakiso district of Ethiopia.

Ismael oversees a staff of 25 permanent full-time and 300 seasonal employees, and the farm management offers free transportation services as well as financial support for building schools and administration buildings for the community. The farm competes with a nearby mining village for seasonal workers, so Ismael and his family tend to pay higher wages to their pickers in order to incentivize them returning year after year.

Tasting Notes:
Clean, bright, sweet with a very diverse flavor set. Stone and darker fruit, citrus & floral, and spiced chocolate tones are the main flavors one can see in this cup, either accentuated or muted depending on roast level. Nice jammy body will be seen in the medium to borderline dark roast mark. Very dependent on roast – lighter roasting gives much more of the citrus, red-fruit with just a hint of a spicy chocolaty factor, a much dryer finish. Darker roasts produce much more of a bakers chocolate cup with a hint of a strawberry like fruit note and good sweetness, far less acidic. A very enjoyable cup from light to dark.

Roasting Notes:
Classic natural processed, fairly even roasting (one can see a couple shades but they are close to each other) with high chaff. We liked it best right around a medium roast – not as bright or floral but developed a real nice fruit versus chocolate profile. Many lighter roast fans will like to take it lighter – 2 out of 6 here who tried it did like the lighter roasts better – super dark roasts will get pretty edgy but have very nice aromatics and a strong chocolaty smoky cup profile.