I know, I’ll buy it and replant the nearly vertical slopes with Caturra, and produce amazing microwave lots, with orange acidity and caramel sweetness. I am slipping into a tranquil, sentimental, 100 Years of Solitude state of mind. There is a magical quality to the light, and the mountain peaks...
Two announcements made in the past week carry significant interest for us here at Royal Coffee: the Ethiopian Coffee Exporter's Association annual report, and the Good Food Awards Finalist list. According to ECEA’s official figures, Royal paid the highest average FOB price for Ethiopian coffee...
At Royal we cup twice every day and we carry just about every kind of specialty coffee out there. I’ve seen it all - so it isn't every day that a coffee really grabs my attention. The coffees that do - are inspiring. I’m sharing a few of these coffees that I’ve enjoyed so much with you. Here are...
Many fans of Indonesian coffee revel in the deep and earthy characteristics found in the coffee of the famous production regions of this island nation. Wet hulled Gayo and Lintong coffees from Sumatra are the first that come to mind for most people in the industry when they are seeking out a...
We are wrapping up our analysis of the 2016 Catracha Quality Project (CQP). Royal published a lot on this over the last two months, but if you haven’t been following this series, I’d suggest starting here. I’ll summarize a few of our key takeaways below. The team has started focusing on the next...
Introduction by Chris Kornman Ethiopia is coffee’s Mecca. The Arabica species traces its origin to the western edges of the country. Ethiopia is the rare producing nation whose internal consumption equals its export volume. In Ethiopia, coffee is not just a product, not a mere cash crop, not even...
We have been observing and collecting data in Santa Elena as part of the Catracha Quality Project to improve upon green coffee processing strategies. (See related Catracha articles here). But once the coffee is ready to ship from Honduras, we cannot ride along in the container as it makes its...
Around this time of year many roasters begin to worry if they will have enough Central American and Mexican coffee to make it till next season, or if their Sumatra is starting to taste like a musty jute sack or if their Ethiopia will start to lose its lemony luster. While those concerns are...
For the last several weeks, members of the Catracha Quality Project have been presenting results of a data survey conducted during the 2016 harvest season in Santa Elena, Honduras. To go back and read some of that work -- which includes detailed process maps and an analysis of correlation between...
When the Catracha Quality Project began, Catracha organizers encouraged producers to focus on the quality of the coffee by selecting ripe cherry. In the Royal Blog last week, Arvin Juan presented a post-harvest process map, the result of two years of observing practices and interviewing producers....
When we started the Catracha Quality Project (CQP), our first goal was to create a map to visualize how the Catracha producers were processing coffee from cherry to dried parchment. Over the last two harvests in Santa Elena, we interviewed producers and observed their practices to create a...
Since the inception of the Ethiopian Commodity Exchange in 2008, full traceability back to the specific farmer has been limited to large estates capable of exporting their own produce. Beginning in 2012, however, Royal Coffee and YCFCU began a program of separating single farm lots from the larger...
At the end of July, Catracha Coffee single farm micro-lots arrived in the Royal warehouse in Oakland, California. The coffees were produced by individual farmers in Santa Elena, Honduras, and the lots ranged from 5 to 20 bags. All bags were printed with the farmer’s name to ensure traceability....
Royal Coffee has been sourcing, buying, and selling green coffee since 1978. During that time, our focus has always been on showcasing the best single origins we can. While single origins are an integral part of the supply chain, it overlooks something roasters have been asking for: year-round...
Catracha Coffee single farm micro-lots have arrived from Honduras. These coffees are produced by small individual farmers and arrived here in Oakland ranging in size from 5 bags up to 20 bags, marked with the farmer’s name to ensure traceability for each lot. These are not cooperative coffees,...
