Our Coffee Community

Today is the opening of the Burundi Cup of Excellence competition.  We met for a casual breakfast before heading over to the venue down the road.  It is a relatively new building compared to what I have seen so far in Burundi, two storeys with tinted blue glass windows.  Upstairs we can hear the hustle

Anyone unfamiliar with the annual Cup of Excellence competition could be forgiven for thinking of it as a simple process.  You taste coffee and say which one is the best right?  Well…yes…but the level of intricacy, hard work and dedication that goes into its conception is astronomical!  Cup of Excellence is something that has quite

Il Bendicion We spent the next couple of days visiting a few farms in Nueva Segovia. This was my first origin trip and I was chomping at the bit to get there. Most of the farms were within an hour from Ocotal. The first farm we visited was called La Bendicion.  One thing I noticed

Benefiico Las Segovias is a dry mill, focused on specialty coffee and working with over 200 farms in the Nueva Segovia region. The mill is located in the town of Ocotal and owned and managed by Luis Balladeras Moncada. Luis also owns and manages some of his own coffee farms. Our tour began with an

I have always been a big fan of Central American coffees, I think the combination of the mild acidity and chocolate, honey and citrus flavours lend themselves well to espresso coffees, so I was really excited when asked by Smudge Publishing to be involved in their Coffee Encounters book and assist them with featuring Nicaragua.

We were lucky enough to spend last weekend at the magnificent Leeuwin Estate Winery as part of the inaugural fine food and wine event – Gourmet Escape. I love the Margaret River region, with it’s awesome beaches and great wineries it’s one of my favourite places to spend time, so I jumped at the chance

Travelling across to Europe with the family, London would be our last stop. I was returning to my place of birth and one of the largest, most revered cities in the world. It would be a chance to catch up with friends and family and the first time my kids would get a chance to

Country : Brazil City : Pocos de Caldas Region : Mogiana (Minas Gerais) Variety : Yellow Bourbon Process : Pulped Natural Cup Profile : Complex and bright with lovely honey sweetness and notes of cherries and dark chocolate. The Fazenda Rainha was a finalist in the Cup of Excellence editions : 2000, 2001, 2005, 2006, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011 (Cup of

In 1998 we started roasting our Prima Tazza blend as our preferred blend for the cafes and restaurants we supply. Lino first roasted it on a reconditioned 30kg Probat Roaster. He carefully selected 4 origins and combined them to produce a coffee we were proud to present to restaurants and cafes as our “Prima Tazza

Acquired by the Vieira Family in 1917, Monte Alegre Estate is located in the South of Minas Gerais in an area known for the high quality of its coffees. The right combination of latitude (22°S) and altitude (2,700 to 3,600 ft) creates the well‐defined seasons typical of mountain climates, the ideal condition to grow superb