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...
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...
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...
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...
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....
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 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? 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...
Throughout the 1980’s and early 1990’s Royal sold a couple of different Sumatra types. Our most popular, simply called Mandheling Grade 1, made up most of our volume and still does. Back then most “Mandheling” was grown between Medan and the Northern shore of Lake Toba. Occasionally we also sold a...
