Coffee

This is our signature coffee blend which kick started our business. Named after the Soho foundry owned by the MacAdam brothers where our roastery is located. This area was the industrial heartland of the emerging city of Belfast in the early 1800’s. We wanted Foundry to provide all the things we love in coffee, a blend that covers a lot of bases. It is made up of coffees from Brazil, Honduras and Papua New Guinea, which are either certified or transparently traded coffees. This coffee is full bodied, full of fruity sweetness with syrupy redcurrant and sloe berry notes. A crisp taste of buttered toast, with the flavour of brioche with almonds and honey coming through in the finish.

Colombia is the second-largest producer of coffee in the world and the largest producer of washed and Arabica coffees.  Annually, Colombia exports approximately 12.5 million bags and consumes 2 million bags internally. Colombia only produces washed Arabica coffee. There are three primary varieties grown in Colombia, and the coffee is referred to by the region in which it is grown. "Excelso" is a grading term for exportable coffee from Colombia, not related to variety or cupping profile. EP (European Preparation) specifies that the raw beans are all hand sorted to remove any defective beans and foreign material. Excelso coffee beans are large, but slightly smaller than Supremo coffee beans. Excelso beans are a screen size of 15-16, versus Supremo beans, which are sized on screen 17. Colombian coffee is graded before shipment according to bean size. Supremo and Excelso coffee beans can be harvested from the same tree, but they are sorted by size. Excelso accounts for the greatest volume of coffee exported from Colombia. This coffee produces zesty caramel and chocolate with crisp apple acidity and lime, aromas of cherry and fruit juice.

This fully traceable, transparently traded coffee comes from the San Antonio estate in the South of Minas Gerais. SanCoffee is a cooperative made up of 20 fazendas or estates. SanCoffee have a centralised lab, warehouse and dry mill, as well as a dedicated team of Q Graders who manage the quality for all the member estates. Working as a group through the central lab enables estates to share and gain from the collective’s many years of combined experience. More so, having total control of their warehouse and dry mill enables complete traceability and precise milling specifications for customers.  SanCoffee as a collaborative export partnership have managed to mitigate the influence of a dangerously low market price. And in most cases, premiums to growers are 30-50% higher than both the local and C price market rates. SanCoffee and its members continue to mobilise and collaborate to strengthen the ability for its members to sell at above local market rates, in turn championing economic sustainability.        This 80+ points graded coffee is a real winner offering flavours of hazelnut, caramel and honey working as an excellent single origin coffee as well as contributing natural sweetness towards any blend.  Carbon neutralitySanCoffee has long been committed to the sustainability of its activities, whether in terms of environmental preservation or social responsibility, aiming to improve living conditions in the surrounding communities and contribute to the future of generations to come.As coffee growers, we are deeply connected with nature but also involved with the most important economic activity in our region. Thus, we strongly believe we can collaborate more with the planet and our people.Climate change is undoubtedly one of the major issues we are facing, it poses a real threat to the future of coffee growing. Therefore, we see it as a natural evolution to start working on our carbon footprint. Carbon neutrality SanCoffee has long been committed to the sustainability of its activities, whether in terms of environmental preservation or social responsibility, aiming to improve living conditions in the surrounding communities and contribute to the future of generations to come.As coffee growers, we are deeply connected with nature but also involved with the most important economic activity in our region. Thus, we strongly believe we can collaborate more with the planet and our people.Climate change is undoubtedly one of the major issues we are facing, it poses a real threat to the future of coffee growing. Therefore, we see it as a natural evolution to start working on our carbon footprint. In 2020, for the first time, we have been able to offset 100% of greenhouse gases emissions corresponding to the year 2019, to become one of the first coffee coops to achieve Carbon Neutrality in Brazil.  

This is our seasonal blend which we feel ticks all the boxes for a good espresso. This blend is predominantly a South American combination which provides flavours of chocolate, fruit and sweet molasses. Currently we are using a blend of Cerrado from Brazil and Cosecha Azul SHG from Honduras, both are grown at altitudes above 1100 metres above sea level.

Aquiares, one of Costa Rica’s most historic coffee farms, sits high on the slopes of the Turrialba Volcano. The largest coffee farm in Costa Rica, Aquiares devotes 80% of its land to growing high quality coffee and the remaining 20% to conservation. Coffee plots are interlaced with over a dozen natural springs and almost 20 kilometers in streams, all protected with buffer zones in line with our Rainforest Alliance certification. These streams form a network of natural corridors through the farm that connect the large protected forests in the two river valleys, providing a healthy environment for the local animals, birds, and plants. In 1890, Aquiares was founded by farmers looking to take advantage of Costa Rica´s railroad to the port of Limón. The farm built its own mill, focusing on the washed-coffee processes that are indicative of Costa Rican coffee. Soon, the quality of Aquiares' coffee won it loyal clients in Europe, the United States and Japan. In the early 1900's the English Lindo family acquired the farm. One of the first things they did (in 1925) was import an aluminum church from Belgium and specially order its stained glass windows from Italy. To this day, the church remains the heart of the Aquiares community.In 1949, the farm was bought by the Figueres family. This was the family of Pepe Figueres, the ex-president who abolished the Costa Rican Army. This famous family continued to develop and expand the farm until the early 1970s when three closely-knit families assumed ownership. First plant of F1 CA we planted was back in 2011, with no real understanding of what we where getting ourselves into. Turns out this hybrid derived from the cross of Rume Sudan & Sarchimor T5296 was gonna love the fertile soils of Aquiares, and produce one of the best profiles of our unique volcanic, Caribbean and shaded terroir. Vigorous plants produce burgundy red cherries bearing a dense, and large bean. We pick these lots every 15 days and only bring in 5-10 bags per day. A team of select pickers, or "microloteros" have in these years perfected the skill of selection for optimal ripeness.  The flavour profile is black cherry, caramel, raisin, toffee and vanilla with an SCA score of 84.75.

Two farms on the slopes of the Ngorongoro Crater. (Two wildly different flavours of coffee.) One ethos of sustainability and stewardship. Heritage and innovation combine on the Edelweiss and Finagro coffee farms, bringing decades of family farming experience to bear through invention and originality. We are creating bold, smooth, aromatic flavours and experimenting with new, complex original blends which break the traditional coffee mold and give our customers a taste of the new normal. A deep love of the land, an affinity with the local communities and a special appreciation for the African wildlife who visit the farms daily is at the core of our operations. We recognise the importance of preserving and carefully managing this wild, spectacular landscape to ensure the farms will operate for generations to come, and we continue to coexist with the elephants and buffalo into the future. We want our customers to know that sustainability, quality, ingenuity and reliability are much more than words; they embody our personality and existence, making every aspect of Edelweiss and Finagro, a true coffee safari. We are a family business. Our business only thrives because of the hard work of our employees and the loyalty of our customers. Honesty, integrity, reliability and humility are the foundation of all our relationships and a direct representation of who we are. We work to build trust and confidence and are proud that over many years relationships have become friendships, with a feeling of working towards a sustainable future together. At Edelweiss and Finagro Estates we aspire to be a major global coffee supplier, harnessing the power of experience, pedigree and passion with invention and originality to produce unique, bold coffees. We are stewards of our land, local communities and African wildlife and farm in harmony with nature to ensure a truly sustainable, new future for Tanzanian coffee. We strive to protect the land, farm in harmony with the African wildlife and provide for the local communities into the future while producing exceptional coffee. Through harnessing our heritage and generations of experience and embracing innovation and experimentation, our mission is to embody sustainability in all we do. All coffees are grown at an altitude of between 1600 and 1850 metres. This makes our farms amongst the highest in Tanzania. The coffee is rain fed due to scarcity of available water. The extreme variations in the farms' topography, the different varieties of coffee grown and the abundance of micro-climates all give our coffee a unique and complex cupping profile. In the cup this coffee offers a complexity of flavours of raspberries, blueberries and forest fruits with lingering citrus and a dark chocolate finish. This coffee is lightly roasted and works well as both espresso and filter.

 Coffee production has distinguished itself in our region for many years. Before becoming a cooperative, many sold the coffee fruit to different buyers without any price regulation and many times without a fair payment for our work.In 2015, they began to organize as a group and with the support of some allies, we managed to legally establish ourselves on September 16, 2016.Driven by the pursuit to sell coffee at a fair price while simultaneously promoting the product’s quality, emphasizing its cultivation and artisan production. Located in the Tacaná Natural Reserve, are proud of the biodiversity and the cultural heritage that our product represents. This combination allows the co-operative to sustainably harness the natural resources of the place called home, resulting in rich-flavoured coffee whose quality can compete worldwide. For more than 20 years, the Tacaná volcano “House of fire” in the Mame language, was declared a Natural Reserve by the National Commission of Protected Natural Areas (CONANP) of Mexico.The coffee communities that inhabit the house of fire are committed to the conservation of this iconic volcano of the Southern Border.The Tacaná is an active volcano 4070 meters above sea level, located on the border of Mexico and Guatemala. The cloud forest, the tropical pine-oak forests and the high moorlands give the Volcano an extraordinary scenic beauty. It is considered one of the most biodiverse areas in the country, in its forests there are 12 endangered species of birds, including the quetzal and other species such as the anteaters and the tigrillo. This bean has been grown on a small farm (La Soledad, which works within a community of small farmers striving to grow great coffees. The intense rains and rich volcanic soils of the area give the beans their particular body and pleasant acidity, producing the excellent quality characteristic of these high altitude coffees. This coffee will not only produce an excellent espresso, but also bring out floral and fresh herb notes when drunk as a filter coffee. The flavour profile is bright acidity of citrus, lime,  with a smooth silky body and a floral aroma. with an SCA score of 82.

Two farms on the slopes of the Ngorongoro Crater. (Two wildly different flavours of coffee.) One ethos of sustainability and stewardship. Heritage and innovation combine on the Edelweiss and Finagro coffee farms, bringing decades of family farming experience to bear through invention and originality. We are creating bold, smooth, aromatic flavours and experimenting with new, complex original blends which break the traditional coffee mold and give our customers a taste of the new normal. A deep love of the land, an affinity with the local communities and a special appreciation for the African wildlife who visit the farms daily is at the core of our operations. We recognise the importance of preserving and carefully managing this wild, spectacular landscape to ensure the farms will operate for generations to come, and we continue to coexist with the elephants and buffalo into the future. We want our customers to know that sustainability, quality, ingenuity and reliability are much more than words; they embody our personality and existence, making every aspect of Edelweiss and Finagro, a true coffee safari. We are a family business. Our business only thrives because of the hard work of our employees and the loyalty of our customers. Honesty, integrity, reliability and humility are the foundation of all our relationships and a direct representation of who we are. We work to build trust and confidence and are proud that over many years relationships have become friendships, with a feeling of working towards a sustainable future together. At Edelweiss and Finagro Estates we aspire to be a major global coffee supplier, harnessing the power of experience, pedigree and passion with invention and originality to produce unique, bold coffees. We are stewards of our land, local communities and African wildlife and farm in harmony with nature to ensure a truly sustainable, new future for Tanzanian coffee. We strive to protect the land, farm in harmony with the African wildlife and provide for the local communities into the future while producing exceptional coffee. Through harnessing our heritage and generations of experience and embracing innovation and experimentation, our mission is to embody sustainability in all we do. All coffees are grown at an altitude of between 1600 and 1850 metres. This makes our farms amongst the highest in Tanzania. The coffee is rain fed due to scarcity of available water. The extreme variations in the farms' topography, the different varieties of coffee grown and the abundance of micro-climates all give our coffee a unique and complex cupping profile. In the cup this coffee offers a complexity of flavours of raspberries, blueberries and forest fruits with lingering citrus and a dark chocolate finish. This coffee is lightly roasted and works well as both espresso and filter.

At FECCEG we are 1350 partners and 350 members from 6 departments in Guatemala. FECCEG supports community organization processes, promotes gender equity processes and promotes organic agriculture and coffee plantation renewal so that partners achieve a good level of production and quality.Partners are motivated to continue running their coffee plantations as we have paid differentiated prices compared to those on the conventional market.FECCEG has an agronomic research area to test organic inputs and validate techniques that achieve better results in productivity and quality.We have a compost plant and deliver to compost partners that improve soil fertility and coffee crops.FECCEG encourages diversification with goats, fruits and vegetables so that partners have organic food and other products to be marketed in the local market.FECCEG has the KISHÉ brand for the local market.350 female associates receive technical assistance for the management of their organic coffee crops with the protocols of 7 certification seals and 55 of them have received support for the management of individual and collective coffee nurseries using the technologies like biofactories for production of organic inputs and oxygenators that accelerate the biochemistry of the inputs. They were also trained in grafting techniques.These women have also participated in training and awareness processes on gender issues such as equity and specific rights, care economy, resource management and others. The sale of the special coffee crop has contributed to the financial autonomy of women. With these resources, the living conditions of their families have improved and opportunities have been opened to be part of decision-making spaces in their communities. This versatile coffee will work as both filter and espresso, with a round body providing mild apple acidity, citrus tones and caramel. Region: QuetzaltenangoVariety: Caturra, Catuai rojo, Bourbon rojoAltitude: 1400-2000 maslProcessing: Fully Washed

Acacias is a selection of the best coffees from across what used to be called the Central Province. The province disappeared in 2013 when the country changed to a system of counties instead, though the Central Province is still often referred to as it had a strong reputation for quality coffee growing. Handpicked when ripe, cherry is delivered to the wet mill the same day to ensure no uncontrolled fermentation occurs, where it is sorted again and then pulped. River water is used for processing and recirculated before disposal, with the coffee being sent out to soak in tanks in what is known as the ‘Kenyan’ style – an additional 8-16 hours of soaking under clean water which helps to bring clarity to the cup and prolongs the qualities of acidity before drying under the sun. You will find a flavour of lemon/lime citrus within a body of chocolate and caramel with a light, sweet aroma.

The Enorga A comes from the Highlands Organic Agriculture Co-operative Ltd (HOAC) in the Eastern Highlands of Papua New Guinea, which was established to develop a dedicated approach to growing Organic and Fairtrade certified products. This coffee has tasting notes of dried fruits, vanilla and smoky with natural brightness. This coffee shares the low-toned richness of coffees from neighboring Indonesia, but is particularly sturdy, dense, and crisply robust. This is a coffee that should maintain authority in the face of enthusiastic additions of whitener and sweetener.

Nardos Coffee Exporting company is a third generation family- business organization, tracing its coffee heritage back to the 1960s when the family began the coffee farming at specific locality, known as Guji Zone, Oromia. where currently the best quality coffee of Guji is outsourced. Nardos exports annually on average about 2,000 tons of washed and natural coffee of specialty and mainstream worldwide. Nardos owns its own family coffee 152 hectares farm with 2069 out-growers. Which supports more than 12,000 families having over 3,500 hectares of coffee farms in Guji zone which has Organic, RFA, UTZ, Fair TSA and C.A,F.E. Practices certificates. Nardos coffee Exporting Company is currently equipped with different coffee processing facilities. It owns 7 wet coffee pulping industries, 5 natural coffee hullers and high Tech coffee cleaning and warehouse Enterprise with capacity of 5-6 tons per hour, in Addis Ababa. This washed coffee is grown 1900-2100 metres above sea level and offers a delicate lime citrus and floral aroma.It has a tea like vanilla flavour, with sweet herbal and spicy notes. A well balanced coffee that works especially well with filter brewing styles.

The Swiss Water process is an organic, 100% chemical-free option for decaffeination. It was discovered in the 1930s in Schaffhausen, Switzerland, and is commercialised by the Swiss Water Decaffeinated Coffee Company Inc, founded in 1988. This method does not require the addition of chemicals, instead relying on a super saturated green coffee solution called Green Coffee Extract (GCE).To decaffeinate coffee, fresh GCE is introduced to a batch of green coffee. As the GCE is already saturated with all the water-soluble compounds found in green coffee, minus the caffeine, the matching molecules won’t diffuse out of the coffee beans—but the caffeine will. The flavour is retained in the beans while the caffeine is removed.Thanks to some scientific smarts and creativity, it’s possible to have decaf coffee that tastes the same – just without the caffeine!

Location Found on the shores of Lake Kivu, and a stone’s throw from Nyungwe National Park, the Gasharu washing station is located near the Rwanda Congo Nile Mountain Chain. Nyungwe Forest National Park is one of the largest montane and most preserved montane rainforests in Central Africa, home to huge biodiversity and an estimated 25% of Africa’s primates. This region’s elevation, soil, and climate are what coffee trees love best. No surprise then that some fantastic coffees come from our land, known for their round, complex profile packed with citrus and other fruits. Coffee plantations in the Gasharu region benefit from their proximity to the continuous of Nyungwe National Park. They get a good amount of rainfall to make the cherries juicier and the coffee fruity.   Beyond beans: this is what community coffee means Gasharu owns 2 washing stations: Gasharu in the Macuba sector (Western Province) and Muhororo in the Kirimbi sector (Southern Province), both named after the villages where they are based. “None of the other companies in our zones are owned by people that live in the community. Coffee for us goes beyond just beans. It is a reason for people to spend time together. It allows families to go out for a meal after being paid and to buy valued dishes like the Igisafuriya and the brochettes, as well as clothes for the family. These are values that outsiders don’t always understand or care about but that add to our quality of life and to the social cohesion of the community.” Many people today would describe coffee as magical. As a child growing up in rural Rwanda in the 1990s, the bean had a real superstitious quality to it for Valentin Kimenyi. “I was told coffee beans were sold abroad to make bullets. This was intriguing to me as I always imagined bullets to be magical, small and yet so noisy and powerful,” he recalls. Today a grown man managing his family’s company, Gasharu Coffee, Valentin no longer believes the old childhood tales. Yet coffee still carries special significance to him as the heart of his community.      Valentin’s parents Celestin Rumenerangabo and Marie Gorette Mukamurenzyi grew up in the communities where they now do business. “My mother is a teacher and taught several people in the community. They also have a small resto-bar where everyone hangs out, watches football and holds their family gatherings,” he says. The family is always present at the weddings of their workers and partners, contributing to the ceremonies with money and goods and cementing their relations. “There have been many occasions when other companies tried to raise their prices for cherry to attract farmers, but the majority of our partners always refused. There is a shared understanding that as Gasharu grows, the community grows.”   Gasharu’s history: from 380 trees to 8 containers The story of Gasharu is full of ups and downs and it goes back to 1976, when 17-years-old Celestin Rumenerangabo bought his first plot and planted 380 coffee trees. Originally from Nyamasheke, he left his mother to work for a family in the capital, Kigali, as a housemaid in 1973. He had lost his father during the 1959 uprising that led to Rwanda’s independence and the family was in hardship. It took him 3 days to walk from his village to Kigali and 3 years to see his mother again. When Celestin was back, he invested all his savings in land and coffee and started working with local brokers. “My father has been business-minded since his boyhood. People in Rwanda tend to do agriculture for subsistence but he was always more interested in commercial agriculture. His only options were tea and coffee and it was his location that made him choose the latter,” Valentin explains. Celestin started working with cherry collection and trading in 1978, before washing stations became active. “Locals would sell cherries or parchment by cups known as Mironko. It was assumed that one cup was the equivalent to 1kg but there were no scales available.” Celestin’s business grew slowly until 1983 when he married Marie Gorette, a 22 years-old teacher that helped him with accounting and supported schooling for other farmers’ children. By 1994 he had 7 hand-crank depulping machines and more than 14 collection sites, providing scales for weighing accuracy and partnering with locals. When the wave of violence of genocide of the Tutsis began, the family fled Rwanda and was forced to abandon the business. Valentin recalls spending “4 years in the Ijwi Island in Lake Kivu, part of Congo’s territory. When we came back in 1998 we had to start from scratch.”   Starting from scratch after the genocide It was the community who saved Valentin’s family. “They got behind us,” he says. With their trust and the help of a former partner, Celestin started over and was trading nearly 30 tons of parchment 2 years later. “In the early 2000s, the government of Rwanda advised local coffee buyers and traders to use more advanced methods of processing to ensure higher quality and returns. My family then decided to build our first washing station, Birembo.” Birembo was sold 6 years later and the failure of the project hit Celestin hard. He had taken a loan from a big trader that he couldn’t repay. “This experience is not uncommon among local coffee farmers. Many got their washing stations bought out or lost them because of loans,” Valentin explains. “My father decided to go out of business, a decision that had a real impact on us, especially me and my brother Jean Christophe, who now lives in the United States. It felt like a loss of the family’s legacy and that we were letting the community down.”  At this point, Valentin was a young agronomy student . “I watched my parents count kilos of cherries all my life. In my head, money always had an association with the weight of coffee. Knowing that my parents could do that business and at the same time help people with school fees for their kids or to pay their healthcare bills was what motivated me to pursue a career in agriculture and business,” he says. “I also didn’t like to see my parents not working. They were not happy.”    Young blood driving innovation It took Valentin a few years to be ready to take over the family’s business. He ended his studies in Kigali with a thesis on Rwanda’s exports and worked in the pepper industry to gather knowledge. “This experience allowed me to learn more about the business and the social impact of specialty processing and innovation. It made me realize that we had not done enough with the opportunities we have, all the potential and rich culture that can be portrayed through coffee.”  Valentin convinced Celestin to go back into business and together they created Gasharu in 2014 and can now produce up to 8 containers of green coffee. Since then they have exported directly to the United States thanks to contacts established by Jean Christoph, who works in public health in Baltimore, and developed their own protocols to process naturals, honeys and experimental lots.  Though some of their coffees have been sold in Europe through importers, Gasharu’s mission is to have direct relationships with a wide network of roasters that want to make a difference at origin. This way, he can “build a sustainable business that will help us keep the community together and create a legacy that will be carried on for generations.” We can’t say there is no magic in that... Flavour Profile We are delighted to have secured some of this fabulous coffee that has been blessed by the copious rainfall at Gasharu. This coffee offers sweet flavours of cinnamon and gingerbread, imagine apple pie. There are rich red fruit flavours, especially strawberry and cools to a rum like finish. This coffee scored 86.75 from the SCA and we feel would work really well as filter, but don't be scared to try it as an espresso.

Cooperativa Cafetalera Capucas Limitada (Cocafcal) or Capucas as they are better known, is situated on and around the Celaque mountain, which is the highest peak in Honduras. Celaque means ‘box of water’ in the local Lenca language, and the mountain is the source for many rivers and streams. Capucas was founded in 1999 by Jose Omar Rodriguez and takes its name from the local town of Las Capucas. In 2004 Omar was chosen to become the general manager, a role he continues today. The coffee is harvested at its optimum ripeness and handed in at the cooperative. It is then washed, dried in a solar dryer, and stored in parchment before being trucked to the port of Puerto Cortés. Capucas were the first in the country to build a facility to dry microlots in a large scale with solar dryers. Coffee trees are pruned to a low height so it is easier to pick the cherries, however if its cut too short too soon they fall over. Therefore, the pruning is staggered: in the first year they prune to 180cm, 170cm in the second year, 160cm third year and 150cm in the fourth year; then when the tree is cut down to the bottom, the trunk is strong enough to support the new growth. The cooperative has many initiatives to improve the lives of workers and the local community, for example; they pay for a GP to treat workers for free in their health centre which is in the centre of Las Capucas. In 2016 Capucas partnered with the National Autonomous University of Honduras (UNAH) to provide a university education, the virtual classroom was opened in the community of Capucas in a rural part of San Pedro Copan, UNAH provide the technical support, teachers and subject matter for the students. They also have a football academy which is free to join and a virtual library for members, children and partners of Capucas They are also certified by Fair Trade , Organic, and Rainforest Alliance. This blend was created using cherries from multiple smallholders that deliver to Capucas, all located on the fringes of the Celaque National Park in the Copán region.Each blend is made of cherries picked and delivered to the co-operative on the same day. The cherries are mixed according to criteria such as altitude and certifications.Farm size ranges from 2.5 to 50 manzanas (1.75 to 35 hectares) and is usually divided into 2 or more parcelas or plots which are not always linked. Price of land is high (around USD 16.000 per manzana, some say), forcing farmers to grow their plots by buying parcelas in different places.After being separated, all cherries are loaded into ceramic tanks to ferment overnight. They are depulped in the following morning and fermented in water until the remaining mucilage loosens up from the beans. The coffee is then washed and taken to dry for up to 15 days on both patio and polytunnel.  This coffee is elegant with notes of citrus, berry and apple, with medium acidity with a hint of dark chocolate. This coffee works well as a filter or as an espresso.  SCA score 84