In My Mug Audio

I've been telling the story of Hasbean and Finca Limoncillo for many, many years now. I don't intend to stop any time soon because it's such a big, big, big relationship for me.

Finca San José is very much the pride and joy of the Rodríguez family and is now in the hands of a fourth and fifth generation of coffee producers. The story begins in 1815 when José María Rodriguez and Josefina Rodriguez (great-grandparents) planted the first coffee trees with their own hands. Through the generations, the farm has passed through the hands of many committed farmers like José's son, Israel Rodriguez. He was then followed by Jose Maria Rodriguez, who took care of the farm until it came to Gloria Mercedes Rodriguez Fontán, the most recent owner. Ever the strong woman, Gloria has overcome gender barriers in an industry that has historically been the province of men, and she personally supervises every step at the farm level. Gloria not only takes care of San José but, together with her siblings' support, she manages five other small farms which collectively add up to 38 hectares. The mountain slopes of Finca San José are fully shaded by trees that help to maintain and preserve the crop and the

I've been telling the story of Hasbean and Finca Limoncillo for many, many years now. I don't intend to stop any time soon because it's such a big, big, big relationship for me.

The first coffee bush at Kiriga Estate was planted in approximately 1954 by colonial settlers. At about the same time, less than ten kilometres away along the same Kigio road, a young boy (Aloysius Gakunga, son of the chief for the larger Murang'a county) helped his father – Senior Chief Ndungíu Kagori – plant the first coffee seedling in the area. The area was known as Gaitegi village, Muranga Location 1 (Loco One). A love affair with coffee had been born! Several years went by and the young boy grew up. He was riding his bicycle along Kigio road and, as he rode past the vast – by now well-established – coffee estates, he promised himself that he would one day own one of them. He realized this dream in 1976. The boy, or Mr A. N. Gakunga, sadly passed away in July 2014. By the time of his death, Mr Gakunga had passed his love of coffee and the mantle of Kiriga coffee estate on to Dr Brian Ndungíu Gakunga. Brian was his second child, and the eldest son out of his six children. According to Kikuyu cultural n

The Don Joel Micromill is owned by Allan Oviedo Rodriguez and his family. Right on the border between the Central and Western Valleys in Costa Rica, Allan has been producing coffee there for 18 years. Growing up in a coffee family, Allan learnt the traditional producing methods with his father (Don Joel) and brothers but also saw the difficulties this lifestyle had, with poor returns and increasing cost of living. When his father passed away, the farms were split up between the family and Allan, working the La Cumbre farm, decided to change how he did things. Building the micromill he named for his father, he set about replanting with a focus on taste quality. It's no surprise that the varietals he chose will be familiar from our range - Caturra, Catuai and Villa Sarchi. With a mix of a willingness to try new things, an eye for detail and the ability to learn quickly, Allan was able to build a great reputation for consistently and cleverly grown and processed coffees. A few years ago, Allan was able to inv

We're now into our fourth wonderful year of having coffee from Ana Sora, and I'm as excited this year as I was back in 2016! This coffee represents lots of time and energy working at the farmer's gate in Ethiopia, and it's one of the most unique coffees I've ever tasted. My inbox has been full of emails asking for more, more, more Ana Sora! Well, here you go folks.

This farm was brand new to us only a few years ago, and we're really happy to have been able to continue getting coffee from Las Delicias every year since. Although the farm itself is still relatively new to us, the people behind it most certainly aren't. In fact, we've been working with them for over ten years now. The Mierisch family (whom you may remember from such farms as Limoncillo, Mama Mina, Escondida and Milligros) have worked with us over that time to bring us delicious coffee, and continue to do so year after year.

Situated on a hillside which runs parallel to the main road to Guatemala City, sits El Bosque. Due to it's proximity to the Capital, it faces threats from ever-expanding urban development but for the time we have been working with El Bosque, prices and returns for the farm have made it a much higher concern for the brothers, and they are very motivated. Before I'd tried this coffee at El Bosque, it was love at first taste, I was absolutely blown away by how good it was! However, my first visit to the farm in January 2007 really cemented this, because I got to learn more about the awesome people behind the coffee. In 1932, Julian Flores founded the farm and the fourteen-hectare extension of land was planted out with Bourbon varietal coffee, which was cultivated and sold in cherry form only. Over the next few years, with the acquisition of more land, the farm continued to grow. Julian Flores passed away in 1947 and his son, José Eladio Flores, inherited the farm and continued his father’s legacy of growth. By

We're now into our fourth wonderful year of having coffee from Ana Sora, and I'm as excited this year as I was back in 2016! My inbox has been full of emails asking for more, more, more Ana Sora! Well, here you go folks.

I took my very first trip to Kenya back in 2014. My aim was not to meet producers but rather to get an insight into how the market works, and how we can improve the quality of the coffee we buy from Kenya. Much of Kenya's coffee comes from cooperatives, which means it's tough to go to visit a person or build a long-term relationship. That said, it is possible to get something interesting going and to work on projects together by speaking with the leaders of the co-ops and washing stations. Othaya Farmer's Cooperative is based at the Gatuyaini wet mill, just north of Othaya town. In the town there's a cupping room (and a talented QC person) and a new addition: a small roastery (where they hope to develop a market for their coffee inside Kenya). Othaya has many different wet mills in the co-operative, and we buy from one of the smallest – Chinga. Situated just south of Othaya town, the mill was built in the 1960s on the banks of the Gikira river. The mill has some 783 members, and each member owns only a sma

Rafael and Carmen De Silva were the first producers I ever met in El Salvador, and Finca La Fany was the first farm I ever visited in El Salvador. This is a relationship that goes all the way back to 2003, and I consider this to be a real foundation stone coffee for Hasbean. Finca La Fany has been producing coffee in El Salvador since 1870, and it's belonged to the same family from generation to generation. Situated on the Santa Ana volcano, the farm provides work for 24 families in the community. It's in a biological corridor that stretches for 27 hectares from Mexico to Panama. It grows mostly Bourbon, but also has a small amount of Pacamara. Carmen and Rafael continually invest in the milling of their own coffee and improving the facilities they have, which has really driven this shade-grown coffee to just get better and better year after year. We think you can really taste the continuous development in the cup; this is one of our all-time favourites, and it's one of the coffees that we'd be absolutely d

Finca La Escondida is close to Lake Apanas near the city of Jinotega, which is the capital of the department of Jinotega in the north-central region of Nicaragua. The straight translation from Spanish to English of 'escondida' is ‘hidden’. The farm is called 'Escondida' because it's 'hidden' from the road by forest and trees, which makes it appear to blend right into the side of the mountain. In the grand scheme of coffee farm things, La Escondida is still a rather young farm. The first trees were planted there in 2006; just thirteen years ago. La Escondida was planned around identifying the plots with individually different micro-environments resulting from factors such as soil quality, sun exposure and temperature range. This is one of the upsides of planting a new farm: getting to plan ahead! The varietal of this lot is Red Catuai. The owners selected it for the farm because they thought it would do well with the soil quality, sun exposure, temperature range and weather conditions, given the farm's quit

Rafael and Carmen De Silva were the first producers I ever met in El Salvador, and Finca La Fany was the first farm I ever visited in El Salvador. This is a relationship that goes all the way back to 2003, and I consider this to be a real foundation stone coffee for Hasbean. Finca La Fany has been producing coffee in El Salvador since 1870, and it's belonged to the same family from generation to generation. Situated on the Santa Ana volcano, the farm provides work for 24 families in the community. It's in a biological corridor that stretches for 27 hectares from Mexico to Panama. It grows mostly Bourbon, but also has a small amount of Pacamara. Carmen and Rafael continually invest in the milling of their own coffee and improving the facilities they have, which has really driven this shade-grown coffee to just get better and better year after year. We think you can really taste the continuous development in the cup; this is one of our all-time favourites, and it's one of the coffees that we'd be absolutely d

Cerro Azul is one of the Mierisch family’s newer coffee projects in Honduras. The name 'Mierisch' might sound familiar; they have brought us Limoncillo, Escondida, San Jose and Mama Mina, to name just a few of their amazing farms. The Mierisch family have been growing coffee for four generations, going on five, in Nicaragua. They have achieved great results with their special way of farming, and more importantly by reaching out to specialty buyers and being at the forefront of coffee development. This farm started life as an experiment for the Mierisch family. To farm here, they went across the border of their mother country and drove six hours from their home to neighbouring Honduras. I've spoken with Erwin a lot about why the family made this decision, and it came down to his experiences as one of the Head Judges for the Cup of Excellence competitions in Honduras. He had seen amazing potential, but he'd also seen a lack of care and attention to detail during the processing stage. This detail is vital to

This farm was originally called 'La Pampa'. It was purchased by Mr Prudencio Perez Rosales in 1915. When he unfortunately passed away, his daughters inherited the farm and divided it equally into three properties called La Pampa, San Juan, and El Libano. Herbert purchased El Libano in 1992. In the early days of El Libano (or La Pampa, I guess I should say) coffee was commercialised in cherry form with other farms and/or buyers who took it to local wet mills for the post-harvest process. When coffee production at the farm increased between 1958 and 1960, a wet mill was built on a lower part of the farm and drying fields were built in the higher parts. At that time, coffee was taken by workers on mules from the pulping area to the drying fields. This was down a narrow road, which (as I'm sure you can imagine) made work rather difficult. This was extended in 1970, and thanks to increasing coffee sales they were able to buy a vehicle to let the mules get some rest. There have been many changes to the farm sinc

Licho's is a coffee that I feel shows our development as a roaster over the years. We first bought this coffee in the Cup of Excellence program (a great way to meet a grower). Back then we bought it from an import broker; they helped us bring in this coffee because we are a small coffee buyer. Now we buy directly from the farm! Four years ago, I went out to the farm and did the deal then and there with the brothers. I love the fact that I simply walked onto the farm after cupping a particular lot in the exporter's office, asked how much they wanted, and there was a short conference. They came back and told me how much they wanted, and then we shook hands. Then we got back into the 4x4 and drove away. That year we agreed a European-exclusive deal with them for this coffee, and this year we continue the close work we have been doing with them. Grown by the Aguilera brothers in the province of Naranjo, in the volcanic Northern Cordiles corridor of the Western Valley, this coffee is cultivated at an altitude of

I've been working with Alejandro Martinez since way, way back in 2008, and in that time our relationship has gone from strictly professional to Alé being one of my closest friends. He became involved in coffee in 2008 because he had just relocated to El Salvador from New York, where he'd been working as a city banker. With his first son on the way and the hustle and bustle of New York being no place to bring up a family, the draw of home and El Salvador was just far too strong to ignore. While looking for work in El Salvador, Ale decided to help his father with some of his business interests and investments. His father had inherited several coffee farms from his grandfather and was unsure what to do with them. One of the investments pricked Ale’s interest, and this was a farm called Finca Argentina. The reason it really got Ale's attention was that he saw the farm once yielded loads of coffee but was producing a fraction of its old productivity. His father gave him permission to see what could be done to ma

Quite close to Kieni near the town of Karatina, Nyeri is the Karagoto wet mill. It's owned by the Tekangu Coffee Farmers Cooperative Society, which got its name from combining the names of their three mills: Tegu, Karogoto and Ngunguru. Much like Kieni, it has seen success in recent years and has secured some really great prices for the farmers that deliver their coffee cherries there. The mill is split in half by a road, with the sorting shed and fermentation tanks on the lower side and the drying beds on the upper slope of the hill. Both sides are pretty steep, with a great view of the valley and weaver birds making their homes in the trees around the mill. Ephraim Maina Muthee, who showed us around when we visited in 2016, manages the mill and Steve planted a coffee plant with him on the slope just below the sorting shed. Normally the seed of the coffee fruit grows into the green bean that we all know and love from two fertilised seeds inside each fruit, but sometimes things are a little different and a

I've been working with Alejandro since 2008 and in that time our relationship has gone from strictly professional to Ale being one of my closest friends. He became involved in coffee in 2008 as he had just relocated to El Salvador from New York where he'd been working as a city banker. With his first son on the way and the hustle and bustle of New York no place to bring up a family the draw of home and El Salvador was just far too strong to ignore. While looking for work in El Salvador, Ale decided to help his father with some of his business interests and investments. His father had inherited several coffee farms from his grandfather and was unsure what to do with them, one of the investments pricked Ale’s intent and this was a farm called Finca Argentina. The reason it really got Ale's attention was that he saw the farm once yielded loads of coffee but was producing a fraction of its old productivity. His father gave him permission to see what could be done to make the farm successful again Ale found out

When we found this farm for the very first time all the way back in 2013 we knew very little about it, so little in fact that the coffee didn't even have an official name! Back then all we knew was that the coffee was grown by a gentleman called Carlos Arrieta and it was really, really delicious! However, since then I've been lucky enough to visit Carlos on my trips to Costa Rica and, over the past few years, have found out lots more. The farm is located in the Western Valley region near to the town of Lourdes de Naranjo. It's located at 1,600 meters above sea level and contains mostly Caturra, Catuai + a tiny bit of Villa Sarchi, there are also plans to plant some small micro lots too in the future. El Manantial is actually one of Carlos's four farms... La Casa - mostly planted with Geisha and Kenya! La Isla - not in production yet El Oasis - slightly smaller than El Manantial and produces around 6,000kg of fresh cherries each year El Manantial - around 3 hectares in size and produces around 8,500kg of