TRADITIONAL
Nº 160 Honduras El Paraiso
Country: Honduras
Process: Washed
Altitude: 1000m - 1600m
Varietals: Caturra, Catuai, Pacas, Typica
Tasting Notes: Hazelnut, Cocoa, Honeycomb
Roast Level: Dark 5/5
FARM NOTES:
Land in Honduras is well suited to growing coffee with 75% of it being mountainous. However the high rainfall and lack of infrastructure has been a challenge in terms of processing and transporting the coffee.
Investment in education & skills over recent years has helped raise the standard of coffee produced. The result is some exceptional coffees with a range of characteristics across the different growing regions.
The diversity is what makes Honduran coffee special. Though the country is small, it has six distinct coffee-growing regions that now rivals its more well-known Central American coffee producing neighbours. Speciality coffee in Honduras has mild, sweet, and clean flavours. It’s time to Paraiso like we should!
DISCOVERY
Nº 159 Kenya Kii
Country: Near Nairobi
Process: Washed
Grown / Region: Kirinyaga County
Altitude: 1700m - 2000m
Varietals: SL28. SL34
Producers: Rung'eto FCS Cooperative Members
Tasting Notes: Nectarine, Blackcurrant, Assam Tea
Roast Level: Medium 3/5
FARM NOTES:
The Kii Coffee Factory, where this coffee is processed, was founded in 1954 and forms part of the Rung'eto FCS Cooperative. This co-op receives coffee cherry from over 2,000 farmers across the region, and operates a dairy farm and a support programme to improve coffee cultivation. The varietals farmed here are SL28 and SL34, which are drought tolerant but susceptible to disease. Therefore the coffee trees have to carefully tended and monitored. If well managed, these varieties can survive for 60-80 years! The variety was selected in a laboratory for its yield and quality and is now synonymous with Kenyan coffee.
A classic Kenyan flavour profile with dominant acidity and stone fruit flavour. Kenyan processing is uniquely focussed on the wet fermentation, and its thought that this is what gives the region its great reputation and consistency.
Situated on the foothills of Mt Kenya, around 112k from Nairobi, the Kii Coffee Factory processes fresh cherry from the surrounding society members. The producers here operate on small 1 or 2 hectare farms with as few as 150 trees each. The hand-picked cherries are sorted before washing, as well as after, to remove over/under ripe fruit, thus ensuring exceptional quality and consistency of flavour.