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Visiting Santa Elena & Many of the Catracha Farms
The municipality of Santa Elena in Western Honduras is located in the department of La Paz, at an elevation of 1,800 meters above sea level and is very near the border with El Salvador. Most of the Catracha farms are located in this region, and many with long views down the valley below. If you...
Royal Coffee is Now in Houston!
At Royal Coffee, we’ve been lucky enough to watch the specialty coffee sector grow from an esoteric niche to a full-throttled industry. One of the most exciting developments is in the heartland of the country, roasters across the Midwest and South chiming in with their own ideas and innovations. ...
The Case Against Bad Coffee
To: Keith Pandolfi and SeriousEats.com From: Max Nicholas-Fulmer and Royal Coffee, Inc. RE: The Case For Bad Coffee, 10/29/15 There is a real and very relevant conversation which can be had about the merits of “high-end” coffee. The point of view espoused by Mr. Pandolfi, and echoed on blogs like...
Beyond Conflict: Winning Micro-Lots from the Tolima Cupping Contest
In the earlier September edition the Royal News, we told you about a cupping event in Tolima, Colombia being hosted by Inconexus Coffee. The results are in, and we can say with a great deal of certainty that Tolima is loaded with outstanding coffees. Cradled to its south and east by Huila and...
The Containers are Stacked Against Us
The Containers are Stacked Against Us by Evan Gilman In the July edition of the Royal News, I wrote briefly on the topic of shipping delays and some of the root causes. If you have ever experienced a shipping delay, however, you know just how widespread the effects of even a small delay can be. I...
We’re all in the Same Boat
Shipping is just like the coffee industry – the closer you look, the more complex it seems. Royal is currently experiencing some delays in shipping, and although delays on imports are not a rare occurrence, wait times and frequency of delays are increasing for some very interesting reasons. The...
Hambela: A New Ethiopian Origin by Evan Gilman
Hambela: A New Ethiopian Origin by Evan Gilman Aman and Michael Adinew of METAD Agricultural Development have spent many years improving the coffee business in Ethiopia. Their family farm, Hambela, produces some of the best naturally processed coffee we have tasted, and is an example of great...
Organic Coffee in the Time of Roya
In anticipation of this year’s Central American harvest, I have been reflecting on last year’s trek from Costa Rica to Mexico. From the start, the impact of leaf rust (roya) on organic coffee was foremost on my list of inquiry. One of the first visits was to Hacienda La Amistad, located in Coto...
Direct Trade Facilitation
As we rapidly approach harvest season in much of the world, planning begins for squaring away new crop commitments. What to buy forward? How much to contract to make it worthwhile? How to get it where it needs to go? Royal Coffee regularly provides import facilitation and warehousing services for...
Email Alerts Explained
On any coffee's product page you can now set up custom email alerts to be sent to your inbox. Right below Additional Order Information you will see three checkboxes. By checking any one of these, entering your email, and clicking submit, you can recieve notifications when: 1. The coffee ships from...
Overcoming Rust in El Salvador
I recently returned from a 26 day coffee trek through Central America and Mexico with filmmaker Sarah Gerber. We interviewed, filmed, and photographed Royal’s coffee producing partners with an eye towards bringing the production of coffee, in living color, home to Royal’s coffee consuming clients....
The Logic Behind Rapidly Rising Coffee Prices
The Logic Behind Rapidly Rising Coffee Prices by Max Nicholas-Fulmer The New York “C” Market has rallied 60 cents per pound in under 3 weeks on concerns of drought conditions in some of the main Brazilian growing regions. This dry weather is occurring during the cherry development phase of the...
Ethiopia Red Cherry Initiative
If you ever read this blog, you may notice that we harp on ripe cherry selection at the farm level as fundamental to maximizing quality. I believe that any coffee can be improved through adherence to using only fully ripe, red fruit (or orange, yellow, or pink). As you may also know, it is not...
Towards the Creation of Better Coffee
Towards the Creation of Better Coffee by Max Nicholas-Fulmer If there is any single coffee dogma which applies everywhere in the world regardless of varietal or process, it is that harvesting only ripe red cherry always results in a better cup, period. If all the quality improvement initiatives...
Ethiopia, How Do I Love Thee?
Ethiopia, How Do I Love Thee? by Max Nicholas-Fulmer My Albanian rootstock biases my temperament towards hyperbole, it’s true. But hot-damn are the Ethiopian coffees gonna be good this year! Full disclosure: I love Ethiopia. I go there a lot. The food is delicious, the culture is vibrant, the...