ROAST | MEDIUM

COLOMBIA | HONDURAS

NOTES: CANDIED CITRUS, CHERRY PIE, SWEET

Each year we choose a charity or non-profit to work with around the world. This year we have chosen to partner with our friends at La Palma Y El Tucan and their project designed to give back to farmers called Biodiversal.

www.biodiversal.com

This project is designed around the concepts of Environmental Protection, and Food Sovereignty with the long term goal of giving people environmentally sustainable food systems and economic opportunity through agriculture, and short term goals of giving meaningful revenue streams through agricultural bio diversification.

All of our Holiday Coffees with feature coffees from Colombia as this is Biodiversal's main focus.

For our Holiday Blend coffee this year we blended together three of our menu favorites. A vibrant and juicy Parainema from Leticia Lopez, and the floral and sweet Cantillo Family Gesha. We added in a rich Colombia coffee to give it pop from The Martir Group. These combine to make a truly beautiful blend of vibrant acidity and sweetness. Balanced enough to please everyone, but with enough complexity for even the most seasoned coffee professional.

Region: Huila, Colombia (Martir Group | Cantillo Family Gesha) and Honduras (Leticia Lopez Parainema)

Process: Washed and Natural

Altitude: 1400 - 1800  MASL

ROAST | LIGHT MEDIUM 

TOLIMA, COLOMBIA

NOTES: MIXED BERRIES, RED SANGRIA, BOOZY

Welcome coffee #3 from our birthday competition. By far the majority texts and comments we received from the birthday competition was about this coffee #3, El Eden Pacamara. 

Lem in particular isn't a huge fan of Pacamaras, but we decided to roast the sample anyway. Much to our surprise it was right there with the Gesha. This coffee was complex and tropical with out being overly savory, like Pacamaras are prone to be. We can't wait for you to have your mind blown with this amazing coffee, truly breaking the mold for what is possible.

We classify this as a High Impact Anaerobic Process coffee. this means that bean color will vary quite a bit even within the same bag. Don't let that scare you, this coffee is absolutely maxed out on flavor, and is an experience you just can't pass up. Don't miss this small 2.5 bag lot. 

So excited to bring back this amazing coffee from the producers of El Eden Estate. This Lot was the best of what we were offered from them this season, and we are excited to share it with you. This years coffee is special because we worked directly with the 2 Brothers that produce this coffee, and pioneered this specific anaerobic style of production.  

The crew at El Vergel continue to innovate and utilize feedback from the specialty coffee industry. We are so excited to see some of our direct feedback given and utilized in this Lot of El Eden. This lot of EL Eden showcases their particular fermentation and drying style, but they have worked with us to showcase more of that beautiful Pacamara Variety as well.  Marked florals, with intense fruit character.  This one is a fruit bomb for sure.

Variety: Pacamara

PROCESS: Anaerobic Natural

ELEVATION: 1,450 masl

ROAST | LIGHT MEDIUM

SAN JAVIER, BUENA VISTA, COLOMBIA

NOTES: ORANGE, RED FRUIT PUNCH, STRAWBERRY, PLUM WINE

La Palma Y El Tucan's project, Delagua is intensely committed to the preservation of water, thus the name. This project works mostly in the dryer Northern Part of Colombia known as Sierra Nevada. This style of processing is much more sustainable to the environment as it doesn't dirty clean water to process coffee. However it takes a careful producer to make great natural coffees. 

This is where La Palma steps in. They help producers by picking and processing the coffee on their behalf, therefore insuring immaculate processing and higher cup scores over all. This is a very similar process to the Neighbors & Crops Coffees we have bought over the last 3 years.

53 year old Maria Linarez, lives on her four-hectare farm with her husband, Jose Quintero, where they both work in all aspects of the farm, relying on coffee production for financial security. Maria was able to purchase the farm from her savings. 

The farm supports for other helpers and more during the harvest season and uses only natural means for growing the coffee. 

Variety: Castillo

PROCESS: Controlled Fermentation Natural

ELEVATION: 1,405 masl

ROAST | LIGHT MEDIUM 

CATAGUA, COPAN, HONDURAS

NOTES:  TROPICAL FRUIT, RED BERRIES, CHOCOLATE

We get samples sent to us all the time, but often they don't meet our standards for quality, or we don't have space for the coffees. In fact that happened with this coffee, however Finca Terrerito kept up with us and circled back with this amazing offering of a natural Parainema variety from Leticia. 

This coffee matches perfectly with our Red Label profile with big red fruit, intense sweetness, and rich chocolate balance this amazing natural processed coffee from Honduras.

The fifty - acre farm of Finca La Unica, sits under the beautiful mountain of Mount Tenan. This farm is home to rare micro-lots and was formerly a cattle farm before becoming a coffee farm. The farm was pruchased in 2016 by Leticia Lopez, a 5th generation coffee producer. Leticia is proud to be an example for women by owning and producing coffee, a role typically reserved for men in Honduras, and the majority of the coffee producing world. 

Farm :  Finca La Unica

Producer: Leticia Lopez Hutchins

Variety: Parainema

PROCESS: Anaerobic Natural

ELEVATION: 1,400 masl

ROAST | LIGHT 

BENCH MAJI, GESHA, ETHIOPIA

NOTES: FLORAL, POMEGRANATE, MANGO, DARK HONEY

Gesha Village has always had a special place with us here at Black & White Coffee. We are excited to offer our first 100% direct trade coffee. The Gesha Village is a project with a clear and distinct vision to produce the most amazing coffees possible, and have been wildly popular in the competition circuit.

It started as a coffee documentary project from Rachel Samuel and Adam Overton, who after gaining permission from the local Meanit Shasha Woreda people to plant wild seeds harvested from the Gori Gesha Forest. The farm is home to more than 30,000 native shade trees and 700,000 coffee trees with half descended from the Gori Gesha forest seeds. The lot we were able to obtain through last year from our friends at Genuine Origin was the highest scoring coffee we have brought into the Black and White Coffee family.

We are excited to offer this amazingly clean and complex natural processed coffee, that we were able to work directly with Adam at Gesha Village to buy direct with help from Trabocca. Kyle and Adam have cultivated a friendship of sharing information and chatting about the possibilities of the speciality coffee market. Both of them share an amazing love for Ethiopian coffee along with the Gesha Variety that they both love so very much. All of this adds to the beautiful complex and juicy cup with notes of tropical fruit, delicate florals and honey sweetness throughout.

FARM: Gesha Village, Chaka Selection

VARIEITY: Gori Gesha Forest, Gesha 1931, Illubabor Forest 1974

PROCESS: Natural

ELEVATION: 1,909-2,069 masl

ROAST | LIGHT MEDIUM 

TARRAZÚ, COSTA RICA

NOTES: BLACKBERRY, CINNAMON, GOLDEN RAISIN

Cordillera del Fuego Farm which translates to Mountain of Fire, produces some amazing anaerobic "cinnamon" coffees. We are so happy to purchase coffee for the 3rd consecutive year from. Luis Eduardo Campos, who we know as Eduardo Campos

Eduardo is an independent Costa Rican coffee farmer, constantly looking for innovative ways to improve coffee production. This coffee, in particular, was processed with Anaerobic fermentation. You may have heard about such process from the 2018-2020 World Barista Championship where the top contenders used coffees that were produced using this method. Even a few competitors using coffees from neighboring farms to Eduardos.  

The Anaerobic process owes its ideas from the wine industry's use of yeasts and bacteria to produce champagnes and other wines. During the fermentation process, the coffee sits in an oxygen-free steel container with water. This builds up lactic and malic acids which add to the coffee's complexity and flavor. Once ready the coffee is 100% sun-dried. We love bringing in coffees that highlight new innovations in coffee production. 

FARM:  Cordillera del Fuego 

Producer: Luis Eduardo Campos

Variety: Caturra

PROCESS: Anaerobic Washed

ELEVATION: 1,750 masl

SINGLE ORIGIN

TARRRAZÚ, COSTA RICA

NOTES: BLACKBERRY, CITRUS, BROWN SUGAR 

 You might have noticed that in 2020 more and more of your favorite roasters are showcasing Costa Rica more than you might be accustomed to. If you did, than great work, but if not lets chat a bit about how Costa Rica in particular does Specialty Coffee Trading.  

To be transparent I didn't know this was the case until this year, but Costa Rica relies very heavily on tourist travel. This makes sense, as so many of my friends have gone there for Honeymoons, or anniversary travel. I didn't realize that they also rely quite heavily on coffee buyer travel. Most of the great coffees of Costa Rica are bought on site by coffee buyers who travel to this beautiful place for "Work."  

With 2020 being the challenging year that it is for travel, most of these buyers were not able to make their yearly trip to purchase coffee, and with the global specialty market in a bit of a slump, many just could not buy as much coffee as before.  This has left Costa Rica with much more supply that is not accounted for than previous years.

This coffee in particular came to us through Caravela Coffee in Chapel Hill NC, they work heavily in Colombia, but an opportunity came up for them to take a shot at some Costa Rican Microlots, and an opportunity to help out and move some coffee.  We landed on this White Honey Single Producer lot from Tarrazu. We haven't met Don Lito, but his coffee stood out to us among the samples we were offered 

This coffee is marked by big sweetness and and amazing texture, with just enough sparkly acidity, and fruit character to keep it interesting.  This is a great middle ground coffee, easy to drink while having enough complexity to keep you coming back to it as it cools.

Kyle

Producer: Don Lito

Variety: Red Catuai

Process: White Honey Washed

Elevation: 1600 masl

YEAR ROUND

COLOMBIA (EL EDEN JAVA NATURAL)  | Laos (Nala Village-Washed)

NOTES: JUICY, TROPICAL, COMPLEX

Anaerobic coffees have rewritten the rules for Barista Competition's around the world. In the last two years the top 6 Competitors at both the USBC (United States Barista Championship) and the WBC (World Barista Championship) have utilized coffees with this style of fermentation.

As a result, this new method of processing has inspired us to create our own product that focuses on highlighting the complex acidity and vibrant fruit flavors found in these coffees. Not simply concerned with cupping scores and competition points, we believe for a number of reasons that this style of fermentation truly is the future.  

In a time when the Commodity Market value for coffee is dropping lower and lower, producers are always looking for ways to maximize their earnings on a given crop. However, in order to do so they are forced to produce high scoring coffees in order to make these premiums. This is made even harder when a lot of these coffee farms do not have the high elevation required to produce the complex flavors and  boutique varieties found in specialty coffee (such as Gesha, Pink Bourbon, Java).

However, in the last few years many more farms have had access to anaerobic processing, which done simply can add acidity, and complex fruit character to the cup. Anaerobic processing, in its most basic form is holding the coffee (either in cherry, or pulped) in an oxygen free environment (which can be achieved a number of ways) for an extended time in order to promote the growth of bacteria, Lactobacillus. Where, Lactobacillus is the agent that promotes acidity by producing lactic acid. The result of this is the acidification of the coffee pulp, which translates to a more vibrant coffee both on the cupping table and in the cafe. 

This main benefit of this unique style of processing is that it can make coffees that are grown at low elevations taste very similar to coffees grown at higher elevations. As the global climate warms, farmers must go higher and higher up the mountain in order to achieve the same results, but for most producers this simply is not possible.

Now, however farmers can add acidity and complexity through processing and thus combat the effects of climate change, at least in the cup.

This Blend will showcase these coffees and their varying profiles from around the world. Most of these coffees that we are currently sourcing are coming from Colombia, but we are also sourcing some from Ethiopia, Costa Rica, and Peru. With some being washed, some natural and some honey.  

This version is a blend of an Anaerobic Process from Huila, Colombia; blended with the ever vibrant El Eden Washed Java from Tolima, Colombia.  This is a juicy and clean cup represented by the blue corner on the label. This corner will change as the flavor profile and blend components shift throughout the year.

We hope you all enjoy this adventure into what we believe to be the future of specialty coffee.

 - Kyle Ramage (Co-owner | Green Coffee Buyer)

Regions:  Tolima, Colombia | Laos

Process:  Anaerobic Natural and Anaerobic Washed

Elevation: 800 - 1600

 SINGLE ORIGIN

NARIÑO, COLOMBIA

NOTES OF CARAMEL, MILK CHOCOLATE AND SUBTLE CHERRY

The Sugar Cane Decaffeination process is a natural process that not only maintains the integrity of the coffee flavor, but allows complete traceability with our coffee since both the growing/ processing and decaffeination all occurs in Colombia, the coffee’s source. Colombian Coffees are commonly known to be big, rich, chocolaty coffees with exceptional fragrance and often great acidity. Since Colombia has many diverse growing regions, the coffee varies mildly from region to region.

Origin: Caldas, Colombia

Process: Sugar Cane/ EA

ROAST | LIGHT 

GEDEB, ETHIOPIA

NOTES: INTENSE FLORALS, CANDIED LEMON, BLACKBERRY, WILDFLOWER HONEY

It is quite interesting to see how certain washing stations simply "have a great year" This season the coffees that continue to score highest in blind flights (where the coffee origin details are not known to the cupper/taster) have been coffees form Worka Chelbesa. This coffee came to us though an interesting way.  

Every year roasters like ourselves do our best to estimate the amount of coffee we will need for the coming year. I (Kyle) often underestimate as I don't want to have excess coffee.  This excess is called going "LONG"  COVID has thrown a complete wrench into almost everyones plans this year, but oddly enough we were still quite "SHORT" on our washed Ethiopia purchases this year.

So when a roaster goes "Long" occasionally they will offer coffee to other roasters from their own contracts. Thankfully, someone had a bit of extra Worka Chelbesa Lot 8 for us to pick up.  It is an interesting system, but similar to most other industries.

We are so thankful for our relationships that made this coffee possible, and for the people all along the supply chain. We have been in communication about this coffee and coffees like it for almost a year with the Atlantic Specialty team. Tim Hill, helped us line up this project. We are so excited to see the Future of this relationship. 

Farm: Smallholder farmers organized around the Chelbesa coffee mill

Process: Washed 

Altitude: 1800 - 1900 masl

ROAST | LIGHT  MEDIUM

TARRAZU, COSTA RICA

NOTES: SWEET CITRUS, CANDIED PINEAPPLE, PLUM JAM

2020 has proven to be quite a journey! Costa Rica is not an origin that we have worked closely with historically, but 2020 has seen a change in that and this coffee represents the first steps in that journey.  

Carlos Montero's coffee stunned us as a friend was trying to find a home for a coffee that one of his customers backed out of due to the pandemic (this has happened quite a bit this year). We loved the Double Washed and took all 10 bags of this beautiful lot, not exactly knowing a ton about where it came from.  Little did we know but a friend of ours, Perry, was deeply involved with this coffee, as it is his father in laws coffee. Quickly, we put this together and learned how special this coffee was for Carlos, and we became even more excited to work with Selva Coffee.

This coffee is truly the best washed traditional variety Costa Rican coffee that we have ever tasted.  Big Ethiopia like citrus, backed by a confectionary pineapple not, which reminded us of pineapple upside down cake, with this rich plummy note on the finish.  This coffee is complex, but approachable, which we have noticed over and over again in Costa Rica. We are happy to say there are plans to continue forward with Selva and hopefully Carlos Montero in particular.

This coffee is dry fermented overnight in tanks, then pulped and fermented under water for 30 hours to remove the mucilage, than put into fresh water again for another 12 hours. Hence the double washed.  Clean, sweet, complex and fruity, this coffee is a stunner.

Carlos comes from a long line of farmers and has grown up in the fields. His father managed a farm and his grandparents worked coffee plantations. As a young man he saw the struggles of his family coffee farming and did not want to experience the same struggles. It was not until later in life that he returned home with a new vision to continue his family’s tradition but on his own terms. He bought his first farm upon his return and today, Carlos is a visionary leader in the specialty coffee movement in Tarrazu, Costa Rica. 

The tradition continue with Carlos’s son, Jacob who does all the processing of their coffee. The coffee is brought from the farm to the receiving tank and leaves the cherries overnight resting for approximately 12 hours, then the cherries are pulped as a honey process. After this, Jacob leave the cherries in a fermentation tank for 30 hours with water and then washes the coffees several times until the mucilage is removed. Finally he leaves the coffee another 12 hours in water before drying them on raised beds. 

Producers: Carlos Montero

Variety: Catuai

Process: Double Washed

ELEVATION: 1800 - 1900 masl

Give the Holiday Blend and Joe Sink Mug to a friend or family member this season or grab one for yourself.