Perennial | Roasted for all methods | Molasses, cacao nib, roasted walnuts
Full bodied with a complex sweetness and low acidity. Flavours of molasses, cacao nibs, liquorice, warming clove and candied walnuts.
Component 1:
Riripa, Oromia, Ethiopia:
The Farmers
Growing their coffee amidst natural forest and lush vegetation, the 742 smallholder farmers who deliver their coffee to Haji Betro’s wet mill are working completely organically and tending to a mixture of varieties, including Wolisho, Kurume and JARC identified varieties, 74110 and 74112. These varieties, coupled with high altitudes and favourable soil types are great starting blocks for high quality coffee. Each farmer has only a small amount of land, less than a hectare in many cases, and each coffee tree only yields about 3kg of cherry per season.
The Washing Station & Their Approach
South-west of the Bale Mountain Forest in Ethiopia’s West Arsi zone the Riripa wet mill is managed by Haji Betro, and was only established in 2019. They use a traditional Agaarde disc pulper to remove the cherry skins before the mucilage covered parchment coffee is fermented under water in tanks for up to 72 hours. The coffee is then washed and scrubbed whilst being sorted and refined in channels, separating the higher grade of seeds by density. Once clean the parchment is dried on raised beds to a stable moisture content before it is sent to the dry mill to have the parchment removed and is sorted once again by density, colour and size, before it is ready to be bagged up and exported.
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. This year we are working with lots from Riripa, Aricha and Danche. 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. Lots from the most recent harvest have been dry milled at Snap’s own processing and warehousing facility. This has afforded the group even more control over the final exportable product that we get to work with, leading to improved consistency and uniformity.
We spent several days cupping through lots at Snap Plaza in Addis Ababa in February, and were able to connect with Negusse and his son Amanuel who has taken on an operational role at Snap Coffee. Later in the year Amanuel came to visit us in our roastery and we were able to show him all of processes we undertake to ensure we handle Snap’s, and other producers’, coffees with respect and care.
Component 2:
Saravá, Chapada Diamantina, Bahia, Brazil
This season we cupped lots of samples from Brazil to ensure we found the right coffee to use across our house blends. Our preference has always been for coffees that are clean and sweet that taste fresh and vibrant. The same goes when we source our Brazil coffees, where we seek out lots that have a creamy body, fresh but mellow acidity and bags of brown sugar and milk chocolate sweetness. This season we have sourced a field blend of Mundo Novo & Catuaí cultivars, produced by a community of smallhold farmers in Chapada Diamantina. Typically, we have bought from large landowners with sprawling estates, but through Ofi sourcing we have been able to collate the work of several farmers who tend to coffee on around 20 hectares, whilst supporting a tree planting program in the community to promote biodiversity, increase shade coverage on the farms and facilitate carbon capture.
The Producers & Their Approach:
Around 30 families are ultimately responsible for growing the coffee cherries that have made their way into this community lot, named ‘Saravá’ which loosely translates to “Respect” or “Blessing”. The cultivars are Mundo Novo and Catuaí. The farms span from 900 to 1,300 metres above sea level. Joel Marques de Oliveira is one producer, whose farm Rio Brilhante is in the locale of Ibicoara. He has been motivated to pursue specialty coffee production having won awards for cup quality in 2019. Another producer is Nilson Aguiar Ferreira, who grows coffee on Fazenda Encanto up to 1,100 metres. He learnt the ropes of coffee production from his parents and has been working here since 1997.
We predominantly buy washed coffees, as we love their clarity, vibrancy and clean taste. In Brazil it is highly unusual to see any fully washed lots, with ‘pulped natural’ or honey processing more the norm and ‘natural’ or dry process also common. With our Saravá blend the harvested cherries are initially depulped and put through a demucilaginator or ‘mechanical washer’ which removes the fruit mucilage, bypassing the need for fermentation and decreasing the water requirements. The parchment is then slowly dried with a minor amount of residual mucilage present.
The Cultivars:
Mundo Novo represents a natural cross between Typica and Bourbon that was initially noted in Brazil in the 1940s. Over the subsequent decades, breeding programs in Brazil have made refinements and selections to this tall tree, which offers a good yield and cup quality but is susceptible to leaf rust and coffee berry disease. Mundo Novo has since been cross-bred with Caturra, which itself is a dwarf mutation of Bourbon, to create Catuaí. It’s compact nature allows a denser planting, and the tree itself is quite productive. Catuaí has been far more popular in terms of spreading to other producing countries, Costa Rica in particular.
Offering a clean, soft cup with tonnes of sweetness and a creamy body we have been enjoying sample roasts and initial tests of this lot drunk as a single origin, which tastes round and warming. The cup profile is quite versatile and so it lends itself well to blending with other coffees that offer a little more in the way of top notes, acidity and aromatics.