Tom Kuyken, Brewers Cup Contender

Despite being a small team here at CCS, we are in fact members of a much larger family including the roastery Kaffa, online coffee suppliers Kaffa Butikk, and the cafés Java and Mocca. The first three companies share a space in the former Luxo lamp factory in Oslo, and baristas from the cafés often join us for training with Head Barista, Tom Kuyken. 

We have seen quite a bit of Tom lately as he is using the space here to train for the upcoming Norwegian national Brewers Cup in Kristiansand. With only 3 days to go before the March 8 competition, Tom is doing little else. 

Tom performs a cocktail-worthy move while a Luxo lamp looks on. 

Preparing for the Brewer's Cup

Those in the coffee industry who have competed in this, or any, competition know well how much work goes into the preparation. Tom has invested hours of his time, choosing the right brewing device, training with his coaches Rune Åldstedt and Lise Marie Rømo, of Kaffa Butikk and Kaffa respectively, practicing his presentation, brewing, brewing, brewing, and selecting the right cups to serve the coffee. Tom consulted a ceramics expert on the best vessels to present and enjoy his chosen coffee, and decided on elegant and unique porcelain cups from MK Ceramics in Copenhagen. “An exquisite coffee is made more exquisite when served in a beautiful cup,” Tom said. 

Tom’s challenge is a big one. He will be up against a coffee professional who has dominated the field, winning the nationals four times and the World Brewers Cup competition in 2015. However Tom, with support from Kaffa and the rest of the family, is mounting a serious campaign to challenge the reigning champ. With the spectacular coffee he has chosen, and his dedication these last months, he stands a very good chance. 

The coffee, sourced by CCS, is a Sidra Natural, part of the Heroes Series from La Palma y El Tucán (LP&ET). 

On the the front lines for this innovative partner of ours in Cundinamarca, Colombia, is “The Elite Squad,” a group of ten women who are all heads of their households and living in the region. These women are the LP&ET coffee picking team, an finely trained and experienced group who wear nail polish of a particular deep shade of red to help them identify only the ripest cherries for harvest. 
 

Sidra Variety

The Sidra variety is a rare cross between Typica and Bourbon. It is vulnerable to coffee leaf rust, but has adapted extremely well to the microclimate on its lot on the LP&ET farm, producing some of the best cups the team has tasted. Even with humidity reaching 90% and higher, and lower oxygen levels due to the altitude, the plant has adapted so well that it's now producing over 400 grams of parchment coffee per year. This is extremely low compared to the national average of 800g to 1kg of parchment coffee per tree, however it is a high yield compared to the other high quality varietals grown at high altitude.

The Sidra tree can grow to over 4 metres in 3 years, but the LP&ET team prune theirs in order to make it easier for pickers to reach all the cherries. The architecture of the Sidra resembles the Gesha tree, with branches that exit the trunk close to 45 degrees. The leaves are a light green color and spear-like in shape.
 

LP&ET Washed Processing

The processing period in this part of Cundinamarca is during the rainy season, and the farm can experience humidity levels of 90% or more. The humidity and the rain keep the temperature down and affect the amount of light the trees receive, which LP&ET believe causes just the right amount of stress on the plants to positively affect the concentration of organic acids and storage of sugars. 

LP&ET have both high and low tech solutions to this problem. They dry the coffee on raised beds in green houses fitted with thermostats that automatically turn on fans if the humidity gets too high. They also dry their coffee in very thin layers, and have a well-trained team who regularly rake and rotate the coffee to avoid fungal contamination while drying. 
 

LP&ET Natural Processing

Two years ago Colombia began experiencing the harshest affects of the El Niño weather phenomenon which sent warm currents across parts of the country. A severe drought, accompanied by the highest temperatures recorded in 136 years, wreaked havoc on farms across the country. However, for LP&ET it presented a rare opportunity. The higher temperatures and lower levels of humidity opened a small window of time to process natural coffees. The team jumped into action. The result is this unique and limited cup.   

Tom chose this coffee for his competition because it is so different to every other coffee he has experienced. While Gesha is the go-to coffee in brewing competitions, Tom is betting his Sidra will stand out from the pack. This natural coffee is very clean and sweet with strawberry candy, rhubarb, jam, dried mango, floral hibiscus and tart cherry notes. 

CCS has sold out of the Sidra Natural, but we do have a few bags of other limited edition Sidra Honeys, Lactics and Mixed lots, plus some other spectacular coffees in the La Palma y El Tucán Heroes Series. See our Colombian offers here and order a sample.  

If you’re in Oslo, you can also pick up a bag of beans roasted here at Kaffa, available in Java or Mocca. 

Go Tom! 
 

Update 10th March, 2018

Tom is the new Norwegian Brewers Cup champion!!! 

Ethiopia Update - 2nd Origin Trip, 2017 / 2018 Crop

Muluka, sorting natural coffees at Gidhe A Washing Station, Ethiopia

CCS was in Ethiopia for the second time this harvest season from January 7 to 14. Roasters from all over the globe joined us as we travelled from Addis Ababa to Yirgacheffe and Sidamo in the south of the country, visiting long-time partners and new friends. 

Our goal in the south of the country was to visit washing stations that are new for CCS, to get a sense of the people there and the way they work, as well as cupping their coffees. Next to Robert and I, in the vans travelling the bumpy roads of Southern Ethiopia, sat Mike from Blueprint in the US, Glen and Stanley from Green Coffee Gallery in Taiwan, Echo, Qili and Van, from Coffee Voice in China, Thomas, from Belleville Brûlerie in France and Erik, from Kaffa in Norway. We were accompanied by Abenezer from SNAP, an exporter and new partner we will work with this season and into the future.
 

Coffea Arabica at the source

When buying your green coffee or sipping your freshly brewed cup, you may have wondered, what is an Ethiopia Heirloom? Well, I have at least a partial answer to that: when stepping on the black and fertile soils in the Guji Highland Estate you cannot find two trees alike. Walking randomly in the farm we passed by a beautiful specimen of unknown variety with orange, almost pink cherries. Even Robert, who has travelled to Ethiopia at least twice each season for the last 12 years, had never seen a tree like this! As the birthplace of coffee, the genetic variety in Ethiopia is breath taking, and something we are only beginning to understand. 

I have spent some time at origin in Latin America, but this was my first trip to Africa. What struck me immediately was how perfectly suited Ethiopia is to growing coffee, at least on the southern regions we visited. The weather was dry during our trip, with temperate days and cool evenings. Spectacular forests provide protective shade for the coffee trees which allow the cherries to grow and ripen slowly, enriching their pulp with sweetness. Again, this is no surprise given Ethiopia is the home of the coffee tree, still it is an experience to see it in person. 
 

The complications of logistics

In Perú and Ecuador, where I worked for a few months with cooperatives and producers, we often spoke about the terroir, the weather, and the processing methods as the components of specialty coffee quality. The one part that is usually the forgotten is logistics. The complexity in Peru surprised me, some farms are only accessible by motorcycle over bumpy and muddy tracks. How do we reach those small producers in the most isolated reaches of the mountains? How do we maintain traceability?

The issue of logistics is even more complicated in Ethiopia. First, Ethiopia is HUGE. We spent four days of long travel to reach different washing stations and farms in the south. And yet, seeing how tiny that region is on the large map of Ethiopia, I realised how crazy it is to work in a lot of different regions in the country. Distances are not that great, but the roads are extremely bumpy! Just moving from the north of Yirgacheffe to the south took us a full day in a car! 

At the same time, I felt privileged to see an Ethiopia that will soon be history. The country boasted an annual economic growth of 10,8% on average between 2004-2014, and its population is expected to grow from 100 million people today, to 190 million by 2050! That’s almost double! Huge infrastructure projects are underway to connect all parts of Ethiopia, and more specifically to link remote areas of beautiful coffees to the existing main roads leading to Addis. If you want to experience the Ethiopian “adventure,” go there soon guys! 

We returned to Addis on the weekend for many cuppings, and to visit Heleanna of Moplaco. Their warehouse and mill are astonishing! In another life I worked for luxury cosmetic brands and visited the French factories of Chanel and Dior. It is astounding to see a production facility for coffee in Ethiopia just as clean and perfectly organized as the production line of the fanciest perfumes from Paris. No wonder the coffees we get through Heleanna are always stellars.

The highlight of this trip was meeting the people behind these incredible coffees, all of them with the biggest smiles. Each time I lifted my camera to my eye to capture the sorting process, or the natural coffees drying on their beds, I saw producers and partners with phones in hand, taking photos of me. 

Matt is finalizing our buys in Ethiopia, and the fresh crop should be on the boat by end of March. Contact me in Europe or Sal in the US to get your hands of some samples. 

Nicolas

Azrae , Guard at the Korate Washing Station, Sidamo, Dilla Zone

The biodiversity of coffee in Ethiopia is astounding

Tes Fane owner of the Konga Tesfaye Natural Station, Yirgacheffe

Tesfaye Girma - Manager of the Korate Washing Station, Sidam,  Dilla Zone

Pickers at Mormora Farm

Tesema, Hadji, Goye  - coffee sorters for naturals

Karyu, coffee washer at the Hallo Fuafate Washing Station, Yirgacheffe, Gedeb Zone, Gedeo. 

Regasa Araso Birbo, Supervisor at the Hallo Fuafate Washing Station, Yirgacheffe, Gedeb Zone, Gedeo. 

Sigaga Beyene, Owner of the Hallo Fuafate Washing Station, Yirgacheffe, Gedeb Zone, Gedeo. 

Abtamu, owner of Dimtu Washing Station, Hambela,  Buku Hamlet

Coffee sorters at Dimtu Washing Station, Hambela,  Buku Hamlet

Dinkeneshe, coffee sorter at Gidhe A Washing Station

Muluka, coffee sorter at the Gidhe A Washing Station

Yirgacheffe - Konga Tesfaye Natural Station

Our guide and companion, Abenezer from SNAP exporters

Stanley from Green Coffee Gallery, Taiwan, at the  Gidhe A Washing Station 

Van #1 of the origin trip crew. Photo by Echo Lou of Coffee Voice, Shanghai

Thomas from Belleville Brulerie, France, at the Hallo Fuafate Washing Station, Yirgacheffe, Gedeb Zone, Gedeo. 

CCS Cup, Learn & Share - Recap

The first CCS Cup Learn & Share event of the year was last Thursday, Feb 16, and we were joined by roasters and baristas from Russia, Romania, Japan and Norway. With the help of special guests Rory Rosenberg and Lise Marie Rømo, the team presented two innovative projects by our partners at origin, Long Miles Coffee Project from Burundi and La Palma y El Tucán from Colombia.

These events are so much more than just a cupping. They include discussion, information and presentations, a chance to understand the context of the coffees and the people behind them. 

Barista Rory Rosenberg presenting his experience in Burundi with Long Miles Coffee Project. 

Burundi coffee producers work largely on nano-lots, often with as few as 500 trees. Ben and Kristy Carlson recognised the potential of this country to produce specialty coffee, and the economic benefit it could bring to these farmers' lives. They moved their entire family to Bujumbura, Burundi to start the Long Miles Coffee Project, and built two beautiful washing stations that process cherries from over 3000 neighboring families. 

Rory Rosenberg of Oslo Cold Brew won the Norwegian Barista Championship in 2017 with coffee from Long Miles, and he visited their washing stations and farms to see first hand the work they are doing in Burundi. He talked about the innovative agricultural extension programme Long Miles have implemented, sending a team of Coffee Scouts out to farms to teach farmers best coffee cultivation practices, but most importantly, teaching them how to manually eradicate the dreaded antestia bug, the cause of potato defect. 

Yusho, head roaster from Fuglen, Japan.

Our second cupping was of La Palma y El Tucán from Colombia who have several projects that are changing the face of specialty coffee in Colombia. Barista Lise Marie Rømo of, our sister company Kaffa, spoke of her experience competing with the LPET coffee and visiting their farm in Cundinamarca, Colombia. She described the company's team of trained coffee pickers they send to neighboring farms during the coffee harvest. The women pickers paint their nails a specific red so they can easily identify the ripest cherries on the tree.  Sixty trucks transport the picked cherries to the La Palma y El Tucán farm where they are processed using innovative methods including Acetic, Natural and Lactic. Also on the table were the LPET Heroes Series, special varieties including Sidra and Gesha that are grown on their own farm and processed to achieve the most delicious and interesting cups. 

We were so honored to be joined by Origo Coffee from Romania, Tasty Coffee from Russia, Nord from Norway, Fuglen from Japan and Norway and other baristas and upcoming roasters. We are grateful you made the trip to Oslo to contribute, share, taste and collaborate. 

Our second container of Burundi coffees will arrive in Europe and the US in the next week or two, and coffees from La Palma y El Tucán are already in Europe. See our full offer list for details. 

Would you like to join us for the next Cup, Learn & Share? Join our mailing list on our homepage to stay up to date with events and happenings at CCS. 

At the cupping table, Nico from CCS and Mihai from Origo Coffee, Romania. 

In memory of Alexander Ordoñez

Our friend and partner, Alexander Ordoñez from Huila, Colombia, was in a motorcycle accident and passed away yesterday. We at CCS are heartbroken by this news.

Alexander Ordoñez Bravo on his finca Los Naranjos, in Acevedo, Huila, Colombia

Alexander was a gentle man, an exceptional coffee producer, and a loving dad. When asked what he was most proud of, he said “being a responsible father.” Alexander’s own father was never part of his life, and his mother only sporadically. Alexander passed though homes of friends and family, a week here, a month there. During many periods of his childhood he didn’t own shoes, he rarely ate meat or even rice. When Alexander was 15 he moved to Planadas, Tolima, where he was lucky to be taken in by a kind coffee farmer who taught him about coffee cultivation. Having left school after sixth grade, these were Alexander’s most formative years of education.

Alexander's wife Maribel comes from a long line of coffee producers, and shortly after she and Alexander married in 1999, the couple inherited a small piece of land near Acevedo. Over the past 18 years they have slowly built their farm, planting new trees and purchasing neighbouring lots to increase production, whilst raising their two kids, Laura Camila and Diego Alejandro. Recently they built a road on their property to connect their farm to the nearest official road, saving themselves an hour journey by mule to transport their coffee off the farm.

When we visited Acevedo in January, Alexander and Maribel hosted us for lunch. Maribel and her sister Maryoni prepared Asado Huilense, meat marinated in a local bitter orange, served with potatoes, tapioca root and plantain. Alexander opened his best bottle of whiskey and repeatedly filled glasses for his many guests. When I thanked him for his generous hospitality he insisted on thanking us for accepting their invitation for lunch. In previous years when CCS visited Acevedo he only had the opportunity to offer us a snack, which was hugely disappointing for the family. “My wife is an excellent cook,” Alexander explained.

Our thoughts right now are with Maribel, Camila and Diego and the community of producers in Acevedo. Alexander, we will all miss you.

West Coast Cuppings

Colleen will be at Buckman Coffee Factory on Thursday February 22nd at 10am and again at 2pm with a stellar selection of coffees from Colombia and Honduras. Reserve your place now by emailing Colleen. 

Living Our Values: The Right People at Origin

What makes a coffee 'specialty'? We believe it goes beyond cup score and is ultimately about the people involved. From the agronomists who strategize and train workers on soil nutrition and plant care, to the workers who carry out these plans, through to the dry mill staff that ensure the parchment is hulled and packaged to the importer's specifications; coffee passes through many hands before it is even roasted and finally prepared by a barista. While the final cup quality is of course impacted by the final two stages--roasting and preparation--the barista has no chance of extracting a tasty cup without the many previous steps having gone "right". So it makes sense that we spend a lot of time and effort getting to know our partners at origin very well before we purchase any coffee from them. What are we looking for in the "right" origin partner? We've found that the best partners are a mixture of ambitious, reliable, curious, passionate and continually striving for excellence. Heleanna Georgalis of Moplaco Trading in Ethiopia is a person who exhibits all of these traits and far more. We have been working with her since 2013 and are looking forward to many more years of close collaboration.

Below is an excerpt from our report Collaborative Coffee Source, Living Our Values 2017 where you can read more about Heleanna and the incredible work she does.

The Right People at Origin

Finding the right people: Heleanna Georgalis, Moplaco, Ethiopia.

A romanticized idea of coffee trading is that one is sourcing from a farmer who is equipped and empowered to offer coffee from their  field, and bringing it to your market, and all other parties in-between are helping to make it happen. It isn’t always quite like that.

CCS’ relationship with Ethiopia as a coffee origin is like any other passionate relationship: it can be fantastic and fantastically challenging at the same time. The country offers coffees that are as unique as the many ways of handling them. Our source for guidance and relief has often times been Heleanna Georgalis of Moplaco.

She has, since CCS’ inception, presented strategies and solutions for dealing with Ethiopia as a multi-faceted origin. She is a coffee farmer. She processes her own coffee. She buys cherries and processes coffee from other growers. She buys lots from ECX and cleans them. She has a great dry mill, which makes all the difference. She is an exporter. She is a reliable partner. She reminds us again and again that coffee is not only people, but also politics and culture.

Heleanna is constantly teaching us the complexities of the trade, which has emboldened us to broaden our scope. We are now working with many more and very different partners in Ethiopia; farmers and millers, agronomists and researchers. The next step for CCS is to open our own lab in Addis, thus staying closer while also working more independently.

We are continuing our business relationship with Moplaco, getting the best services possible on milling and quality control, while nourishing personal connection with Heleanna’s team. That’s coffee romance to us.

Read the full report Collaborative Coffee Source, Living Our Values 2017.

CCS Acevedo Cup 2018 Recap

Acevedo Cup winners and other stellar coffees of the region will be arriving soon! Order your samples by contacting Sal in the US and Nico in Europe.

Jair Caicedo was this year’s winner, a surprise to many at the awards ceremony on Jan 21, as the young farmer is only 26 years old.

The full list of winners

1. Jair Caicedo, Finca Buena Vista

2. Alberto Calderon, Finca La Esmeralda

3. Carlos Calderon, Finca El Porvenir

4. Carmelo Carmelo Blend:
Oscar Ferney Cruz, Finca Jerico
William Arley Cruz, Finca Jerico
Jaimr Useche Gonzalez, Finca La Luna
Dionar Aleis Useche Gonzalez, Finca Los Alpes

5. Blend:
Otoniel Cordoba, Finca El Jardin
Edilson Calderon, Finca El Tesoro
Manuel Calderon, Finca Mira Flores

6. Jhon Wilson Poveda, Finca Danny

7. Jhon Wilson Poveda, Finca Danny

8. Maria Bercelia, Finca Los Angeles

9. Guillermo Rojas, Finca La Falda

10. Blend:
Miller Norberto Bustos, Finca El Mirador
Jamir Usache, Finca La Luna
Diego Bernal, Finca Primavera
Alexander Granada, Finca El Rinconcito
Jose Ignacio Morales, Finca El Guadual

11. Jhon Wilson Poveda, Finca Danny

12. Maria Bercelia, Finca Los Angeles

13. Wilmer Cuellar, Finca Las Brisas

14. Maria Bercelia, Finca Los Angeles

15. Wilmer Cuellar, Finca Las Brisas

16. Mariano Leal, Finca Las Acacias

17. Luis Vargas, Finca Llanitos

18. Maria Bercelia, Finca Los Angeles

19. Carlos Calderon, Finca El Porvenir

20. Jair Caicedo, Finca Buena Vista

Good years and bad years

The overriding theme of this year’s trip to Acevedo is that producing quality is really hard. Sometimes a farmer does everything right and still their coffee doesn’t make it to 86, the benchmark both CCS and Fairfield have set. Why? This season it was the weather. Heavy rains damaged the flowers resulting in lower yields. And those rains, combined with unusually cold weather, caused problems when drying the coffee, resulting in poorer quality.

This is the heartbreaking part of our job. We have a quality benchmark, and there are many good reasons for setting it at 86, but some years that means rejecting coffee from producers we love and dearly want to support. We wish we could buy all their coffee. This year, the best we could do to support them was show up.

The impact of being there

Being present should not to be underestimated, especially in Colombia. Accepting an invitation into a Colombian’s home, allowing them to nourish you, even with just a snack, shows enormous respect for them, and their respect for you. Maribel Claros Castro, wife of Alexander Ordóñez, prepared us a traditional feast called Asado Huilense, meat marinated in bitter orange and cooked on a wood-fired stove. Alexander has had a bad year, thousands of kilos of his coffee were damaged when unusually cold temperatures hit his region while his coffee was drying. But rather than complain about his financial loss, he thanked us profusely for accepting their invitation for lunch. “My wife is an excellent cook,” he explained.

For the producers, the roasters are the real celebrities. Dillon Edwards of Parlor Coffee joined us on this trip to Acevedo and it was his fourth time in the region in two years. He brought gifts for his treasured producers, including roasted coffee in packages bearing the names of their fincas. For many years Colombia offered just one coffee, “Café de Colombia,” so it is a a genuine surprise and delight for these farmers to know their work as a family is presented directly to coffee consumers. 

Bringing producers together

Events like the CCS Acevedo Cup also present a rare opportunity to collaborate. Seldom are so many producers of specialty coffee in one room together, as they were for the CCS Acevedo Cup awards ceremony. The after-party is as important as the awards presentation itself, the farmers use it to discuss, share and advise. 

Special guests at the event this year were Team Tolima! Alejandro Renjifo of Fairfield Trading is a big advocate of regional collaboration, and this year he invited several producers from Planadas to join us on our farm visits and attend the awards ceremony, including Hernando Gomez, Ivan and Jhon Molano, and Astrid Medina. One of the greatest highlights of this trip was seeing Astrid Medina’s reaction to Maria Bercelia’s unique drying facility on her farm, Finca Los Angeles. What a treat it was to listen as these two rock stars of Colombian coffee discussed the finer points of fermentation and drying.

What it means to win

Despite the adverse weather, there was great coffee to cup. While this year's event wasn't the marathon of 2016, we still had 37 lots to taste and overall the cupping scores were higher than last year.

What does it mean to place in the Acevedo Cup? In addition to being recognised in the community, winning a place in the top 20 means a significant financial gain. Jair Caicedo will earn 2,200,000 Colombian pesos per carga (125kg of parchment coffee) for his winning lot. To put that price in perspective, the FNC are currently offering around 800,000 pesos per carga. Once yield rates are taken into account, Jair will earn about three times the current purchase price.

We are so grateful to all the farmers who invited us into their homes, offered us meals and refreshments, listened, shared, and gave us their precious time: Javier Pulgarín and Patricia Rodriguez, Luis Vargas and his family, Alexander Ordoñez and Maribel Claros Castro, and Maria Bercelia and Jose Erazo. We are so humbled by your generous hospitality. See you next year.

Acevedo Cup winners and other stellar coffees of the region will be arriving soon! Order your samples by contacting Sal in the US and Nico in Europe.

CCS Presents: Cup, Learn & Share

CCS WINTER POSTER OSLO feb 16 insta.jpg

Join us in Oslo for a fascinating 1-day workshop and discover two innovative CCS partners and their unique approach to producing specialty coffee:

La Palma y El Tucan (LPET), Colombia

Long Miles Coffee Project (LMCP), Burundi

We will be cupping, discussing, sharing and learning with guest speakers Lise Rømo of sister company Kaffa, and Rory Rosenberg of Oslo Cold Brew, two baristas who have competed with these coffees, and visited their farms and washing stations, plus a Skype Q&A with Sebastian Villamizar of La Palma y El Tucan.

Agenda:

10am  Cupping coffees from Long Miles Coffee Project

12pm Presentation by Rory Rosenberg of Oslo Cold Brew Rory was the 2017 Norwegian Barista Champion. He competed with LMCP and visited their washing stations in Burundi.

12.30pm Light lunch provided

1pm Cupping La Palma y El Tucan - Neighbors and Crops

2pm Cupping La Palma y El Tucan - Heroes Series

3pm Presentation by Lise Rømo of KAFFA.no Lise was the 2016 Norwegian Barista Champion. She competed with coffee from La Palma y El Tucan, and visited their innovative farm in Cundinamarca, Colombia.

3.30pm Skype Q&A with Sebastian Villamizar of La Palma y El Tucan

4pm Beers and refreshments

Spaces are limited. Contact nicolas@collaborativecoffeesource.com to reserve yours!

Antwerp Warehouse Sale - 20% off Ethiopias

Mormora and Hunda Oli - 20% off! See the full Antwerp Warehouse Sale Price List for more deals. 

We are moving warehouses from Antwerp to Vollers in Hamburg which means we have a warehouse to clear, which means stellar coffees at clearance prices like these treasures from Ethiopia that we are offering at a staggering 20% discount.

Guji Natural by Mormora Estate

Mormora Coffee Estate is located in the Oromia Regional State, Guji zone, and Shakisso woreda (which is in this case, also a town). Shakisso is 500km south of Addis Ababa and Mormora Estate a further 20km from Shakisso. 

The farm is semi-forested and covered by indigenous trees. The varieties are ‘heirloom’which means the plants come from seeds that grow wild the area. The soil is red, brownand rich. It is made up of organic materials that have decomposed over decades.

Ethiopian coffees court especially high expectations and attention year after year. Perhaps more than any other origin, coffee roasters look to Ethiopia to provide both stand-alone knockouts, as well as that little something to round out an espresso blend. Time and time again, the “Queen of Coffee Origins” delivers, despite a labyrinthine and constantly evolving coffee auction and export system. Year after year, coffee buyers eagerly make their way through Addis Ababa and into the countryside, in search of the next fabled cup.

Ethiopian coffee is still made up of many wild growing coffee plants – most of them have not yet been classified, so the genetic diversity is currently incalculable. Being wild, these varieties have evolved naturally and so are well adapted to their surroundings. All this means that chemical inputs like fertilizers, pesticides, herbicides and fungicides are rarely used in Ethiopia; the majority of coffee produced is organic in the truest sense of the word.

This Guji Natural is a mix of Guji heirloom varieties and exhibits rose rose water, cane sugar, berries, peach, citrus in the cup. 

Guji Natural by Mormora Estate, Ethiopia Variety: Guji Heirloom Process: Natural Score: 87,25 Normal Price: $11,07/kg With20% Discount: $8,86/kg You save $2.21!

Hunda Oli

Hunda Oli is a cooperative located near Agaro, in the Jimma region in western Ethiopia, 397km from AddisAbaba. It is part of the larger Kata Mudaga Union.

Farmers in this co-op grow Limu heirloom varieties. The cherries, once picked, are mechanically pulped and soaked overnight. Beans are dried for 6 hours in full shade before being moved to main drying beds and turned regularly to ensure even drying.

Hunda Oli Lot 15 scored 87 points and features floral notes fresh apricot, and a balanced and round cup.

Hunda Oli Lot 15, Ethiopia Variety: Limu Heirloom Process: Washed Score: 87 Normal Price: $11,62/kg With20% Discount: $9,30/kg You save $2.32!

Contact Nico to get your samples.

Living Our Values: The Collaborative Model

Below is a excerpt from our report Collaborative Coffee Source, Living Our Values 2017.

The CCS team has always been made up of people who have worked throughout various parts of the coffee chain. We are and have been baristas, barista trainers, competitors, coffee shop managers, roasters and coffee buyers. Most of us only really know the coffee industry through the lens of specialty coffee and this automatically puts our team in both a position of privilege and responsibility.

We have been privileged in so many different ways. At the coffee shops and roasteries each of us have worked at prior to CCS, each of us were a part of teams that were focused on excellence: roasting and serving the best coffee we could; buying the tastiest, most unique coffees from the brightest and most ambitious producers we could find. While not inherent to finding great coffees and producers, good relationships usually go hand-in-hand. It seems to go hand-in-hand that finding reliable partners producing excellent coffee year-after-year means working with great people. When we started CCS, we both saw the uniqueness of approaching coffee purchasing from a relational standpoint as well as the emerging market of roasters who were looking to find the same.

You see this context writ all over “The Collaborative Model” in Collaborative Coffee Source, Living Our Values 2017: the words “relationships”, “community”, “good coffee, good business”, “interdependency”, “communication”. These are not just words we throw about casually - they underlie everything that we do. When you read about our model, we hope that your experience matches what they are describing. Rest assured, we are doing everything we can to uphold them.

---

The Collaborative Model

One of the founding principles for the Collaborative Coffee Source is building relationships between people, in our case the craftspeople that are making coffee. Some are working in the field, others in roasteries, and still many more hands and heads and hearts are involved, so we think it’s only logical that there is a strong connection. The barista should be in the mix too, as they are the ones brewing beverages from these fruits-of-labor, they are on the frontier for all of us. We’re all needed, and we all need each other.

We strive to connect roasters, baristas, exporters, farmers, cooperatives, washing stations, and everybody else working in this community in a tight web of support, communication and feedback. This is fundamentally a model for collaboration, and quite frankly, it is a good business model too. Collaboration creates opportunities for learning, in all directions. Coffee travels the world and so do we, and it is in the exchanges of ideas and preferences that the best coffees are made.

Coffee is a people business. When curious people meet, and great products are made, and beautiful understanding occurs and interdependency grows, it is the best environment for a healthy business relationship. Good Coffee deserves to be Good Business, for all parties.

An ambitious coffee roaster who wants to stand out with a desired product needs a coffee supplier that is delivering the right coffee year after year. We strongly believe that we help both ends when we connect them, and the best way to achieve that is to know them. This is why we work with coffee professionals we respect and cherish, whose hopes and dreams we share. We want to change the world. The process may be “poco a poco,” but we’re ok with that.

Read the full report Collaborative Coffee Source, Living Our Values 2017.

And the winner is...

Jair Caicedo, 1st place winner

The CCS Acevedo Cup 2018 wrapped up on Sunday with a fantastic awards ceremony in Acevedo town, and the top placing coffee is...

Jair Caicedo, Finca Buena Vista!

The announcement of Jair's name elicited gasps from the farming community in attendance at the awards ceremony of the CCS Acevedo Cup 2018. This dedicated coffee grower is only 26!

Dillon of Parlor Coffee poetically described Jair’s coffee as “extraordinary! Honeycomb, berry, custard with concentrated citrus syrup.” Robert of CCS said it showed “lively aromatics with the promise of fruit,” and “a balanced soft acidity.”

Stay tuned for a full update on this amazing event by Fairfield Trading and CCS, and the full list of the top 20 winners. In the meantime, US roasters can contact Sal in the US or Nico in EU to order your samples. 

CCS Warehouse Clearance Sale — Featuring Fernando Bustos & Alto Encanto

We are moving warehouses to Vollers in Hamburg and clearing our Antwerp warehouse. That means stellar coffees at clearance prices, like these two gems from Acevedo, Colombia
 

Fernando Bustos

Fernando Bustos

While Fernando has had a coffee farm for quite some time, there was a period of eight years that he lived in Ibagué and his brother, Miller, managed El Progreso’s coffee production. On intuition, one day Fernando decided to move back to Acevedo to manage the farm himself and further, to change its production to specialty coffee. He didn’t know anything of about specialty coffee at the time.

Thankfully, neighbour Alvaro Perdomo was already producing specialty and taught Fernando about how to change his processing techniques. Especially when to stop fermentation and start washing.

With the announcement of CCS’ Acevedo Cup in 2016, Fernando worked the best he could with the coffee harvest. He knew he’d made it to the competition selection, which was screened and determined by Fairfield’s cupping team. The international panel of judges ranked the top twenty in mid-December of 2016, but Fernando had planned a trip to Ibagué during the awards announcements and ceremony, so he missed hearing his name called. When he heard that El Progreso had won second place, he was elated.

With the premiums earned from the competition, he planned to build three new fermentation tanks and more drying facilities.

This lot is fruit-forward and sweet: berries, stone fruit, nougat and a clean finish.

Fernando Bustos, Acevedo, Colombia
Variety: Colombia
Process: Washed
Score: 87,5
Normal Price: $14,33/kg
Now: $13.83/kg or $13,33/kg for a full pallet

Alto Encanto

This lot is a "Hamlet Blend" of coffees that were entered into the CCS Acevedo Cup 2016 that did not reach the top twenty. Everyone whose coffee made it into competition were paid price premiums, with the top twenty receiving incrementally better prices.

Alto Encanto was constructed from two day lots from the following producers:

• Nicolas Delgado – 10 bags • Jose Erasmo Peres – 10 bags

The varieties are Caturra, Colombia F.6 and Castillo, grown between 1,400 and 1,600 meters above sea level.

This blend offers notes of black tea, caramel, citrus and an overall balanced cup.

Alto Encanto, Acevedo, Colombia
Variety: Various, incl. Castillo & Colombia
Process: Washed
Score: 87
Normal Price: $11,73/kg
Now: $11.23/kg or $10,73/kg for a full pallet

Contact Nico for samples, and download the full Antwerp Clearance Sale price list here.

Open Cupping - CCS Ethiopias

Wednesday Jan 242pm - 4pm CCS HQ: Enebakkveien 117b, 0680 Oslo, Norway

The CCS sourcing team is just back from Ethiopia with some samples of the most recent harvest. This is a rare chance to cup early in the selection process and book some amazing lots. Email Nico to reserve your place.

Brazilian quality Innovations

Given that Brazil has one of the most developed economies and coffee sectors throughout all of the coffee producing origins, its coffee producers and exporters are relatively "wealthy" in terms of resources and knowledge, placing them ahead of the curve when it comes to having the capacity to innovate in coffee production. About 80% of Brazilian coffee is natural processed. This is due to a few different factors, not least because labour is relatively expensive in Brazil. In general, labour costs combined with the fact that many farms have good infrastructure, coffee production in Brazil is more mechanized than it is in other producing origins. One potential paradox to this, when it comes to specialty coffee, is the value that is often placed on specialty coffee being handcrafted or otherwise produced in a special way.

What we've found, over the years, is that it is not always the case that labour or time intensiveness equals coffee quality. Especially in Brazil, where we are continually impressed by the strides its specialty coffee community is making by using its relative wealth and resources to produce ever more interesting and more tasty coffees.

Over the past few years in particular, we've noticed innovations in three areas: picking, processing and fermentation.

Picking 

In Brazil, coffee tends to be planted at "lower" elevations in comparison to other origins. This, in combination with the lack of manual labour, means that mechanical pickers are very commonly used to strip coffee cherries off of the trees. If undertaken only once in a season, farmers are left with a vast number of over- and under-ripe cherries, so in order to optimize the picking of ripe cherries, producers have come up with three levels of stripping: first from the top, then the middle, and finally the bottom of the tree. These pickings are further sorted into micro-lot and commodity grades.

Interesting to note is that the middle of the tree tends to produce the best quality since it has the most balanced sun-exposure and the leaves protect the cherries from the elements (e.g. wind and frost). As well, while handpicking isn’t common, higher altitude farms or farms within mountainous areas require handpicking since machines aren't able to operate at these angles.
 

Processing

Since Brazil is best known and equipped for producing naturals and pulped naturals, these processes are naturally the first to undergo experimentation and development.

At higher elevation/small production farms, farmers are innovating the way they dry coffee since there is not a lot of room for drying beds or patios. Small huts with fermentation tank-like tanks with mesh floors are being built and solar panels are installed, which powers a turbine that creates warm or cold airflow based on drying needs. The drying method within these huts consists of first filling up the tank with five tons of cherries and then injecting a controlled amount of air flow upward through the mesh and on to the cherries. This whole process takes about 30 days to complete. According to Alex, who last travelled to Brazil for our August 2017 buying trip, while this process is slower than others, it provides a stable drying environment and temperatures. In terms of cup quality, he experienced that the coffee is quite fresh and fruit-forward.

Carmo Coffees is both our longest-standing and most trusted partner in Brazil. They're also conducting some of the most forward-looking experiments in Brazilian specialty coffee. Within the area of processing, they are one of the few producers doing washed processing and for the first time, we are offering a washed Brazilian coffee that has been produced by them. We chose this lot not because it is a washed coffee, necessarily, but because it is really, really good.

Fermentation

Carmo is also experimenting with yeast fermentation. Brazilian coffee producers in general haven’t had the energy or desire to ferment the coffee due to it being time and resource intensive. Brazil's coffee producing tradition has been focused on volume and uniformity. The times are changing and Carmo is at the forefront.

While the Carmo team is choosing to be proprietary about the protocol of their fermentation experiments, the fact that they’re starting to experiment is itself significant. And already proving to be rewarding: one of the experimental lots last year was scored 93-points by no less than Kentaro Maruyama.

What they were willing to share is that at one of the experimental farms, they had employed a yeast expert from France that had been traveling all over the world to teach producers how to use yeast in coffee fermentation. The basic concept is to utilize a single yeast bacterial culture within a stable tank/environment. This bacterial culture then lives in the tank and impacts the cherries in a way that is replicable year after year (since it's a single culture). The biggest upside is having replicable profiles year after year. Some  downsides are that it pollutes water and is time consuming.

Brazil is unique as a coffee origin because it has the land, infrastructure and capital to be freer in focusing on innovating, while most other origins are working just to make coffee a sustainable enterprise. In other words, Brazilian producers have the resources to carry out experiments and not just invest in disease prevention and other practical investments. Hopefully over time, as coffee markets and consumers become more educated about the costs involved in producing coffee and prices subsequently rise to meet these realities, the Brazilian approach to coffee innovation will become a model for other coffee origins to follow.

-Melanie

***

Get in touch with Nico for samples if you are located in Europe & Asia and Sal if you are located in the US and Canada.

Living Our Values: Why we set the benchmark at 86

The following is a excerpt from our report Collaborative Coffee Source, Living Our Values 2017. Number one on our list of values is "We seek the right quality."

We often describe ourselves as an "86 company," meaning we begin with coffees that score 86 points and work our way up. We felt we should define what that means, why 86 is our benchmark, and what it means for the industry to source high quality coffee.

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Defining Quality

We want to define what we mean by the term quality, especially since we claim to find the truly good coffees. We search for quality through screening and scrutinizing, then we articulate the result with a list of the coffee’s flavor attributes, and a numerical score out of 100. CCS sets the bar at 86 points for the coffee we buy. We recognize that this number isn’t self explained, but it is an efficient and simplified way of communicating a starting point for most people in the industry.

The common denominator for an “86” coffee is its clarity, and this means more than clean coffee. Clarity is a sensorial term that describes how a coffee opens and expresses its attributes, usually with the help of a structuring acidity. This combination creates complexity in the cup and many more desired attributes.

Sharing this experience of actually tasting the qualities through cupping is key to understanding and agreeing on a value for a coffee. Thus the point of using a numeric scale to express the quality is also a way to define its monetary value. Premium is a term for the extra money paid for higher quality, which suggests that the starting point is the right one. We disagree, because that level is more often than not too low.

High quality in coffee is the result of a concrete process and a particular craft, it doesn’t just happen. When certain conditions are in place, making a delicious coffee is achievable, but not easy. By setting our benchmark at 86 we mean to honor the honest craftsmanship and care that goes into making a truly special coffee.

Robert

Read the full report.

A coffee picker from Gesha Village, Ethiopia. Just look at that selection!

Living Our Values: Celebrating Quality

The following is a excerpt from our report Collaborative Coffee Source, Living Our Values 2017.

Number one on our list of values is “We seek the right quality.” We use the word "seek" very consciously. We like to think we contribute to the development of quality by sourcing and rewarding quality, but we are well aware that we are not farmers, and can not lay claim to their hard work. However we can celebrate it, and that is the core purpose of events like the CCS Acevedo Cup.

The second CCS Acevedo Cup begins tomorrow and we are very excited to join Fairfield Trading and the community of Acevedo in this celebration. The event was delayed due to late harvests, and the past year was not a great one for coffee growers in Colombia, but we are committed to this group of producers and we will be there to celebrate their great coffees, in good years and bad.

The following story from our report encapsulates why this event is so important to us, and how we in the specialty industry can contribute to the cultivation of quality from afar.

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Celebrating Quality

As buyers of specialty green coffee, we are not in a position to advise farmers on the finer points of coffee cultivation, we leave that to the agronomists. Instead, we contribute to the development of quality by celebrating, incentivizing and rewarding quality.

In January 2018 we will run the second CCS Acevedo Cup in Huila, Colombia, with our partners in the region, Fairfield Trading. This cupping competition is an opportunity for roasters and farmers to forge relationships, share experiences and gain knowledge, all great things. But the benefits extend well beyond the event itself.

Firstly, cupping competitions like the Acevedo Cup facilitate collaboration between farmers. Around twenty-five families attended the awards ceremony of the CCS Acevedo Cup 2016. Afterwards, community leaders met with the winners and their neighbors to discuss farm protocols and strategies that could be implemented on farms across the region.

Secondly, the CCS Acevedo Cup offers recognition, both within a farming community and among roasters, of the vision and dedication of the coffee farmers. By holding the event annually, and offering a financial reward to the winners, the CCS Acevedo Cup can be a tool for inspiring and incentivizing producers to improve quality year after year.

“I felt really proud,” said Alexander Ordoñez of Finca Los Naranjos, who won third place in the CCS Acevedo Cup 2016. “My wife and two children accompanied me [to the awards ceremony], and it was a beautiful experience because they are part of the work one does on the farm. And this third place prize motivates me to continue improving so I can win first place.”

Read the full report Collaborative Coffee Source, Living Our Values 2017.

The CCS Acevedo Cup 2016 Awards Ceremony

CCS Warehouse Clearance Sale — Featuring Don Oscar & Helsar de Zarcero

We are moving warehouses to Vollers in Hamburg and clearing all coffees from our Antwerp warehouse. That means we have some exceptional coffees at clearance prices, like these coffees from Costa Rica.

Don Oscar

The name Don Oscar refers to the micromill owned and managed by brothers Alejandro and Horacio Solis Blanco. They named the mill after their late father who passed away recently from pancreatic cancer. Alejandro and Horacio are fourth generation coffee farmers, and they inherited Don Oscar’s love for coffee farming. They revel in both the physical work of tending coffee plants and being a part of the production cycle of coffee, from seed to parchment.

The Solis Blanco family are a part of Costa Rica’s “micromill revolution.”In many coffee producing countries, “coffee producer” refers only to the person in charge of cultivating and picking coffee. In Costa Rica, however, smallholder farmers are also in charge of processing coffees collected from many small farms. As with any other production chain, those who control the means of production are the most empowered. Costa Rican coffee producers are therefore amongst the most empowered in the world.

The Solis Blanco brothers offer a smooth coffee with notes of dried fruit, hazelnut and milk chocolate.

Don Oscar, West Valley, Costa Rica
Variety: Catuai
Process: White Honey
Score: 86
Normal Price: $11,73/kg
Now: $11,23/kg or $10,73/kg for a full pallet.

Helsar de Zarcero

Helsar de Zarcero is a mill that was established in 2004 by Ricardo Perez and a partner, during the nascent stages of Costa Rica’s “micromill revolution.”

The operation has grown considerably in the last fourteen years. It started with just a depulper and some raised beds, and today Helsar de Zarcero serves a few dozen farms, including a few of the Perez family’s own. In Helsar’s first year of production they yielded 250 bags. In 2016, the micromill produced 5000 bags, 15% of which was organic certified.

The family advocates for environmentally sustainable practices and in addition to their organic certified coffees, they aim to become  Costa Rica’s first carbon neutral micromill. They use both collected rain water and fresh water to process cherries in the eco-pulpers. Each year they plant around 700 trees to offset the carbon their equipment produces, and they set up a fully organic certified cascara production.

Ricardo & Isabel are third generation coffee farmers and it appears this tradition will continue as their daughter Lucía takes on more responsibility at Helsar.

The pioneering Perez family produce a coffee with notes of macadamia, apricot, tea with a grape finish.

Helsar de Zarcero, West Valley, Costa Rica
Variety: Caturra
Process: White Honey
Score: 85
Normal Price: $13,05/kg
Now: $12,55/kg or $12,05/kg for a full pallet.

Contact Nico for samples, and download the full Antwerp Clearance Sale price list here.

CCS Warehouse Clearance Sale — Featuring Gichatha-Ini AA, Kenya

We are moving warehouses from Antwerp to Vollers in Hamburg. There are so many reasons why this is a great thing. Not least is the chance to pick up some great coffees at clearance prices, like this one from Kenya:

Gichatha-Ini AA, Kenya

Without doubt, Kenya is an amazing coffee destination. Coffees from this origin are known for their powerful aromas, flavors of sweet berries, rich mouthfeel, and clean and lingering aftertastes. Acidity junkies love cupping in Kenya. When it comes to acidity the question for Kenyan coffees is not "if?" but “what kind?” 

In Kenya, a “coffee lot” is made from a bigger batch of coffee that is delivered to the dry-mill  from a cooperative on a given day. When a coffee batch arrives at the mill, it is hulled, analyzed technically and sensorially, screened (separated by bean size and shape) and given an outturn-number. 

AAs are flat with screen size 17+. ABs are flat with screen sizes 15 and16. PBs are pea-berries. Screen size does not necessarily correlate with quality in terms of flavor attributes. Nor is it true that PBs are more intense in flavor or better in quality than flat beans. 

We are clearing an exceptional coffee from Gichatha-Ini, Kenya, a factory (wet mill) owned by the Gikanda Farmers Cooperative Society. Located in the Nyeri district, this coffee is grown at 1600 masl in volcanic soil and exhibits notes of blackcurrant, jasmine, black tea with a juicy mouthfeel.

Gichatha-Ini AA, Nyeri, Kenya Variety: SL 28/34 Process: Washed Score: 86 Normal Price: $17,42/kg Now: $16,92/kg or $16,42/kg for a full pallet.

Contact Nicolas for a sample, or see the full Antwerp Warehouse Clearance Sale price list.

Gichatha-Ini

CCS Origin Trip to Ethiopia, January 2018

The CCS Sourcing team are currently in Ethiopia with customers and partners from all over the globe including Echo Lou of Coffee Voice, our distribution partners in China. Echo is a talented photographer and she has been documenting the trip on Instagram. Her photos provide a stunning insight into the vital role of coffee in the lives of Ethiopians.

You can follow @echo_lou on Instagram, and check in with CCS daily to see all the photos and videos from the team on the ground.

Here is just a sample:

Ethiopian coffees are renowned for their longevity. Many cup well after several months of rest, some cup even better. We have some stellar Ethiopian coffees from last year that are still cupping beautifully which we're clearing as part of our Antwerp Warehouse Clearance Sale. Check out these offers:

Guji Natural by Mormora Estate, Ethiopia
Variety: Guji heirlooms
Process: Natural
Notes: Rose water, cane sugar, berries, peach, citrus
Score: 87.25
Normal Price: $11,07/kg
Now: $10,57/kg or $10,07/kg for a full pallet.

Hunda Oli Lot 15, Agaro, Ethiopia
Variety: Limu heirlooms
Process: Washed
Notes: Floral, fresh apricot, balanced and round
Score: 87
Normal Price: $11,62/kg
Now: $11,12/kg or $10,62/kg for a full pallet.

See the full Antwerp Clearance Sale price list and contact Nico for samples.

Stay tuned for our Ethiopia Origin Update, coming soon.

CCS Warehouse Clearance Sale -- Featuring Chuito, Guatemala

We are moving warehouses to Vollers in Hamburg and clearing all coffees from our Antwerp warehouse. Our first coffees will arrive at the Vollers warehouse this month and will start shipping soon thereafter. In the meantime, we have coffees in our Antwerp warehouse we need to sell. That means stellar coffees at clearance prices, like this one from Guatemala:
 

Chuito, Guatemala

Luis Pedro Zelaya Aguirre (LP) purchased Concepcion de Chuito in 2009. This farm is LP’s retirement project, which is likely why it is so aesthetically pleasing to the visitor.

Farm Manager Cornelio Sapet has been working and living at Chuito since 1998.

The Zelaya family are long-time coffee growers in the region with multiple farms plus a wet and dry mill. Their business endeavors are not only about profit, rather their aim is to build a sustainable business that supports many generations of their family, and the wider community. With this in mind, they are constantly looking for ways to create jobs. They encourage their workers to educate themselves and in special cases they finance this education. The family’s facility also offers workshops to all their workers. To achieve this prosperity, they aim to to supply the best quality coffee they can to their clients.

LP’s coffee from Concepción de Chuito has notes of lemon, florals and sugar cane with a long finish. - 86.5 points.

Concepción de Chuito, Guatemala
Score: 86.5
Normal Price: $10,85/kg
Now: $10,35/kg or $9,85/kg for a full pallet.

Contact Nicolas for a sample, or see the full Antwerp Warehouse Clearance Sale price list.