I first visited El Pintado 4 harvests ago. As we walked thru the farm and I could see the excitement in the groups eyes as we wandered into a structure full of long cement tanks, shaded by a corrugated metal roof. Pul ing back tarps, I was surprised to find that they have a massive worm farm on the estate with 50 million worms, actively producing wonderful fertilizer to nurture their plants, as well as other farms in need. “We believe in over fertilizing organically to keep the plant strong in order to protect itself from pests and other threats to its health and livelihood”, says Wilson. “We also spray the plants in the early morning, when the pores of the leaves of the plants are open, with the liquids produced by our worms.”
El Pintado is an ecological mill where they recycle the water used in processing and treat the water naturally before sending it back into the ground.
The structure of this farm is unique in its design. The canopy is composed of many different types of native shade trees that create a forest-like environment. The farm features 10 hectares of the Borbón variety with many of the plants being over 100 years old. There are also other interesting varieties growing such as Geisha.
Philip Wilson, being a true innovator, also spends a lot of time on his impact business called Ecofiltro whose immediate mission is to bring clean water sustainably to 1M rural families in Guatemala by the year 2025. The filtering unit is produced from 3 natural materials, clay, sawdust and colloidal silver. These materials work together to clean bacteria and micro-organisms, which cause infections and diseases, from water enabling you to enjoy fresh clean
water and enjoy a healthier lifestyle.
I’ve been travel ing to Guatemala every year for over 12 years and have watched first-hand how the EcoFiltro has truly revolutionized safe drinking water all over the country. While EcoFiltro was started over 20 years ago, and has operated as a non-profit for most of it’s history, as Executive Director Philip has truly accelerated their mission and growth plan, realizing that the water problem could not be solved simply on donations. Their mission: to benefit 1 million Guatemalan families in rural areas by the year 2025.
They exclusively use sustainable methods to achieve this goal and are always ready to share their production processes and marketing strategies with any external group that is interested in solving the water challenge in their country.
Visiting this year, our VP of Sales Heather Kelley and I got to tour their facility and learn first-hand how Philip has decided to turn EcoFiltro into an impact company, a “social business”, which focuses on a hybrid approach to water in taking sales in urban areas while reducing the price of filters for families in rural areas. Philip has just returned from a social enterprise conference, and we learned that they’ve essentially open sourced the technology behind EcoFiltro and it’s being used in over 40 other countries to help with the water crisis.
Thru their School Program Goals, which Water Avenue Coffee supports, they distribute drinking water to identifies rural school in Guatemala. Donations and a portion of each filter purchased go towards filters being delivered to rural schools. They also involve parents in the EcoFiltro “water for life” program so that children have access to pure water both in their schools and at home. They offer families a payment plan and education on pure water filtration to empower those with knowledge of the benefits of drinking clean water.
We learned that many families currently burn wood to boil water, which they often must purchase, and the EcoFiltro not only saves resources, but has a large carbon offset for the environment, eliminating trees from being cut down and burned into the atmosphere.
It was so inspiring to hear how Philip has set up his business, creating an environment that empowers his employees to share in profits as well as in ideas of how to grow the company, and operate efficiently. I’ve come to realize that every trip to Guatemala is such an inspiring adventure, the people, the coffee of course, the innovation and the compassion truly move me... and our relationship with Finca El Pintado and EcoFiltro is a culmination of an authentic partnership and relationship, beyond the delicious coffee in your cup. Though if you want El Pintado in your cup, you can find it here.
Specialty coffee is very niche, and with thousands of brands to choose from, it can take a lot of work to know what to get the coffee enthusiast on your list.
Even then, hundreds of coffee-lover gift guides are out there, so how do you find the best specialty coffee gift?
Look no further because, here at Water Avenue Coffee, we want to make it as easy as possible this year with our curated holiday gift collection!
Do you want to be everyone’s favorite holiday guest? Come bearing the gift of specialty coffee! Use our coffee gift guide to handpick the best host gifts for all your upcoming holiday celebrations.
With several gift bundles and coffee subscriptions, you’ll undoubtedly find a gift for any coffee experience and knowledge level. Continue reading to find the best coffee gift ideas for the holidays.
Wonderland is a cozy, well-balanced blend for those misty winter mornings with its festive tasting notes of baking spice, brown sugar, and toasted nuts.
This medium roast blend of African and Central American beans is guaranteed to ward off the winter chill and energize your tastebuds!
Our high-quality instant coffee bundle is an excellent way to help fuel a coffee lover’s upcoming adventures! Perfect for camping, hiking, traveling, or anything in between, our instant coffee ensures they’re never without their favorite coffee.
These also make for a stocking stuffer that leaves coffee enthusiasts wanting more!
SHOP IT NOW
From coffee gift sets and holiday blends to curated specialty coffee trios, we promise it’s a piece of cake to find a gift for every coffee drinker on your list.
Coffee plays a pivotal role in our special occasions, and we’re so grateful for the chance to be included in yours. Tag us on Instagram or Facebook to show us how you’re enjoying Water Ave Coffee this holiday season.
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This makes it all the more exciting to announce our newest single origin offering of the year, the Indonesia Mount Argopuro: a coffee that showcases the tremendous quality and innovation happening in Java today.
Pak Muhlisin founded the cooperative responsible for the coffee, Pokmas Walidas, in 2014. Mr. Muhlisin has been a driving force behind the rebirth of Argopuro coffee, applying his extensive training in farm management to help grow the specialty-grade coffee market in the region. The members of the co-op live and work in the Tlogosari Village, where the coffee is processed at their mill. The group’s success is invested directly back into town: 20% of the co-ops profits goes toward a K-12 school that has provided newfound opportunity to the rural farming community.
Tlogosari village (Photo courtesy Belift / Sustainable Harvest)
Mr. Muhlisin is supported by coffee exporters Belift Green Beans, a team of coffee professionals from Central and East Java that have been working with innovative farmers like Mr. Muhlisin to promote and support specialty Javanese coffee, with a particular focus on unique processing methods. Thanks to our importing partners at Sustainable Harvest, we were able to be apart of Belift's first year to export - an accomplishment 6 years in the making.
This coffee is anaerobically fermented: a method of fermenting coffee seeds (a necessary step in almost all coffee production) in a sealed, oxygen-depleted container, that produces atypical coffee flavors. The oxygen-free environment limits the types of microbes typically involved in the breakdown and fermentation of the coffee fruit, fundamentally changing the character of the seed.
Anaerobic ferment barrels and parchment storage at the Pokmas Walida Mill (Photo courtesy of Belift / Sustainable Harvest)
At the Pokmas Walida coffee mill, the complete coffee cherry is placed in sealed, air-tight tanks for 7 days. The climate around the mountain stays a consistent 60° - 70° at harvest time, creating an ideal fermenting environment. Afterward, the coffee is sun-dried whole-cherry for 15 days on raised beds (typical of natural-processed coffee), followed by another 10 days on drying patios. The dried fruit husk is removed, and the coffee is warehoused in the seed's natural parchment til its destination is confirmed, and it sails out of the port of Surabaya.
Raised drying beds at Konang Springs (Photo courtesy of Belift / Sustainable Harvest)
This combination of anaerobic fermentation and an extended natural drying process produces a wild coffee experience. Clean chocolate notes are made more complex with a clove and cinnamon-like spice, spurred on through ferment. These flavors melt into a heavy figgy sweetness, complimented by light, zesty citrus notes. It has created some of the most impressive shots of espresso we've tasted in while, while remaining a surprisingly approachable morning cup.
Coffees like this is are few and far between–with what limited supply we have, make sure to pick up a bag online or in person at our cafe.
]]>Every year the majority of our staff travels to coffee farms (mostly in Central America) whose coffee Water Avenue sells. The staff explores the farms and coffee mills, cups coffees and learns about many of the challenges and opportunities for specialty coffee producers. They also get a first taste of some of the coffees they will be roasting and serving in the WAC café later this year, fresh off the drying patios.
Building close relationships with coffee farmers gives us better access to a wide variety of the highest quality coffees, something that excites the wholesale team, baristas and roasters at WAC.
This year, our head Roaster visited Ethiopia on her Origin trip. She kept a journal while abroad, and we wanted to share her adventures with you.
December 7, 2017
After traveling for more than 30 hours, I finally arrived in Addis Ababa, the capital city of Ethiopia. The airport was sleepy with passengers as they walked out into the hazy daylight of the city. On these kinds of trips, there’s no time to waste, so after a brief stop at the beautiful Eliana Hotel and a quick coffee, we were off to visit one of the largest dry mills in Ethiopia.
The mill was surprisingly quiet, as harvest was still wrapping up. We spent several hours touring the facility and talking with managers and employees. Our guide and translator, Abiy, speaks at least five languages and is as culturally fluid as he is linguistically.
After the mill tour, we headed out to a popular restaurant that serves traditional Ethiopian food. There was a cultural show with a band playing traditional folk songs while a lot of people danced. While taking in all the foreign sights and sounds, we feasted on Tej, a type of honey wine, and Injera, a spongy flatbread.
The following morning, we checked out of the hotel and flew to Jimma, a city located in the Oromia region in Southwest Ethiopia. Much of the coffee produced in Ethiopia comes from this area, which contributes to about 50% of total production. Jimma is a bustling town with lively street markets. Cars were zooming around carts drawn by donkeys, people were herding goats and cows, and motorcycles weaved in and out of all this traffic.
After this, we visited GidAY Berhe Retta, the owner and operator of Limmu Kossa, which is the farm that produces the coffee we currently offer at Water Avenue. He served us a delicious traditional Ethiopian lunch of Injera with lentils, chickpeas and veggies. I learned that we were visiting during a fasting season in Ethiopia, so most of the food being consumed was vegan, which made our our little traveling group of vegans and vegetarians extremely happy and relieved.
After a post-lunch coffee ceremony, we headed off to Limmu Kossa, which is roughly an hour and a half from Jimma. The road wasn’t in the best condition, and, as one of my companions noted, that is a sign of “good things to come” in the coffee industry. We were headed to the remote hills where coffee grows, which is a coffee enthusiasts’ dream come true!
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Santo Tomás Pachuj has been in Andres Fahsen’s family for five generations. Since 2000, they have been certified under the Rainforest Alliance® seal, with which the farm has been given a number of awards for producing high-quality coffee in harmony with the environment and for respecting its employees, the wildlife and the surrounding communities.
When our team cupped this coffee alongside almost 40 others during our origin trip to Guatemala last year, it stood out from all the rest. Our owner Bruce Milletto, our team, Q graders, and everyone cupping at the time knew they had found something special when they tasted it. We are so glad that we are now able to share that cup with you! This coffee is available now for purchase online, in our cafes, and local grocery stores.
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Today, the majority of Kenyan farmers are tending small plots with 100 coffee trees or so. Coffee farmers will often organize cooperative societies that act as an umbrella organization for the farms and help to secure fair wages and support for smallholders. Members bring their harvest to centrally located mills where the coffees are weighed, sorted, and combined with the harvests from other nearby farms to create a larger lot to process and export.
Coffee cherries on their way to the factory for processing, courtesy of Cafe Imports
This particular coffee comes from the New Murarandia Farmers Cooperative Society, a group of 710 members in the Mathioya division of Murang'a County, a region known not just for coffee but also tea, macadamia nuts, and fruit. The members of the New Murarandia FCS bring their coffee to Ther'i, a coffee factory located just outside of the town with the same name. These farmers grow an average of 130 trees, a mix of SL-28, SL-34, Riuru 11, and Batian varietals that are mixed together during processing.
Washed parchment draining into a washing receptical, courtesy of Cafe Imports
All of the water used in processing in Ther'i comes from the nearby Thumara River. Two soaking pits are used to remove processing impurities from the water and prevent any contamination of fresh water on the factory site. The factory takes every step to ensure the water is cleaned before re-entering the water table, as it is also a local source of drinking water.
Kenyan coffees are primarily sold through an auction at the Nairobi Coffee Exchange, or through direct sales called "Second Window." Utilizing the "Second Window," allows Cafe Imports to build relationships with mills and estates to create smaller, more traceable lots like this coffee to roasters like us. We're thrilled to offer this complex Kenyan coffee. It's a pleasant, creamy cup with notes of tamarind candy and malted milk chocolate. This is a limited edition coffee, sold in 8oz tubes in our cafes and online store.
One of these names is Cuatro M Coffees in El Salvador, a family business managed by Emilio Lopez Diaz. We first purchased coffee from Cuatro M in 2010, and since then their coffees have become staples of our menu. They own two farms (Finca El Manzano and Finca Ayutepeque) whose harvests are processed at their mill, Beneficio El Manzano. Cuatro M grows, mills, and exports coffees not only from their own farms, but from several other farmers in the region as well. Few coffee farms have their own mill, meaning they must send their coffee to another facility like Beneficio El Manzano before it is exported.
At the mill the coffee can be processed using just about any common processing method. Many mills are only able to produce a single type of coffee, either washed, semi-washed, pulped natural, or natural. Beneficio El Manzano is equipped with everything they need to offer flexibility in milling styles.
As roasters, being able to trace coffee down to the farm level is immensely valuable. It allows us to select the very best coffees available, often specifying which varieties of coffee we desire from farms or regions growing several types. While at some mills a farmer’s lot will be mixed in with other small harvests, Beneficio El Manzano offers the farmers it works with complete traceability throughout the milling process. As ripe coffee fruit is brought into El Manzano, a member of the quality control team takes a sample of the harvest to assess the quality of the fruit. Each truckload is given a grade based on what percentage is underripe, ripe, or overripe, as well as the sugar content of the fruit. At this stage each lot brought to the mill is given an identifying number and entered into a database.
View of Finca El Manzano from Santa Margaritas
By working directly with producers like Cuatro M and visiting their farms and mill annually, our baristas and wholesale team are able to see this process in action, and ensure that the farmers we work with share our commitment to our product, our community, and our environment.
Find our latest offerings from Cuatro M here.
]]>Happy 5/03, Portland!
We’re excited to announce the release of our new blend, Boxcar. A toast to Portland’s Central Eastside Industrial District that Water Avenue calls home. We have developed this blend to satisfy a diverse range of palates. Boxcar is a blend of Central and South American coffees, roasted a bit darker than our single origins.
We believe in roasting every coffee we source to its shining roast profile, and have developed a profile to accentuate a hearty and sophisticated cup that will stand up well on its own or with cream and sugar. This coffee is there for you in the early A.M. when the train horn is just not enough to wake you up. Complex and well rounded, with notes of baker’s chocolate, walnut, sweet tobacco, and cinnamon.
We have partnered with New Seasons Market to be our exclusive grocery collaborator and Boxcar will be available in all local New Seasons stores, as well as both retail locations and in our online store.
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The Ethiopia Sidamo Hamacho Waeno might sound like a bit of a mouthful, but it's a delicious mouthful: this washed coffee is a beautiful, floral cup with bright citrus acidity, and a lingering fruity sweetness. It comes from Hamacho Waeno, one of the largest cooperatives in southern Ethiopia with over 4,000 members and four washing stations. Their members have cultivated 2,000 hectares of the sloping, volcanic soils of the region 2,000 meters above sea level, to support some of the highest quality indigenous heirloom variety coffees.
The Hamacho Waeno co-op is committed to sustainable growth not only for their products, but also for their community, investing profits back into their local area. Hamacho Waeno has also partnered with the Sidama Coffee Farmers Cooperative Union (which is, in essence, a cooperative of 46 cooperatives across the entire Sidamo region). SCFCU provides export services, credit and technical services for its members. We purchased this lot from green coffee importers at Royal Coffee.
Ethiopian coffees are typically hand picked from various farms, homesteads, and small plots, and carefully sorted. The farmers will then sell them to their cooperative for processing, where they will be mixed in with coffees harvested by other members. There are countless indigenous heirloom varieties in Ethiopia, many of which are still not identified, so the heirloom varieties you might receive in one bag of green coffee are incredibly diverse. In processing washed coffees like this one, the cherries are pulped and the coffee is allowed to ferment. The seeds are then carefully washed and sun-dried on raised beds. Most washed coffees from this region have similar profiles: pronounced acidity, strong fruity flavors, and a medium body. The Ethiopia Sidamo Hamacho Waeno ticks all of those boxes, and yet it has a unique floral profile that has enchanted us as well.
Enjoy Ethiopian coffees as drip, pour over, or a unique single origin espresso. View our current offerings here.
]]>Water Avenue Coffee has previously partnered with a number of local businesses to create collaborative blends, so when Jet Black Coffee Company came to us we were thrilled to work with them to create something unique to reflect their distinct style.
Jet Black’s story begins with music. Co-owner Travis Coe and his band Puppy Breath were searching for a rehearsal space, but when they stumbled upon the building at 11150 NE Weidler, they found something more. His bandmates bought the building and opened a second location for their well-known vegan grocery store Food Fight! next door, while Travis partnered with his best friend Karla Nolt to open a vegan coffee shop in the Gateway neighborhood. Don’t worry, the band got what they were looking for, too: their rehearsal space is downstairs.
Travis Coe and Karla Nolt, co-owners of Jet Black Coffee Company
It is important to Jet Black to serve not only the Gateway community, but the larger community as well, and they have frequently partnered with Food Fight! and other local businesses to help raise money for local nonprofits. With their shared emphasis on community, when it came time to look for a roaster they only considered Water Avenue.
Music is everywhere in the café. Jet Black’s name comes from one of their favorite bands, Jawbreaker, and there are subtle nods to the band throughout the cafe. It’s no coincidence that the album their blend is named for is displayed proudly next to their menu. Just another sign this collaboration was truly meant to be: Jawbreaker also happens to be one of Water Avenue co-founder Matt Milletto’s favorite bands.
Some of the walls of the café are indeed jet black, but the high vaulted wood beam ceiling, windows, art, and plants bring a life and warmth to the space. After only being open a few weeks, there is already a buzz about the place; when we asked if they had any regulars, one customer turned to us to say “we’ve been here a few times this week already!”
Still, it hasn’t been the smoothest start: in only their second week of business someone broke in and smashed the glass on their door. When the news spread about what had happened, however, people from the community hurried to the shop to show their support. “It was probably our busiest day!” says Travis.
Shortly after the Dear You Blend rolled out, word spread to members of Jawbreaker themselves, and after a little shout out from them, music lovers couldn’t wait to get their hands on some of that hot, good coffee.
Jet Black has some great plans moving into spring and summer: they’ve just expanded their hours to be open for the evening crowd, and hope to be able to serve beer and wine on their large patio when the sun is out…and just maybe sell some plants or records as well. We can’t wait to spend more time there, enjoying some good, good music and the Dear You Blend. Grab a bag now in their café, Food Fight! Grocery, or through our online store!
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The Asojardin group was formed by small-scale coffee growers near the town of Mistrato, in Riseralda Department, Colombia. When it was founded in 2011 it sought to pool the resources of the already established small independent farmers in the region, and today it represents over 100 producers. Together the farmers have 220ha under cultivation, producing a mix of washed Caturra, Colombia, Castillo, and Typica varieties.
Asojardin was formed to help improve the quality of coffees coming from the region, educating member farmers on best practices for growing, harvesting, and processing their coffees. They gain additional assistance from Granja La Esperanza, their exporting partners who bring the coffee to us. Granja La Esperanza assists along all stages of production with their team of trained agronomists and technicians.
Another major focus of the group is preserving their natural environment. The name Asojardin comes from the park in the center of Mistrato where many of the farmers got their start. The region is home to many unique natural features, plants, and animals and part of the technical training member farmers receive is in reducing the need for chemical inputs into the earth through biodynamic farming practices.
The lot we sourced through Granja La Esperanza represents some of the best coffees Riseralda has to offer. We first purchased coffee from this group in 2015, and we’re excited to have it back on the menu. The cup is remarkably complex with notes of milk chocolate, tamarind, and date. The bright citrus acidity is balanced by a deep fruity sweetness that makes this an excellent cup for drip our pourover brewing. Look for this in our cafés, our online shop, and Portland area grocery stores.
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Sudan Rume is an heirloom type of Arabica coffee plant that originates on the Boma Plateau of Southern Sudan near the border with Ethiopia. Plant breeders have long used this cultivar of Arabica when creating new varieties of coffee plant. Hybrids using the genetics of a high yielding disease resistant type with lower cup quality have been crossed with the Sudan Rume, which is prized for its amazing flavors and moderate disease resistance but lower yields. Many modern coffee plant types; like Castillo, Centroamericano, and Colombia use this technique, crossing the delicious Sudan Rume with heartier types to create a higher yielding, disease resistant type that is delightful to drink.
As the Sudan Rume is low yielding and relatively difficult to cultivate it is only rarely grown as a stand-alone type. Granja La Esperanza (GLE) of Valle De Cauca, Colombia is one of the few coffee producers to offer this type and we are more than thrilled to be adding it to our menu. Part of GLE’s mission is to push the bounds of producing the world’s best coffees through experimentation and innovation in post harvest milling and growing unique and rare types of coffee. They gained international renown for growing some of the best Gesha coffees in the world, another spectacular but low yielding and difficult type of Arabica, and have identified the Sudan Rume a similar type of coffee with huge potential.
Finca Las Margaritas, outside the town of Caicedonia, serves as a test bed for growing new and different varieties of coffee, often from seedstock obtained by the organization’s owner Rigoberto Herrera from friends and relatives throughout Latin America. After planting the Sudan Rume type on Las Margaritas, GLE was pleased to find it seemed perfectly suited for their microclimate in the central cordillera of the Andes. It produced a cup comparable to their prized Geshas but with less need for supplementary nutrient inputs into the soil. For Granja la Esperanza the Sudan Rume provided an exceptional cup while being easier to grow than the Gesha.
Although GLE has been successful growing Sudan Rume at Las Margaritas it is still a great example of a farm emphasizing quality over quantity. The plant is still low yielding compared to most varieties of Arabica and does require a special level of care. It is phosphorous hungry, and requires regular pruning to keep at a size where it can be easily picked. This type, like its cousin the Gesha, has a tendency to develop into long, gangly plants with the fruit spread out widely among the branches.
Care must also be taken during the harvest and at the mill to maintain the quality of this potentially excellent cup. One of the challenges with many of these exotic types of coffee is that the fruit ripens unevenly, meaning that pickers must make several passes through each section of the farm, selecting only the coffee cherries that are at their ripest point. A single under ripe or over ripe fruit has the potential to spoil an entire cup with off flavors. Consequently GLE uses only their most experienced workers to harvest this precious crop.
Granja La Esperanza has experimented with several post harvest processing methods to accentuate different characteristics of the Sudan Rume. The lot we purchased from this harvest cycle was naturally processed, one of the most venerable methods of processing coffee. The coffee fruit is dried whole, with the layers of skin, mucilage and parchment still surrounding the precious seed inside.
Although this is the most common processing method world wide, it is relatively uncommon in high end specialty coffees. It requires little to no expensive milling equipment, but for successful results it requires extreme care. Drying time is extended due to the mass of biological material surrounding the seed, and the coffee must be frequently rotated to prevent uneven drying, possible degradation, and the potential for off flavors. However, when done with care the results can be spectacular. The long contact time with the coffee fruit can emphasize the fruit forward notes, making for a truly unique experience.
Water Avenue Coffee only purchased 150 pounds of this treat of a coffee, and we are selling it in a special cylindrical package in a smaller 8oz size (order some HERE). This limited edition offering is perfect as a gift for the coffee lover in your life, or as a special treat. The cup is wonderfully delicate yet rich. The natural processing has brought forth many of the fruit notes available in the type, reminiscent of wild strawberries and ripe blueberries alongside an intense sweetness with a rounded yet delicate body. Due to its limited nature we will only be roasting this coffee on Tuesdays, available in our café every Friday and, shipping out from our online store on Wednesdays.
]]>With a new year comes a new coffee menu for us at Water Avenue Coffee. While we’re going to miss the coffees leaving the menu (Colombia La Esperanza Natural and El Salvador Las Delicias Bourbon) we’re excited to welcome in two new offerings.
Guatemala Santa Isabel
Finca Santa Isabel sits near the city of Coban in the heart of the Alta Verapaz of Guatemala. This high plateau is home to some of the regions densest rainforest and richest biodiversity. The Valdes family has been growing coffee on this land since 1875, when the Guatemalan government gave it to them, and this longevity is a testament to their respect for the environment. These fifth generation farmers continue to implement practices that reduce their impact on the surrounding jungle, using composting and water recycling to break down the byproducts of the milling process. The composted materials are then distributed back to the coffee plants to enrich the soil and nourish the next year’s crop.
The lot we purchased from the Valdes family is a washed Caturra, a lot we’ve featured in years past as well. Although many farms in Guatemala produce Caturra lots, this one tastes distinct from its neighbors. Alongside the traditional notes of chocolate and nut found in many Central American coffees, this cup presents notes of aged black tea, fig jam, and a bright citrus acidity. This is one of those truly special coffees that presents you with something unique and different every way that you brew it. Look for this farm direct lot in our café, in our online store, and at select wholesale partner locations.
El Salvador Santa Barbara Pacamara
Every year we feature several different lots from the Menendez family, and the Santa Barbara Pacamara is the latest to grace our menu. Finca Santa Barbara lies on the slopes of Cerro Las Ranas, a volcano in western El Salvador. This region boasts some of the best coffee growing conditions in this small country, with regular rains and cool breezes coming off the ocean. The Menendez family has planted this mountain with coffee up to 1600 meters above sea level, the upper limits for coffee cultivation in El Salvador.
The specific lot we purchased from Santa Barbara this year comes from Pacamara type coffee plants. These area cross between the giant Maragogype and the dwarf Pacas types that were developed in El Salvador. The coffee was processed at the Menendez family’s mill, Beneficio Piedra Grande, located in the same mountain range. It went through a mechanical demucilager before being dried on patios. This machine washing is a relatively new innovation in the coffee industry and was adopted at Piedra Grande to improve the consistency of the lots produced and better control the fermentation process. The cup from this year’s crop is a delightful example of what this type and process can produce. Clean yet complex with the chocolate and nut notes you’d expect from a washed Central American coffee, and complimented by hints of tropical fruit and a pleasantly bright acidity. Look for this premium offering in our café, in our online store, and with select wholesale partners.
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The coffee seeds we grind, brew, and drink every day are only a small part of the coffee plant. What we call beans are just the seed of a fruit the size of a large grape. Surrounding that inner seed is a complex piece of biology, including silver skin, parchment skin, a pectin layer (the mucilage), and finally the skin of the fruit. By itself, this outer material has a unique flavor, being both tart and sweet.
The SICOBI group (Sistema Comunitario para el Resguardo y Manejo de la Biodiversidad, or Community System for Protecting and Managing Biodiversity) operates in the Sierra Sur in Oaxaca, Mexico. Founded in 2010 by biologists working with the non-governmental organization GAIA (Grupo Autónomo para la Investigación Ambiental, or the Autonomous Group for Environmental Study), SICOBI nowmanages coffee growers from eight different communities.
While not all coffee producers in the communities managed by SICOBI send their coffee to the organization, SICOBI establishes policies and rules for preserving biodiversity and the environment for the entire territory in which it operates. Trained biologists work in each community and pass on technical data to local councils informing how to best utilize the area’s natural resources.
The organization helps to manage over 500 coffee farms, accounting for 1500 hectares of coffee production, but only a small percentage of this coffee is sold to SICOBI for use on the commercial market. SICOBI is focused on producing high quality lots that receive a premium price, differentiating between more and less developed coffee farms. Those at the higher end of this range have their coffee dry milled and marketed by SICOBI, while those at the lower end receive technical support to improve their crop and access to domestic markets for their coffee.
Farmers in this region predominantly grow Pluma Hidalgo coffee plants, a type of Typica, but Caturra and Mundo Novo are also present. They exclusively produce washed coffees, and normally ferment in wooden tanks before sun drying the coffees on patios. A unique combination of environmental factors and the atypical fermentation vessels lead to a distinctive cup profile with fruit forward flavors like green apple and plum alongside rich chocolate and caramel notes with a full, rounded body. Look for this coffee in our cafes, our online store, and in select area grocery stores.
Heleanna Georgalis is at the forefront of exporting Ethiopia’s finest coffees. She runs Moplaco, a coffee exporter, grader, and dry mill started by her father Yanni in 1972. Heleanna grew up abroad, primarily in Europe, but returned to Ethiopia in 2008 to take over the family business in the wake of her father’s death. She was entering unfamiliar waters as she had primarily experienced the coffee industry as a patron of Europe’s finest coffee shops, not on the producing side.
When Yanni founded the company it was focused on exporting coffees from the Harrar region of Ethiopia, where the company is headquartered. Heleanna has since expanded her company’s offerings to include coffees from other regions of Ethiopia, working to grow Moplaco connections throughout Ethiopia’s coffee supply chain. Currently they purchase coffees from Yirgacheffe, Sidamo, Limu, and Harrar regions, as well as growing coffee on their own farm.
Ethiopia’s coffee supply chain is complicated. Currently 98% of the coffee exported from Ethiopia passes through the Ethiopian Coffee Exchange (ECX), a commodities market and auction system in Addis Ababa. Except from the coffees from their own farm, Moplaco purchases all the lots they export through the ECX. Moplaco then hand sorts the freshly hulled coffee, ensuring only the best seeds make it to export.
These coffees pass from farm, to mill, to auction, to sorting, to exporter, to importer, to us the roasters, and finally to the customer exemplifying the old saying that it takes 1000 hands to make a cup of coffee. Every stage is crucial to ensuring the final quality of the cup, and one misstep along the way can degrade an entire lot. Heleanna and Moplaco work with everyone along the way to make sure the coffees they are exporting are of the finest quality.
The process starts in the small farms and forests of the Ethiopian highlands. Farmers typically grow in tiny garden sized plots, plant coffee amongst the forest undergrowth, or even harvest directly from wild coffee plants. This means the plants themselves are incredibly diverse and the exact genetics or types of coffee that make up this lot are unknown or uncategorized, so they are simply labeled “heirloom”. The farmers are responsible for tending to these small plots or wild trees, and then harvest only the ripest fruit. The mill then takes the fruit, strips away the seed through careful washing, and dries it on raised beds. The ECX helps to find the appropriate buyer for the coffee, ensuring equitable pricing throughout. Moplaco does the final sorting and processing of the coffee, and then connects the coffee with an importer in a consuming country. Heleanna works with many coffee importers throughout the world, but we purchased this lot from Collaborative Coffee Source, a Swedish coffee importer company with offices in New York.
This cup is everything we love in an Ethiopian coffee. Intensely floral, yet delicate. Bright citrus acidity counterbalanced by a delicate body and melon-like sweetness. Coffee production in Ethiopia has become increasingly challenging in recent years, meaning jewels like this are harder to come by. We feel extremely fortunate to be able to share this exquisite coffee with our friends and customers.
For people working in coffee a sense of community and family is what draws us to the industry. Along the way our lives are touched and changed by everyone we meet and work with, whether they be a farmer in a coffee producing country, a co-worker in the office, or a colleague at another coffee company. One of these people is Adam Koehler.
Many of us got to know Adam when he worked here in Portland at another coffee roastery, and everyone who has met him speaks of him as one of the kindest, brightest, and most enthusiastic people in the industry. After Portland, Adam moved to San Francisco to work as a green coffee buyer for a roaster down there, and continued to develop the community around him.
A little over a year ago Adam was riding his bicycle when he was hit by a drunk driver in a nasty hit and run accident. Adam survived, but spent months in intensive care, and a year later still has a long recovery process ahead of him. In the intervening year the coffee community has rallied around him to help support him while he rebuilds his life and recovers from serious head trauma.
One of the most crucial ways we’ve helped support Adam is financially. Extensive hospital visits rack up enormous medical bills. Several fundraisers have been held to help raise money to help cover his medical expenses, including “Half Pounds for Half Batch” at Sightglass Coffee and a Gofundme.com page accepting donations. We here at Water Avenue Coffee are also taking part in a fundraiser organized by Aleco Chigounis of Red Fox Coffee Merchants.
Red fox offered up 20 bags (155lbs each) from one of Adam’s favorite coffee farmers, Familia Campo, in Colombia for sale to coffee roasters, with the proceeds going to his medical fund. We bought one bag, and are continuing the process by donating $1 from each 12oz bag sold online and in our café to the fund.
This coffee is special, just like Adam. Leonina, Abraham, and Noe Campo grow coffee near La Milagrosa de Inza in Cauca Department. Familia Campo are members of the local ASORCAFE cooperative growing Bourbon and Caturra coffee plants, washing and fermenting them on farm before spreading the coffee on parabolic drying tables for up to 20 days. Adam and Aleco have been purchasing coffee from this family for a decade, celebrating its beautiful rounded fruit juice notes, complex baking spice aroma, and chocolate flavors. We consider ourselves fortunate to not only be able to bring our customers this delicious brew, but to be able to help Adam in our own small way.
Everyday is a gift, and it's important for all of us in the coffee community to cherish and support those around us, and the times we share. We are inspired by Adam's strength during his recovery and also appreciate the depth of support shown by so many people. All of us at Water Avenue wish Adam the best, and thank Red Fox Coffee Merchants for providing many with a way to support Adam. One dollar from each bag sold in our café and our online store will be donated to his medical fund.
]]>Papua New Guinea is one of the most diverse places on the planet, boasting an unparalleled level of cultural and biological heterogeneity. The lush tropical forests that blanket this massive island are home to over 800 spoken languages, a full 12% of the world’s total, as well as countless species of plants and animals, many of which remain totally undescribed by Western science. This year is our second year offering the Papua New Guinea Ulya from the country’s Western Highlands region and we are excited to be bringing this year’s crop back to the menu!
The Highlands of Papua New Guinea (photo via Wikimedia Commons)
Coffee production in Papua New Guinea can be broken into two primary categories: estate coffees and those produced by small family farms. The first large plantations were established in the late 1920’s by the colonial powers of Germany and Great Britain. These large private holdings were a dramatic departure from the traditional subsistence farming of communally held lands by indigenous Papuans.
During the 1960’s the Papuan government invested heavily in the infrastructure of the interior, creating roads that facilitated the spread of coffee growing and its adoption into small “coffee gardens” on family farms.
These small plots of coffee heralded the introduction of market agriculture to small scale farms in Papua New Guinea. To this day coffee is the second largest cash crop on the island, representing the only source of income for many farmers living an otherwise subsistence lifestyle. In Papua New Guinea there are over 280,000 smallholder farmers growing on less than a hectare, 600 farms between 1 and 30 hectares, and only 65 large plantations.
The Ulya lot we are offering falls in an interesting middle ground between the large scale commercial operations and the coffees that are grown to supplement the income of subsistence farmers. Ulya is a large coffee plantation in the Wahgi valley, but they also offer the services of their technologically advanced wet mill to the smallholders surrounding the farm. This lot comes from these smallholders who sell their coffee to the Ulya mill, which then readies it for export.
Most coffee from small farms in Papua New Guinea is sold to one of the 6000 roadside coffee collectors, who buy the coffee from the back of a truck, and then take it to one of the country’s 51 registered mills, which then goes on to one of the 18 registered exporters. Many of the small farmers of Papua New Guinea live long distances from the nearest road, which means that the coffee often sits for days before the next buyer comes by. This can lead to problems with the consistency and quality of the coffee as it is waiting while still in the fruit, making it prone to unwanted fermentation.
Ready access to the Ulya mill has produced a lot that retains all of the wild characteristics of Papuan coffee, with an amazing clarity unlike so many of other coffees from the region. It has deep, rich herbal notes of sassafras, exotic spicy notes of cinnamon and cardamom, paired with thick buttermilk acidity and a wild cranberry sweetness. Look for this offering in our café, our online store, with finer area grocery stores, and with our wholesale partners.
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Early each year our coffee buying team travels to El Salvador to meet with our coffee-producing partners. Central American coffee farmers harvest between November and March, and by timing our visits towards the end of this period we are able to taste and evaluate coffees just as they are coming off the drying patios, allowing us to select the best lots of the harvest. These visits also empower us to develop lasting relationships with the men and women growing, harvesting, and processing the coffees we have come to love and depend upon.
One of our strongest relationships in any coffee producing country is with Emilio Lopez Diaz and his family’s Cuatro M Coffees of Santa Ana, El Salvador. We have purchased coffee from Cuatro M since 2010, growing our relationship each year. Coffees from the Diaz family’s farm and mill have become staples of our menu representing our largest purchase of the year, including the base for our flagship blend El Toro Espresso Blend.
In addition to coffees from Ayutapece and El Manzano, Emilio’s family’s two farms, Cuatro M also gives us access to several other farm’s harvests. In past years we’ve purchased from other farms in the Apaneca-Ilamatapec Mountains that were processed at Cuatro M’s Beneficio El Manzano, including Finca Talnamica and Finca Santa Julia. This year Emilio and his team brought us a coffee from a different region of El Salvador, Finca Matalapa in La Libertad near the capitol San Salvador.
Finca Matalapa is owned by Emilio’s maternal aunt and uncle, Vickey Dalton-Diaz and Francisco Diaz. This farm has been in Vickey’s family since the late 1800s when it was founded by her great-grandmother Fidelia Lima. Today it covers 120 hectares, including 14 acres of tropical forest reserve and over 40 species of tress planted throughout the farm to provide shade for the coffee plants. The farm ranges between roughly 1350 and 1450 meters above sea level, and while this is significantly lower in elevation than coffee farms in other areas of El Salvador, the regular cool ocean breeze of La Libertad mimics the effects of higher altitudes.
The lot we purchased came from the tablon (farm section) known as El Mirador. This tablon is planted with Red Bourbon, Yellow Bourbon, and Pacas mix that is common throughout the country. The Pacas is a dwarf variation of the classic Red Bourbon that was developed in El Salvador in the 20th century that is particularly well suited to its strong winds and prolonged dry season, while the Yellow Bourbon is a natural mutation of the Red, only with fruit that ripens to a yellow color.
Unlike other coffees we have purchased through Cuatro M this lot wasn’t milled at Beneficio El Manzano. Francisco manages their own mill, Beneficio El Paraiso, where all the coffees fro Matalapa are processed. There they undergo wet processing typical of Central American coffees. The seed or bean is squeezed from the fruit and the coffee is soaked in fermentation tanks overnight to break down the pectin rich mucilage layer. Then the coffees head to concrete patios or Beneficio El Paraiso’s latest innovation, African style raised drying beds. Vickey and Francisco have increased the number of raised beds at the mill over the last several years, building them partially from trees downed during El Salvador’s tempestuous rainy periods.
This is the first year that Cuatro M has been involved in exporting Matalapa’s coffee. Emilio and Cuatro M have garnered a reputation for being able to connect roasters here in the United States with some of the best coffee producers in El Salvador. It only made sense for Emilio to help his maternal uncle and aunt connect with new roasters throughout the world. Cuatro M does this by partnering with us roasters as well as coffee importers who help with the logistics of actually bringing the coffee in to the US. To import our coffees from Cuatro M we partner with Sustainable Harvest, a Portland based importer.
All the hard work of the Diaz family is evident in the cup. Fresh El Salvadoran coffees bring a delightful brightness and acidity to the table alongside deep rounded sweetness. This particular lot has a pleasant green apple and pineapple like acidity, notes of smooth, sweet milk chocolate, honeydew melon, and caramelized sugar. Perfect for paper filter, french press, or just about any other brewing method. It is currently available in our café, our online store, and with select wholesale partners. Look for it on the shelves of local grocery stores later this summer.
]]>Our latest Brazilian offering, the COCARIVE Natural Reserve comes from the mountains surrounding the town of Carmo de Minas in the southern state of Minas Gerais, Brazil. This natural processed lot of Mundo Novo, Acaia, and Yellow Bourbon type coffees showcases traditional dry processing with modern agronomic and selection techniques to produce a unique and memorable cup
Coffee production in Brazil is bifurcated between two distinct post harvest processing methods. Earlier in the year Brazil begins to ship and export pulped natural coffees, or coffees that have had some (but not all) of the fruit removed from the inner seed during processing. Later comes the naturals or dry processed coffees where the entire fruit is dried intact and removed later.
Natural processing dominated Brazil’s coffee exports for centuries, harkening back to the days when coffee was primarily grown as a commodity product, not for its distinct and beautiful cup qualities. Until the late 1980’s the Brazilian government regulated coffee production nationally, setting quotas for farmers as well as pricing that was based on broad categories of quality. This disincentivized the production of exceptional or unique coffees as coffee farmers received virtually the same price for the best portions of their crop as for the lower quality, while reducing their ability to meet the quota.
During the late 1990’s the coffee market became deregulated, adopting free trade principles that allowed coffee farmers to earn more money for higher quality coffees. This spurred a revolution in post harvest processing and sorting through increased mechanization. Increasing global demand for mild, sweet tasting coffees lead to investment in coffee mills to sort out under ripe, over ripe, and outright defective coffee fruit. The establishment of these sophisticated processing plants allowed for the introduction of mechanical pulping machines that further allowed for separation of under ripe fruit through mechanical means. Pulped natural processing also allows the coffee to dry faster, meaning it has less opportunity to develop off “fermented” flavors on the drying patio, further increasing the uniformity and potential quality of the crop.
The difference between pulped natural and dry processed natural coffees can be striking. The extended contact between the fruit and the seed during the relatively long drying times of naturals brings out sweet fruit- forward notes in the cup with rich body and deep complexity, while pulped naturals bring more brightness to the cup and maintain a sweet, rounded body, often at the expense of exotic fruity notes.
The relative ease of producing uniformly high quality pulped naturals has lead to their dominance in the specialty sector of the Brazilian coffee market. Producing high quality naturals requires an exceptional level of care through the drying process and extensive post harvest processing, either by hand or by mechanical color sorters. When done properly though a Brazilian natural is a real treat.
Our Brazil COCARIVE Natural Reserve is a great example of modern selection and growing techniques being used with traditional processing to produce an exceptional coffee. COCARIVE is a cooperative representing coffee farmers along the headwaters of the Rio Verde which springs from the Serra da Mantiqueira, a mountain range in Southeastern Brazil. This lot, which the co-op calls “Fruty” is a selection of the best natural processed coffees from member farms. While it doesn’t come from one specific farm, it is still considered a microlot, as only 1200 kg of it were produced.
The area round Carmo de Minas has some of the best coffee producing conditions in Brazil. Most coffee in Brazil is grown in the flatlands called the Cerrado at relatively low elevations. The mountainous Serra de Mantiqueira around Carmo is one of the notable exceptions to this rule with peaks up to 2300 meters tall. Due to the relatively cold climate there coffee grows only on the lower slopes of this range, but even this modest boost in elevation provides a noticeable increase in the density and acidity of coffees from this microregion.
These mountains also provide several advantages in terms of soil composition and hydrology. Much of Brazil is composed of soils that are geolocially old and depleted of their nutrients, normally only able to support extensive grasslands without the use of nutritional inputs. The Serra de Mantiqueira represents a geologic up thrust, with less weathered bedrock exposed, providing mineral rich soils that support some of the few natural upland forests in Brazil. Additionally this barrier mountain range traps moisture rich winds coming off the Atlantic Ocean, causing it to fall as rain in the highlands, feeding the region’s rivers, streams, and natural springs.
JC Coffees imported this lot into the United States. Owned by Sergio Junqueria Dias and Ibraim Chaib de Sousa, two member farmers of COCARIVE, JC imports coffees from both the two owner’s farms (Condado and Canaan Estates) as well as other co-op member’s farms. Sergio spends a portion of the year in Seattle while his brother in law Ibraim spends the majority of his time in Brazil, managing the family’s farms. While here in the United States Sergio puts cooperative members in touch with roasters like Water Avenue Coffee, and helps to facilitate transactions between COCARIVE and the roasters.
This is one of those cups that can change the way you think about coffee from Brazil. It brings the nutty, chocolaty flavors present in the country’s best lots, but also features a distinct fruitiness. Notes of sweet almond paste and toasted sesame are balanced by tangy dried fruit flavors like dried cherry and cranberry tartness with hints of pleasant oak like characteristics. This is a very balanced and complex cup that has something for every coffee drinker’s palate. Look for it in our café, our online store, and with select wholesale partners.
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Sudan Rume is an heirloom type of Arabica coffee plant that originates on the Boma Plateau of Southern Sudan near the border with Ethiopia. Plant breeders have long used this cultivar of Arabica when creating new varieties of coffee plant. Hybrids using the genetics of a high yielding disease resistant type with lower cup quality have been crossed with the Sudan Rume, which is prized for its amazing flavors and moderate disease resistance but lower yields. Many modern coffee plant types; like Castillo, Centroamericano, and Colombia use this technique, crossing the delicious Sudan Rume with heartier types to create a higher yielding, disease resistant type that is delightful to drink.
As the Sudan Rume is low yielding and relatively difficult to cultivate it is only rarely grown as a stand-alone type. Granja La Esperanza (GLE) of Valle De Cauca, Colombia is one of the few coffee producers to offer this type and we are more than thrilled to be adding it to our menu. Part of GLE’s mission is to push the bounds of producing the world’s best coffees through experimentation and innovation in post harvest milling and growing unique and rare types of coffee. They gained international renown for growing some of the best Gesha coffees in the world, another spectacular but low yielding and difficult type of Arabica, and have identified the Sudan Rume a similar type of coffee with huge potential.
Finca Las Margaritas, outside the town of Caicedonia, serves as a test bed for growing new and different varieties of coffee, often from seedstock obtained by the organization’s owner Rigoberto Herrera from friends and relatives throughout Latin America. After planting the Sudan Rume type on Las Margaritas, GLE was pleased to find it seemed perfectly suited for their microclimate in the central cordillera of the Andes. It produced a cup comparable to their prized Geshas but with less need for supplementary nutrient inputs into the soil. For Granja la Esperanza the Sudan Rume provided an exceptional cup while being easier to grow than the Gesha.
Although GLE has been successful growing Sudan Rume at Las Margaritas it is still a great example of a farm emphasizing quality over quantity. The plant is still low yielding compared to most varieties of Arabica and does require a special level of care. It is phosphorous hungry, and requires regular pruning to keep at a size where it can be easily picked. This type, like its cousin the Gesha, has a tendency to develop into long, gangly plants with the fruit spread out widely among the branches.
Care must also be taken during the harvest and at the mill to maintain the quality of this potentially excellent cup. One of the challenges with many of these exotic types of coffee is that the fruit ripens unevenly, meaning that pickers must make several passes through each section of the farm, selecting only the coffee cherries that are at their ripest point. A single under ripe or over ripe fruit has the potential to spoil an entire cup with off flavors. Consequently GLE uses only their most experienced workers to harvest this precious crop.
Granja La Esperanza has experimented with several processing methods to accentuate different characteristics of the Sudan Rume. One of their most successful, and the method used in the lot we purchased, is called Honey process. This involves removing the skin of the ripe fruit, but leaving the pulpy mucilage layer intact while the coffee dries. As the coffee dries the pectin rich mucilage layer breaks down through natural microbial and enzymatic processes and sloughs off the coffee seed in a thick, honey like syrup. This method of processing has the effect of both extending the time that the coffee takes to dry, and increasing the amount and time of contact the coffee seed has with the fruit itself. While this approach may not be desirable for all coffee, in this case it has proven to be a boon.
Water Avenue Coffee only purchased 150 pounds of this treat of a coffee, and we are selling it in a special cylindrical package in a smaller 8oz size. This limited edition offering is perfect as a gift for the coffee lover in your life, or as a special treat. The cup is wonderfully delicate yet rich. The honey processing has brought forth many of the fruit forward notes available in the type, reminiscent of wild strawberries and ripe blueberries alongside an intense sweetness with a rounded yet delicate body. Due to its limited nature we will only be roasting this coffee on Mondays, available in our café every Tuesday and, shipping out from our online store on Mondays.
]]>Colombia is divided by three main cordilleras of the Andes, and home to myriad microclimates, each with their own unique conditions for growing coffee. This diversity provides some of the clearest examples of the influence of terroir on the coffee producing process. The Tolima department lies in the center of the Andean portion of Colombia, spanning the valley of the Rio Magdalena, including slopes of the eastern and central cordilleras of the Andes.
Within Tolima, the ASOPEP (Association of Ecological Producers of Planadas) cooperative represents 160 coffee producing families in the municipalities of Planadas and Ataco. They grow coffee along the eastern slopes of the central cordillera in the southern portion of the department. Until recently this region of Colombia has been relatively underdeveloped due to the presence of the FARC, the Marxist guerilla movement that has been in conflict with the Colombian government since 1964. Over the last decade the conflict has largely deescalated leading to increased trade with the rest of the country.
Members of ASOPEP are committed to the production of high quality, ecologically sound, and socially responsible coffees. These producers grow their coffee organically, forgoing the use of artificial fertilizers, pesticides, fungicides, and herbicides. The farms average only 2.5 hectares (6 acres) in size and these farmers rely on the production of coffee for their primary source of income. Joining together in a cooperative allows them to pool their resources providing access to improved agricultural techniques and social support for their members.
These farms grow a mixture of different varieties of the Arabica coffee plant. Caturra makes up roughly 50% percent of the crop, the Colombia cultivar 25%, Castillo 20%, and Typica 5%. Caturra and Typica are more traditional varietals for Colombia and are prized for their cup quality. Colombia and Castillo are types that were created by the FNC (Colombian National Coffee Federation) to be higher yielding and more resistant to diseases like Roya that can devastate a coffee farm.
Coffee production in ASOPEP and in Colombia in general is relatively unique in that most small farms also have a wet mill for processing their coffee cherries on site. In this co-op members mill their harvest on small depulpers before fermenting the mucilage covered seeds for between 16 and 18 hours. This breaks down this pectin rich layer of the fruit allowing for the mucilage to be washed off before drying. This fermentation is done without any additional water, with the coffee in large piles, reducing the mill’s water consumption. From there the majority of the members of the co-op sun dry their coffee on either raised beds or patios, while a minority choose to dry their coffee mechanically
All along the way our export partners Granja La Esperanza provides ASOPEP with quality control and technical assistance. Granja La Esperanza owns and operates several farms of their own but they also work with other producer groups in Colombia to help improve their crop and export their coffee. It was through Granja La Esperanza that we were able to bring this coffee to our menu, with transportation, logistics, and finance arranged by Sustainable Harvest of Portland.
The end result of this multi-continent supply chain is a wonderful cup of coffee that is both rich and complex. It has a deep brown sugar sweetness that pairs its bright orange acidity alongside subtle and pleasing herbal notes. It is pleasant and enjoyable with flavors both comforting for drinking all day and exciting to keep a discerning palate engaged. Look for it in our café, our online store, and in select Portland area grocery stores.
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The Slow Food movement is dedicated to preserving artisanal culinary and agricultural practices throughout the world. They use the term Presidium to denote a project of special importance where local farmers face risks either to traditional products, traditional methods, or their ecosystem. This lot comes from one of these Presidia based in the highlands of Huehuetenango in Western Guatemala near the Mexican border.
Slow Foods was founded in 1989 as a response to the ever-increasing pace of life in modern society. In direct contrast to the fast foods permeating the world, Slow Foods aims to celebrate traditional foods and techniques that are healthy, local, seasonal, and environmentally sound, respecting the value of the labor that goes into food from the farm to the table.
They identified the highlands of Huehuetenango as a candidate for establishing a Presidium, as it is particularly suited for the production of exceptional coffees while at the same time being biologically at risk. In much of Huehuetenango coffee exists as a monoculture, with little else being grown. This puts both the environment and the farmers at risk just single factor can wipe out much of the areas plant life and the farmer’s entire livelihood.
This Presidium was founded in 2002, centered on the towns of La Libertad and Todos Santos. Since that time the organization has grown to include over 150 small-scale coffee producers from four different co-operatives, all growing coffee between 1500 and 2000 meters above sea level. The producers have received technical and monetary assistance to grow the traditional Bourbon, Caturra, Typica, and Pache types of Arabica coffee that have been supplanted by modern hybrids throughout much of the rest of the region. This assistance has served to improve the overall quality of the coffees produced in the area through agronomy and building small coffee washing stations throughout the cooperatives. Additionally the Presidium has helped local farmers to plant other crops like anise and hot peppers, diversifying the landscape and growing their incomes.
Water Avenue Coffee purchased this lot from Café Imports of Minneapolis, MN who imported it into the United States. It is representative of the traditional varieties of Arabica grown by these farmers (Caturra, Bourbon, Typica, Pache) and traditional wet processing using natural fermentation and sun drying on patios. The cup is very well balanced with notes of orange zest, caramel, and a nutty aftertaste, featuring a bright citrus acidity. Try this as a drip or french press brew for a taste of how great traditionally grown Central American coffees can be. Look for this offering in select Portland area grocery stores, our cafe, our online shop, and with our wholesale partners.
]]>From late night lab sessions to early morning field studies, coffee helps scientists discover and explore the universe. But now it does even more! We’re partnering with OMSI to fuel science education right here in Oregon.
We’re donating $.50 of every bag of Blue Creek Blend sold to support OMSI’s work in providing hands-on, informal science learning to students throughout the state. Why? We believe in the next generation of Oregon scientists. Our owner and founder, Matt Milletto, credits his time growing up as an “OMSI Kid” as being influential to the way he navigates his world today. “OMSI has given me a creative way of approaching almost anything that I still utilize in business today, in friendship and family.” Now he and his team produce one of Portland’s best coffees just blocks from the museum.
Where can you find it? Blue Creek Blend is available at the Water Avenue Coffee Bar, wateravenuecoffee.com, any New Seasons Market, and OMSI. Grab a bag, and rest assured that the next time your caffeine craving strikes, you’re satisfying a major community need by helping today’s students.
Blue Creek Blend
Our House blend has a new name! We are giving our retail packages a facelift, and we decided this was a great opportunity to give one of the mainstays of our menu a fresh new name. The name Blue Creek Blend embodies the beauty we find in the cup of what was known as Number 7 House Blend. This is the same great coffee, rich, smooth and satisfying. It is everything we want in a breakfast blend. Notes of milk chocolate, hazelnut and just a hint of citrus that makes this perfect cup for any time of day. We haven’t changed the coffees that make up this blend, or how we roast it. We still use great Farm Direct offerings from our coffee-growing partners in Latin America, roasted to maximize body and sweetness. This will always be our go to cup for drip brewing to please a crowd, just with a new beautiful name.
Canoe Blend
We’ve added a new blend to our menu. The Canoe blend is roasted just a bit darker than anything else on our menu, designed to be a richer, heartier cup of coffee. We take coffees from Latin America and Indonesia and roast them together to bring out the best that they have to offer. This cup is full bodied with notes of dark chocolate, roasted walnut, and sweet tobacco. Perfect for pairing with hearty fare or a sweet dessert.
]]>Working directly with coffee producers, whether they are a farm, mill, or co-op is a major part of our mission here at Water Avenue Coffee (WAC). One of the best ways we can foster these relationships is by traveling to coffee producing countries to visit with our partners at origin. At the end of May, we traveled to Colombia to visit with one of our favorite coffee producing groups there, Café Granja La Esperanza (GLE).
Café Granja La Esperanza is an interesting group. Owned by the Herrera family of Cali, GLE owns five coffee farms themselves, while also helping with quality control and exporting for other co-ops. Over the past several years WAC has featured coffees from both GLE’s farms as well as lots from other co-ops they work with, including the Colombia La Cristalina that is currently on our menu.
We started our trip flying from Portland, down to Cali, Colombia. Traveling were Emily, one of our Baristas, Kevin, owner of Christopher David Experience Design (serving Water Avenue Coffee in the Pearl District of Portland), and WAC’s Green Coffee Buyer and Roastery Manager, Aaron. After 22 hours of travel, we were met at the Cali airport by Rigoberto (Rigo) Herrera, President of GLE, and Estefania Salazar, GLE’s Coffee Trader.
Our first day in Colombia we drove north up the Valle de Cauca, to the town of Trujillo in the foothills of the Cordillera Occidental. Granja La Esperanza owns two farms just outside Trujillo, on the eastern slope of the mountains. Our first stop was the eponymous farm Granja La Esperanza, which is the location of the guesthouse and the wet mill for the two farms near Trujillo.
At Granja La Esperanza, GLE is in the process of renovating the farm by removing older coffee stock and establishing new plants. Just outside the back door of the guesthouse GLE has planted Laurina (Bourbon Pointu) type plants. These small, Christmas tree shaped plants produce coffee that is virtually caffeine free. Unlike most decaffeinated coffee that has to have the caffeine removed by the use of a solvent, Laurina naturally grows fruit and seeds that have only trace amounts of the stimulant. Unfortunately the Laurina plant is incredibly delicate, lacking much of the heartiness of its caffeinated cousins, and is often damaged while collecting it’s smaller than average harvest.
Also new to the Granja is a lot of Colombia type coffee plants. This cultivar was developed by Cenicafe to be resistant to Roya, a fungus that has devastated coffee farms throughout the world. The project that came up with the Colombia variety was started decades ago, when Roya first began appearing in Latin America, and was officially released in 1982. It is often thought of as a less desirable cultivar because it incorporates some of the genetics of the Robusta plant, which can introduce bitterness to the cup and reduce the acidity. GLE’s hope is that through careful husbandry and innovative natural processing techniques they can bring this to market as a delicious yet budget friendly offering.
GLE has won many awards with coffees produced on Cerro Azul, but they have also learned firsthand how difficult growing Gesha can be. Gesha was brought to Latin America from Ethiopia in the 1940s and retains many of the characteristics of the wild coffee plant it was less than a century ago. The same seedstock will produce several distinct types coffee plants, each with its own cup profile. Over the course of several years GLE has worked to further refine the Gesha type, isolating what they hope is a stable type with the ideal cup profile.
Across the valley from Trujillo and further to the north, the city of Caicedonia has long been a center of coffee production in Colombia. Caicedonia is home to GLE’s warehouses as well as their QC lab and offices. Outside of the city GLE owns and operates two coffee farms, Potosi and Las Margaritas. Both these farms sit in the Cordillera Central of the Andes, markedly different terrain than Finca Cerro Azul and Granja La Esperanza in Cordillera Occidental. Outside Caicedonia the mountains nearly overlap each other, creating steep crisscrossing valleys that contrast to the more open vistas to the west. Fincas Potosi and Las Margaritas are nestled in the same deep T-shaped valley adjoining and facing each other.
Finca Potosi has been in the Herrera family since Rigo’s great grandparents settled it, and in many ways it represents the region’s coffee growing heritage. Lots from this farm are the more common Caturra and Colombia varieties, not the more boutique and exotic types grown on their other farms. While lots from this farm are geared towards broader appeal and a more budget friendly price, GLE puts the same dedication to quality in these lots as it does the more expensive ones. Information is recorded at every step of the way, from the climatic conditions on the farm, to the fermentation temperature in the mill, and the cup profiles of specific plants, all in an effort to continually improve their product
Across the valley, Finca Las Margaritas is something of a botanical garden. GLE has planted different types of coffee plants throughout this farm, including Sudan Rume, Pacamara, Red Bourbon, Yellow Bourbon, Tekisic, Gesha, Mokka, and several new types Rigo wasn’t ready to tell us about. Planting the farm with different varieties allows GLE to study the genetic influence of different types of coffee plants and their impact on the final cup.
Back at the lab in Caicedonia we tasted coffees from all of GLE’s farms, as well as lots from other producer groups they work with. We were truly able to taste just how much work goes into producing the coffees we enjoy here. It was amazing to taste the impact that terroir can have on the cup, as we cupped lots of the same variety from several of their farms. The same Geshas from different parts of the same mountains (Granja La Esperanza, and Cerro Azul) tasted markedly different simply because they exist in slightly different microclimates. Comparing those to the Geshas grown at Finca Las Margaritas in a different range altogether was even more striking.
Although we only spent three days with Rigo, Estefania, and the GLE crew we were able to begin to appreciate why their coffees have the renown they do. Granja La Esperanza is constantly working on refining their growing and processing techniques, looking to expand on the successes of the past while experimenting and innovating to continuously raise the bar for quality. We are looking forward to featuring some of the coffees we tasted once they arrive here in the United States, and growing Water Avenue Coffee’s relationship with Granja La Esperanza in the years to come.
]]>While Rwanda has grown coffee since the 1930’s it is only over the last decade that producers there have participated in the specialty sector of the market. During the early 20th century the Belgian colonial government of Rwanda forced farmers there to plant coffee trees as an export crop, but only the lowest grades of commodity coffee were produced. After the tragedies that took place in the 1990’s Rwanda was left with its economy in ruins, and looked to the coffee industry to help rebuild.
In many ways Rwanda provides an excellent environment for growing coffee: it has rich volcanic soil, high elevations, and ample rainfall. It soon became apparent that the reason Rwanda hadn’t grown great coffee in the past wasn’t due to the lack of the right conditions. Instead it was the result of a lack of education on how to properly care for the plants and the infrastructure to process it and bring it to market.
In the early 2000s the Rwandan government began to work in concert with international donors like USAID to formulate a plan to rebuild the country’s economy. The Rwandan Coffee Authority formulated a plan to increase both the quality and the volume of the country’s agricultural production with the help of international donors. Funds from the IMF and the World Bank were used alongside those of nation donors to build coffee washing stations, improve infrastructure, and provide technical training to farmers and coffee processors.
In many ways the turnaround in Rwanda’s coffee market is one of the great success stories of international development. Rwanda is at the same time one of the most agrarian and most densely populated countries in Africa, meaning that intense pressure is put on a small land base to support a large population. The vast majority of Rwandans support themselves by farming very small plots of land, and competition for land is fierce. It was this competition for scarce resources that was one of the main contributing factors to the instability of the 1990s.
Maximizing the return on the land available is essential to helping develop Rwanda, and to the country’s goal of moving away from an agriculture based economy. Growing better, higher value coffee increases the productivity of a given plot of land, raising the economic output of a farm, and improving living conditions for those associated with its production. Improving the quality of the coffee has directly lead to the growth of Rwanda’s GDP, and eased many of the land pressures that caused so many problems in the past.
The Abakundakawa co-op that produced our latest offering is a great example of how much Rwanda’s coffee producing sector has evolved in the last decade and a half and the positive benefits it has generated. This co-op represents farmers working the slopes of the high mountains in the Gakenke district. It was founded in 2004 originally representing 180 growers, but the intervening decade has seen astounding growth with nearly 2000 farmers bringing their coffee into the co-op’s two washing stations.
At these washing stations the fruit is carefully sorted to winnow out any underripe or overripe fruit. The coffee is then pulped and put in fermentation tanks for 12 hours, after which it is rinsed, soaked again, and then dried on raised beds. From there the dried coffee is sent to the capital, Kigali, where it is graded and made ready for export.
One of the main focuses of Abakundakawa is empowering the women in their communities. Women produce as much as 2/3 of the co-op’s coffee harvest and have two prominent associations within the co-op, Duhingekawa and Abanyameraka. These associations ensure that women have an equal voice in the co-op’s democratic structure, and have helped to create tailoring centers to provide income for the community’s women outside of coffee.
Abakundakawa is also committed to helping grow the region’s food security and overall health. In partnership with international NGO’s the co-op has helped to bring fresh water to its communities, most notably a local hospital that lacked this vital resource. It has also provided member farmers with dairy cattle, in exchange for giving the first calf back to the co-op. This adds another economic and nutritive resource to the farmers lives, as well as providing them with valuable manure which in turn improves the quality of the coffee crop.
The lot we purchased from Abakundakawa came to us by way of Sustainable Harvest, a coffee importer here in Portland. As part of their commitment to fostering traceability and transparency throughout the coffee supply chain they maintain offices and staff in Kigali to work directly with the many co-ops that are producing wonderful coffees there. This lot features incredible cane syrup sweetness and complex spice notes reminiscent of cola, complemented by a pleasantly crisp acidity and hints of delicate, floral anise. This is one of those coffees that is sure to have something new and unique to bring to the table no matter how it is brewed!
]]>Gesha varietal coffees are among the world’s most prized, and the Geshas produced by Granja La Esperanza of Colombia stand among the best of the best. This type of Arabica stems from the work of a group of agronomists in Ethiopia in the early 20th century searching for disease resistant heirloom varietals of coffee. One of the varietals they brought to Latin America came from near the town of Gesha, and bore that name. It was originally planted in Costa Rica, and although it tasted very unique it proved difficult to grow and low yielding. In the coffee market of the time, unique flavor wasn’t exactly a sought after attribute, and high yields were king.
A few farmers kept Geshas as curios and oddities, but the first to have any commercial success with the varietal was the Peterson family of Boquete, Panama. Starting in 2004, Gesha lots from the Peterson’s farm Hacienda La Esmerelda started winning awards (notably Best of Panama and SCAA’s Roaster’s Choice), and setting records for the price of green coffee. Lots of their Geshas sold for upwards of $100 per pound at auction at a time when commodity grade coffee was selling for less than one dollar per pound.
Other coffee growers took notice, and began to start experimenting with growing Geshas for themselves. Among the first was Granja La Esperanza of Valle de Cauca, Colombia. They spent two years studying the varietal before bringing it back home to Finca Cerro Azul near the town of Trujillo.
Cerro Azul sits at the crest of the Cordillera Occidental (the westernmost arm of the Andes), catching the warm sea breeze coming off the Pacific Ocean. Although they grow Gesha on some of their other farms, they reserve the entirety of Cerro Azul for Gesha production, and their most prized lots come from this farm. They measure every piece of climactic information they can, and have a weather station at the entrance to the farm. Every coffee shrub on the farm is observed for both quality and yield, culling any that are under producing or producing inferior coffee. Fully 60% of the Gesha seedlings never make it into the ground from the nursery, meaning that only the healthiest genetic stock makes it into production.
Another measure they take to ensure the quality of their crop is the training they put their picking staff through. They only bring in their most senior pickers to harvest from Cerro Azul, and they have to go through a six month training process to be allowed to pick their prize crop.
We recently received 70kg of Cerro Azul Gesha from the late 2014 harvest, and we just started roasting it. This limited quantity means it will only be around for a short period. We are currently offering it in an 8oz pack size in our café and web store ($25/each) and it will also be available at participating wholesale customer locations. Look for notes of hibiscus, fresh raspberry, lemongrass, and a delicate body in this premium offering.
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