DISCOVERY

La Cabra Cacao

This month’s coffees are both from regions familiar to us. We have visited both the lush green hills of Kirinyaga and the mountains of Chiapas within the past few months, and have purchased several lots from both in the past. Gakuyuini and Pedro Guzman are excellent examples of the potential of each of these regions.

In your pack alongside these familiar coffee experiences is a new addition to the La Cabra lineup; our first single origin chocolate. Cyrille Beraud grows cacao on a small plot in El Salvador’s Sierra Tecapa, and has produced this microlot, with a distinct note of ripe banana. We are excited to finally share our journey in sourcing and roasting high quality cacao, after years of gathering knowledge.

Parallels

We have long been fascinated by taste experiences in many fields, carefully produced wines, skilfully brewed beers, or a beautifully balanced dish. However, not many other products have so many parallels to speciality coffee than high-quality cacao. The level of care taken in the field, the fermentation, the roasting and production stages leads clearly to an elevated taste experience, with character that can be traced back to intentional decisions taken by farmer, roaster, and chocolate maker. Over years of travelling to origin, visiting colleagues and tasting, our interest has slowly grown, to the point where we feel ready to take the step and share this exciting addition to the La Cabra lineup.

70% trinitario cacao

Finca La Catarina

Our first single origin cocoa release comes from Cyrille Beraud’s project Finca La Catarina. Cyrille’s history as a chocolatier and baker means he has a great passion and appreciation for chocolate from the end user side, but his curiosity led him to look further down the supply chain. The fact that his farm, Finca La Catarina, was previously a coffee farm, feels fitting for our first cacao release. This means that the farm lies at a relatively high altitude compared to many cacao farms in the region, and has a great deal of shade, biodiversity, and rich volcanic soils. The polyculture farming practices used here, with organic matter and by-products from the farm used for crop nutrition and soil conservation, cement Cyrille’s modern approach to high quality cacao production. The varietal grown here is Trinitario, fermented in wooden boxes for 7 days before drying. The combination of the excellent raw material and careful fermentation leads to a flavour intense cacao, with a note that reminds us of ripe banana.

Gakuyuini

Fresh forest berries and caramel

Pedro Guzman

Sweet tropical fruit and citrus

La Catarina

Flavour intense cacao, with a note of ripe banana.

La Cabra Cacao

This month's coffees

This month we are sharing two coffees from regions familiar to us, returning favourites with familiar flavour profiles. We have purchased coffee from the Gakuyuini station in Kirinyaga several times, and this lot is tasting characteristically fresh and bright, with ripe forest berries. The second coffee is from Pedro Guzman, who grows coffee in the Chiapas region of Southern Mexico, bordering Huehuetenango in Northern Guatemala, both of which we have visited and purchased coffees from. Pedro’s lot is ripe and sweet, with rich tropical fruit lifted by fresh citrus.

Kenya

Gakuyuini

The Gakuyuini factory is located just outside the small town of Ngariama, in the eastern Kirinyaga region. Like much of the excellent coffee we find in Kenya, Gakuyuini is located on the southern slopes of Mount Kenya, home to fertile volcanic soils and plentiful high altitude. Gakuyuini was built in 1982 and is the only mill owned by the Thirikwa Farmers Cooperative Society, of which there are just over 1500 members. Most of the farmers here have 200-250 coffee trees, spread amongst other crops and farming activities, like maize, macadamia and dairy. These other crops are used both for food and for selling at local markets. Eastern Kirinyaga is home to some of our favourite Kenyan coffees; just outside Ngariama we also find the Rungeto Farmer’s Cooperative Society, who own the Kii, Karimikui and Kiangoi mills.

Just a short drive to the west is the new Long Miles project, where we have purchased a great deal of coffee this year. The fertile soils and excellent climate in this region lead to very high coffee quality, and Kii’s 3 full time workers’ careful control of cherry quality and fermentation ensure this reaches the final cup. All of this increases prices, in fact the Thirikwa Cooperative broke the Kirinyaga record for the price paid to its farmers in 2017, and have been one of the most consistently high-paying cooperatives since. Most farmers here have coffee as their only main cash crop, so the cooperative is encouraging them to grow more coffee to benefit from these high prices, supporting them with seedlings and agronomic advice to maintain quality. This work passes through into the cup, with a ripe and rich character of forest berries and caramel.

Mexico

Pedro Guzman

Members of the Cafeólogo team have immersed themselves in the coffee communities of rural Chiapas, learning the local Mayan dialects, understanding each farmer’s practices, their challenges and their needs. They surveyed technical aspects of the land here, identifying potential pest and disease problems, and sequencing the varietals they found on each farm. Through this, they were able to present each farmer with a package of agronomic support. In the intervening years, they have built up trust within these groups, and handed over much of the control of the project to them. Cafeólogo, seeing the value of each farmer’s high quality cherry, pay the same price as for a high quality parchment coffee, so their income is not reduced, but their cost of production and level of risk is. This allows them to focus on the agronomical aspects of coffee production, with support from Cafeólogo on topics such as coffee physiology, nutrition, pests and diseases, organic practices and vitally, their own quality control.

This particular lot was produced by Pedro Guzman, and processed using the washed method at the Sibactel community mill. The lot is 100% Garnica, a cross between Mundo Novo and Caturra developed in Mexico in the 1960’s. The lot has a bright and tropical feel, with a citrus acidity helping to create a lively cup.

DISCOVERY

Sourcing relationships

This month’s subscription box is one we have waited for for a long time, one we feel is reflective of our current state. On the coffee side, our sourcing relationships mean that we have a good idea of the regions where we will continue to buy coffee; those we have visited, those we have purchased excellent lots from in the past. Chiapas and Kirinyaga are great examples of this.

On the other hand we have speciality cacao, an industry still in its infancy. The routes for high quality cacao to reach roasters directly are still rather few, but we believe we have found an excellent combination in Cyrille and our partners from Belco. We are excited to continue our learning in this world, and hope that you enjoy your early look into the project this month.