$ 22.00
*** For roasting schedule, shipping, receiving & additional information, please visit out Frequently Asked Questions . And, for a primer on coffee processing, check out our Processing Basics Guide. ***
Pictured: Arlison Cortés, from Shelby's sourcing trip in 2023.
$ 20.00
It’s been a minute, but we’re excited to have coffee from East Timor's Letefoho district and Cafe Brisa Serena back at Huck!
Coffees from the Pacific islands can be round and sweet, but the wet hulled process that’s common in the region - in which the coffee’s protective parchment layer is removed before drying - lends itself to premature fade and vegetal, funky flavors. So, we specifically seek out washed coffees from the islands, dried in their parchment to preserve the goodness and keep out the funk. The tiny country of East Timor has been on the comeup the past few years, in large part by focusing on fully washed coffees.
Cafe Brisa Serena is a social enterprise that works with farmers in East Timor's Letefoho district to improve growing and processing practices, obtain organic certification, and access the specialty market. This particular coffee comes from 15 organic-certified family farms in the tiny village of Ducurai that have organized themselves into a group called Eratoi, and is all washed on-farm, rather than at a centralized mill. Eratoi translates to water spring, and the group has named itself after a waterfall near the village.
While this coffee does come from a different part of the world, it has quite a bit in common with a subtle, but nuanced washed coffee from Latin America. So if you’ve liked Huck coffees like Productores Cafénor from El Salvador or Atitlán Aprocafé from Guatemala, this could be your jam. We’re tasting pleasant toasted almond, a subtly-spicy cinnamon, buttery pastry, and just a hint of red apple-like fruitiness. Eratoi’s an approachable everyday drinker, and we’re glad to have East Timor back on the menu for 2024!
*** For roasting schedule, shipping, receiving & additional information, please visit out Frequently Asked Questions . And, for a primer on coffee processing, check out our Processing Basics Guide. ***
View full product details$ 22.00
Are you feeling saucy? Ready to get sauced? As long as you’re okay with a 0% ABV, we’ve got you covered with Ecuador El Sauce.
To be clear, this technically should be pronounced sauce-eh (or something like that, we’re coffee roasters, not phonetic spellers), and in Spanish, “el sauce” translates to willow tree. It’s also the name of a town in Southern Ecuador, the source of this delicious coffee.
We’ve roasted coffees from Ecuador’s Loja Province in the past, but El Sauce is new to Huck, and it’s a different animal entirely. There’s plenty of the maple syrup and molasses sweetness we’d expect from this area of Ecuador, but thanks to a bit of experimental processing mixed in with the traditional washed process, we’re tasting fig and freeze-dried berries here, with some tangy brightness to boot.
El Sauce is a blend of coffees from smallholder farmers in the town of El Sauce, and we found this coffee through The Coffee Quest, an import-export operation based in Medellin, Colombia and Austin, Texas, but partnered with Capamaco Trading in Ecuador. Some of the farmers in El Sauce have begun experimenting with yeast-inoculated fermentations, using yeast to both alter and control the fermentation step that breaks down the coffee’s fruit in the traditional washed process.
Stephen at The Coffee Quest estimates that roughly 15% of El Sauce was yeast-fermented. We’ve tasted yeast fermentations that range from overwhelming to more subtle, but here, with this group of farmers and as part of the blend, the result is a tangy, but balanced cup.
Fig jam, molasses, brown sugar, and freeze-dried strawberries make for some very interesting sauce, that until now, we really didn’t expect out of Ecuador. It’s a pretty good reason to get Sauced with us, even if you are doing it first thing in the morning.
*** For roasting schedule, shipping, receiving & additional information, please visit out Frequently Asked Questions . And, for a primer on coffee processing, check out our Processing Basics Guide. ***
Photo courtesy The Coffee Quest
View full product details$ 20.00
Cafénor is relatively new sourcing for Huck, but back for year two, and we hope for the long haul!
Cafénor is the brainchild of Alejandro Valiente, and after spending some time with Alejandro and the Cafénor team this past February, we're hooked. Alejandro grew up producing coffee, and after cutting his teeth setting up Central America operations for a larger multinational exporter, he returned home with the goal of doing things right. He's a true believer in the push for more environmentally- and economically-sustainable coffee, and Cafénor puts carbon neutrality and farmer payments first and foremost in its coffee mission.
Cafénor works with a dedicated group of growers in the Metapan area year-after-year, coordinating group purchases of farming inputs and equipment, and aiming to deliver 80-85% of the final export price directly to the farmer. Millers and exporters (including the fair ones!) usually absorb a significantly larger cut of the export price. Moreover, Cafénor is fully carbon neutral, and the mill - where the team both processes and dries cherry from certain growers, and mills dried coffee for export, runs entirely on solar and wind power. It definitely does take the team a bit longer to mill coffee for export, given the limitations of a self-contained operation with limited electric supply, but it's a price they're willing to pay for the bigger picture.
Here at Huck, there’s no question that we love fruity, bright, complex coffees. But we also appreciate coffee that just tastes like good coffee, and that’s where this washed lot from the Productores (producers) de Cafénor hits. Sweet, straight-forward, no surprises. Just a damn good, pleasant Central American coffee, and one of theless-fruity coffee in our single origin lineup right now. There’s a touch of yellow apple and citrus there, but milk-friendly nougat, chocolate wafer, and toasted almond flavors are the stars of the cup here.
Beyond this washed lot from the group, we’re also looking forward to a fruitier, honey-processed Pacamara, but all in due time. With Productores Cafénor, we’re here to enjoy some straightforward, but delicious coffee from sustainably-minded folks.
*** For roasting schedule, shipping, receiving & additional information, please visit out Frequently Asked Questions . And, for a primer on coffee processing, check out our Processing Basics Guide. ***
Pictured: Alejandro Valiente
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