New Gourmet Coffees for June 2019

This month at Blue Coffee Box, we are featuring 6 new gourmet coffees for June. Instead of doing a post on each coffee, we decided to put them all in one place for you.

Below you will find the list, as well as the roasters we are sourcing these coffees from this month as well.

Gourmet Coffees for June

Hambella Washed

Farm: Hambella Farm
Varietals: Heirloom
Processing: Washed
Altitude: 1900-1980m
Owner: Hambella Farm
Town: Oromia
Region: Ethiopia
Cupping Notes: Floral, peach, black tea
Roaster: Atkinsons Coffee Roasters

Hambella's story began with Muluemebet Emiru, the grandmother of the current owners of the farm.

Muluemebet was Ethiopia's first ever female pilot and after the second world war, she was gifted a plot of land by the Ethiopian Emperor, Haile Selassie, on which she decided to build a coffee farm.

This was quite revolutionary in the 1930's as even now the vast majority of coffee grown in Ethiopia is what's known as garden coffee which are just small plots of land that belong to families that multi-crop coffee with other cash crops.

Located in Oromia, Ethiopia's largest coffee growing region, the Hambella farm sits at around 1,900 meters above sea level and cultivates Heirloom Ethiopian varieties that have flourished in this landscape for thousands of years.

The farm now covers about 200 hectares and is a good source of employment for the local area as there are 28 full time staff and about 700 during harvest time.

Las Nubes Santa Maria

Farm: Las Nubes
Varietals: Caturra
Processing: Natural
Altitude: 1300m
Owner: Victor Robelo
Town: Dipilto
Region: Nicaragua
Cupping Notes: Tangerine, tropical fruits
Roaster: Atkinsons Coffee Roasters

Victor's original family farm holds a special place in his heart and he still plants his late father's favourite varieties of Yellow Catui and Red Caturra, honouring his memory in true cafétiero style.

Four years ago Las Nubes made what must be the biggest investment of them all, buying their own dry mill and warehouse. Each estate wet mills their own cherry in-situ and it is then transported in wet parchment to this new Dry Mill in Matagalpa.

Here the coffee is sun-dried in various stages from 100% sun to different levels of shade. This facility ensures a homogenous and controllable drying time, for both cherry and parchment.

This is where the most attention to detail is required, as it is possibly the most critical stage of the process in terms of influencing the final flavour in the cup.

Viani Cundinamarca

Farm: Cooperativa de Operacion Nacional Agropecuaria
Varietals: Castillo, Colombia, Typica
Processing: Washed
Altitude: 1300-1800m
Town: Cundinamarca, Viani
Region: Colombia
Cupping Notes: Walnuts, currants, pineapple
Roaster: 80 Stone Coffee Roasters

Cundinamarca has 15 provinces and 116 municipalities mainly situated within the Eastern Cordillera of the Andes. Viani is situated in the west.

The coffee here is picked by the smallholders and washed, dried, and then taken to the Trilladora Bachue mill in nearby Bogota for cupping, scoring and sorting for export.

Due to the many microclimates and changing weather patterns, there is often fresh coffee cropping throughout the year, though generally this is split across the main and mitaca (or fly') crops.

Kamundu Estate

Farm: Kamundu Estate
Varietals: SL34
Processing: Natural
Altitude: 1950m
Town: Kiambu
Region: Kenya
Cupping Notes: Blackcurrant, wine gums
Roaster: Darkwoods Coffee

This coffee is naturally processed on raised African beds. Natural processing is a rarity in Kenya, which has built a fine reputation on the back of exceptional fully washed coffees.

Ripe cherries are selectively harvested and floated to select only the ripest, highest quality cherries for processing. These cherries are placed in a single layer on raised drying beds and dried in the sun for up to 6 weeks.

The cherries must be manually turned periodically every day to ensure an even drying and prevent mould formation. Once the coffee has reached its optimum moisture content it is rested before being hulled, graded further handpicked, and finally bagged in GrainPro for export.

Kinini

Farm: Kinini Washing Station
Varietals: Bourbon
Processing: Washed
Altitude: 1800m
Town: Northern Province
Region: Rwanda
Cupping Notes: Sugar, cranberries
Roaster: Darkwoods Coffee

Jacquie Turner, who hails from Rwanda but lives in the UK, had a grand plan to provide sustainable help to farmers in the Northern Region of Rwanda; to help heal many of the atrocities of the past.

Together with her friend Malcom Clear, and some assistance from the Rwandan Government, they provided a regular income to the local farmers to plant and develop coffee farms that would not start earning an income for some years to come.

Malcom, whose experience was in the building trade, put this expertise to good use by developing a state of the art washing station. The project is now a few years in, supporting 622 farmers in the region, and producing some fantastic coffee.

Fazenda Palmital

Farm: Augusto de Melo Souza
Varietals: Catuai, Mundo novo
Processing: Pulped Natural and Natural
Altitude: 950-1150m
Town: South of Minas Gerais
Region: Brazil
Cupping Notes: Walnuts, hazelnut, cocoa
Roaster: 80 Stone Coffee Roasters

Fazenda Palmital, in the mountains of the Serra So Pau S'Alho in the district of Cabo Verde, southern Minas Gerais, was purchased in the 1920s by Joaquim Sebastião de Souza, the current owner's grandfather.

In 1950 the farm's management passed to Augusto de Melo Souza's Hands. In the 1970s his wife and son started to take care of the property. Their natural aptitude to it led the average annual production to rise from 2,000 to 6,500 bags of 60kg. All workers have full legal benefits.

The farm also provides employees and their families with free transportation to primary and secondary schools and medical care in Cabo Verde.

Currently, 36 families live on the farm in houses equipped with running water, sanitation and electricity, as they should.

For more speciality coffees like these, be sure to subscribe to Blue Coffee Box. You can check out our past featured coffees here.