The people behind the coffees we source are an essential part of what we do

Welcome to your March subscription box, another month of change here at La Cabra. As of the beginning of this month, we are now fully operational at our roastery in Copenhagen, having closed in Aarhus just last week. This also means that all of the coffee sent to our subscribers this month is roasted on our new 35 kg Loring Kestrel roast system. We are so far finding rather small differences in cup character compared to coffees roasted on our cherished old Probat. We are confident that the greater level of control and flexibility of the Loring system should allow us to refine our roasting philosophy ever further over the coming months.

- John Gibson

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1st coffee

Nelson Ramirez - Honduras

(250g / 8.8oz)

Which brings us onto our coffees this month. We are constantly searching for new origins to engage in more directly, tasting hundreds of samples both from import/export companies, and directly from producers. Therefore, we thought we would share some of this journey this month, with one origin we have occasionally bought from, and one brand new origin for us here at La Cabra.

The first coffee comes from Honduras, where we have previously bought a few lots through our close partners at Collaborative Coffee Source. Their work in the Santa Barbara region has led to some outstanding lots, including this washed Red Catuai from Nelson Ramirez. The Santa Barbara Region provides some challenges to those hoping to grow high quality coffee. The location, close to a large area of jungle, and at high altitude, means a great deal of rainfall, especially during harvest season, leading to great difficulty in consistently drying coffees. The low night temperatures here, along with the wet climate, can also lead to ‘freezing’ of the coffee plant, where cherries cease to mature on the tree, leading to crop loss. However, all of these challenges only serve to strengthen the resolve of the farmers here, and the vast majority of Honduran Cup of Excellence winners have come from Santa Barbara, since the inception of the competition here in 2005.

Nelson’s lot of Catuai has incredibly clean and fresh notes of raspberry and pomegranate, alongside a soft cocoa bitterness in the finish. A testament to his hard work against the odds in this challenging region.

2nd coffee

Shembati - Burundi

(250g / 8.8oz)

Your second coffee is processed at a private Coffee Washing Station in one of our favorite districts, Kayanza. Producer Salume Ramsdahn is dividing his coffee based on the area they are grown and harvested. As they are also separating their coffees based on daily pickings and different processing methods it is possible to make a very specified selection of micro lots based on the different flavor profiles.

Farms in Burundi are small, often below one hectar each with some hundred trees. This means that a daily lot of e.g. 25 bags of greens can consist of coffee from some hundred growers.

Salume is systematically separating the coffees based on where they are grown, and by the date of processing. Post harvest we are cupping through some hundred samples to select the ones we find outstanding. They generally collect cherries from a range of areas with different altitudes, growing conditions etc, and the flavor range is pretty wide spread according to that.

Stay bright and curious - John Gibson