Roasted for Filter | Honey, lemon zest, violets
Sweet, gentle and perfumed. Look for honey and violets, with complex fruit flavours like guava and lemon zest.
The latest harvest from Ethiopia is with us! We’re beginning the season with the release of an old staff favourite, this incredibly floral and potent coffee from Danche in Chelbesa.
The Farmers
Around 600 smallholder coffee farmers in the Chelbesa kebele have contributed towards this lot. The cultivars are Wolisho, Dega & Kurume, which are tended to completely organically in a semi-forest system. Each farmer has between 0.5 and 2 hectares planted with coffee, amidst bananas and natural shade trees, with 1,500 to 2,400 coffee trees per hectare. Each tree only produces around 3kg of coffee fruit per season, which is delivered on foot or by mule to the Danche washing station.
The Washing Station & Their Approach
Situated at 2,160 metres the Danche wet mill was established in 2019 and is managed by Girum Assefa. It is one of two sites that Snap Coffees are operating in the Chelbesa kebele, the other being Worka washing station. After depulping the received coffee cherries using an Agaarde disc pulper the coffee is fermented under cool water in ceramic tiled tanks for 72 hours, before washing and grading in long channels. The seeds are effectively graded by density in these channels and will be graded again once fully dried when the quality is refined at the dry mill using vibrating density sorting tables. It makes for a reliable product for us to roast, as the seeds are small and compact yet very dense, allowing an efficient transfer of heat through each seed and the entire batch.
The Exporter
Snap Coffee was established in 2008 by Negusse Debela Weldyes and the group are responsible for the running and operation of several coffee washing stations which feature in our coffee range each year. Snap oversee the processing facilities but also take on the task of dispensing agricultural knowledge to their contributing farmers. Steps such as tiling fermentation tanks to enable better cleaning, as well as implementing strict drying protocols, have gone long ways to improving the clarity, cleanliness and longevity of the coffees’ characteristics. They are committed to recycling waste by-products from coffee processing at each of their stations where they have also built schools and provided them with computing equipment from the other arm of their business which is in electronics. They have improved the roads to streamline access to the washing stations and have built health clinics to provide access to better healthcare for their contributing farmers as well. The lots of dried parchment are dry milled at Snap’s own processing and warehousing facility. This affords the group even more control and traceability over the final exportable product that we get to work with, leading to improved consistency and uniformity.
We have visited Snap’s cupping lab and dry mill in Addis Ababa and connected with Negusse and his son Amanuel, who has taken on an operational role at Snap Coffee. Last year Amanuel came to visit us in our roastery and we were able to show him all of the processes we undertake to ensure we handle Snap’s, and other producers’, coffees with respect and care.
Origin: Chelbesa, Gedeo, SNNPR, Ethiopia
Producer: 600 smallholders in Chelbesa
Processing: Organically grown, hand harvested, traditionally depulped and wet fermented 72hrs, fully washed & dried on raised beds.
Cultivar: Wolisho, Dega & Kurume
Altitude: 1,925 to 2,210 metres
Harvest: January, 2025
Arrival: June, 2025
Roasted for Filter | Redcurrant, cacao nib, complex
Fresh, vibrant redcurrant notes lift a very moreish coffee, with accents of cacao nib lending complexity.
Our second Burundian coffee of the year comes from Rubanda in Mutambu, where over 1,200 smallholder farmers deliver ripe cherries to the Migoti washing station. Expect complex fruits, cacao depth, and a clean, structured finish from this meticulously processed Red Bourbon lot.
The Producers
Contributing smallholder farmers grow their cherries in the highlands in rural Bujumbura, close by to Migoti Hill. Established in 2016, the operation has steadily grown and now collaborates with over 1,300 growers. Through training and agricultural support, including the annual distribution of 30,000 coffee seedlings, Migoti helps farmers increase the yield and quality of their harvest. These farmers benefit not only from technical assistance but also from accessing a discerning market for their coffee willing to pay a premium price for their hard work.
The business was co-founded by engineers Dan Brose and Pontien Ntunzwenimana with a vision to revitalise Burundi’s coffee sector after years of conflict. Their efforts have not only improved farmer livelihoods but also contributed to long-term stability and growth in the region. From just 310 farmers in 2019, Migoti’s network has expanded rapidly to 1,326 current members, providing vital seasonal employment across their two wet mills.
The Washing Station
At the wet mill, cherries are sorted by hand to remove defects and underripe fruit before being depulped. The coffee is then dry fermented for 10 to 12 hours before the mucilage is removed physically by workers jumping in the tank (think grape crushing with your feet to make wine) before the coffee is fully washed and graded in long channels. It undergoes a short pre-drying phase under shade of 3 to 4 days, after which it is transferred to raised beds in the sun where it’s turned and sorted for up to 25 days. Once dried, the coffee is transported for milling, graded by size and density, and carefully hand-sorted again before export.
The station’s controlled processing and focus on traceability contribute to the clarity and quality of the final cup. Migoti’s consistent attention to detail across all stages of production reflects their broader goal of producing specialty coffee that enables them to receive better prices and in turn this supports the long-term prosperity of farming families.
The Community
Migoti Coffee place a large focus on socio-economic community development. Since 2022 they have offered loans to the contributing farmers, strengthening financial resilience across the producing community. In the same year, they began growing essential oil crops like lemongrass and eucalyptus alongside coffee, providing farmers with additional revenue streams between harvests.
They have constructed a water reservoir near the washing station to reliably provide clean drinking water to over 4,800 people from five surrounding villages. 2024 also saw the group complete their rainforest alliance certification and they have expanded into sustainable initiatives like shade tree planting and creating natural composts.
Origin: Rubanda, Mutambu, Bujumbura, Burundi
Producer: 1,326 smallholders near Migoti Hill in Rubanda
Processing: Hand sorted, depulped, fermented 10-12 hours and fully washed. Shade dried 3-4 days, sun dried 20-25 days on raised beds.
Cultivars: Red Bourbon
Altitude: 2,042 metres
Harvest: June, 2024
Arrival: April, 2025
Roasted for Filter | Raspberry, cranberry, tonka
One of our favourite Kenyan coffees, we’re thrilled to reintroduce a juicy AA lot from the Karimikui factory into our filter coffee line-up.
The Farmers
Several hundred smallhold farmers in the villages of Kiamugumo, Githure and Gituba deliver their coffee cherries to the Karimikui factory, some by foot, some on motorbike and some by ox-drawn carts. The farmers attend agricultural seminars held by the Rungeto Farmers’ Co-operative Society (FCS) year-round, and are provided access to fertilisers with the aim of helping them to sustain and improve their coffee production.
The Washing Station
The coffee cherries are first sorted through by hand for under- or over-ripe cherries, and then floated to sort by density before depulping. After depulping, they are fermented for up to 24 hours. The washing stage is then done by periodically introducing clean water from the nearby Nyamindi river into the tanks and stirring the coffee, before sluicing away the dissolving fruit mucilage layers. Once squeaky clean the coffee is moved to a soaking tank to sit in fresh water for another 24 hours before it goes out to dry on raised beds. This can take between 12 and 20 days, depending on the weather conditions. The water used in processing is treated in two large soak pits before it makes its way back into the local water table, to break down the sugars, acids and particulates that accumulate during coffee processing.
The Farmers’ Co-operative society
The Karimikui Coffee Washing Station (CWS) is run by the Rungeto FCS. They also oversee Kii CWS and Kiangoi CWS, from whom we’ve cupped many delicious coffees over the years. The region, Ngariama, was previously home to one of the largest FCS in Kenya, called Ngiriama FCS. It was liquidated in 1996 which allowed smaller FCS to snap up their assets, like Rungeto taking over Karimikui, Kii and Kiangoi. As well as processing coffee cherries the FCS has created job opportunities and improved the local community’s infrastructure by opening a fuel station and a dairy cooling facility. Some of the smallholder coffee farmers who deliver coffee cherries also have cattle, and so can sell their milk to the dairy.
Impeccable processing and drying conditions, coupled with predominantly SL28 & SL34 varieties grown in volcanic soils in a cool climate makes for an excellent expression of Kenya’s Kirinyaga country, with lots of tart red fruits and sweetness in the cup.
Origin: Ngariama, Kirinyaga, Kenya
Produced by: Rungeto Farmers’ Co-op Society
Processing: Traditionally depulped, 24hrs dry fermented, multiple washing stages, soaked & dried on raised beds.
Cultivars: Predominantly SL28 & SL34, some Ruiru 11
Altitude: 1,650 to 1,900 metres
Harvest: January, 2025
Arrival: June, 2025
Roasted for Filter | Candied chestnuts, mangosteen, butterscotch
It’s a great joy to welcome back onto the coffee menu an exceptionally well processed lot of Bourbon from 2,000 metres in Peru’s Cusco region, produced by Miranda Huaman Gregoria. Expect a balanced cup with an array of fruity, herbal and sugary characteristics.
The Producer:
Miranda Huaman Gregoria has been working in coffee for 36 years. In the last 8 she has been in partnership with the Valle Inca Association, headed up by José Prundencio. She tends to Bourbon coffee trees on her 5-hectare farm, Mesapata, which are about a dozen years old. Being situated at 2,000 metres above sea level means that both Broca (coffee borer beetle) and Roya (coffee leaf rust) are not hugely problematic.
Their Approach:
Miranda has planted Pacay trees on her farm, to provide shade for the coffee plants as well as to encourage biodiversity. As well as coffee she is producing small peppers known locally as Rocoto. The coffee plants are nourished with a homemade compost, composed primarily of spent coffee pulp and bird poo. In processing her harvested coffee cherries, she first floats in water to skim off the less dense fruit. They are then fed through a manual disc depulper to remove the seed from the fruit. The depulped parchment is sieved to remove any coffee cherry skins. Experimenting in their approach to fermentation, they place the mucilage laden parchment coffee into GrainPro sacks and then seal in a plastic barrel. A tube allows for degassing, as the microbiome breaking down the coffee's mucilage produces CO2 during this stage. After nearly 40 hours the fermented coffee is fully washed in clean water, which is then treated in wells. The parchment coffee is then placed onto raised beds in a parabolic dried to slowly dry down to a stable moisture content over around 18 days. In recent years Miranda has also been producing some honey processed lots.
The Association
In 2018, our first year buying coffee through Valle Inca, the group had around 100 members. Thanks to word of mouth, with producers telling their neighbours of the premium prices that they were able to receive having been able to access a more discerning coffee market through the association, the group now works with around 300 producers in the Cusco region and have recently expanded their operations to include Puno. All the members are working organically and are certified as such via the Valle Inca group. For a member to join, there needs to be a baseline of quality met, dictated in part by altitude and the type of varieties planted, but ultimately it is down to the desire of each member to improve their quality through hard work. The group provides agronomical advice and training as well as pre-financing, so the farmer members are supported in multiple ways. Several of their members reliably place well in Peru’s Cup of Excellence competition.
Origin: Huaynapata, Yanatile, Calca, Cusco, Peru
Farm: Mesapata
Processing: Floated & manually depulped, sealed barrel ferment for 39 hours, fully washed, dried on raised beds.
Variety: Bourbon
Altitude: 2,000 metres
Harvest: August to September, 2024
Arrival: January, 2025