Kenya Rukira
$ 21.00
There’s nothing like a great Kenyan coffee - intense brightness and fruit, juicy mouthfeel, and big sweetness in a combination that’s pretty much impossible to find anywhere else. Rukira - our second washed Kenya of the 2023 harvest, is exactly what we’re looking for from this unique origin.
Rukira is one of 17 factories (Kenya-speak for washing station) in the larger Othaya Farmers Cooperative Society, and while this is our first time roasting Rukira, we look to the Othaya Cooperative for at least one banger coffee each year. We’re lucky to taste lots from throughout the cooperative, and this year, Ichamama Natural and this delicious washed lot from Rukira were the standouts.
Additionally, the vast majority of our Kenyan coffees come to us through the Kenyan Cooperative Coffee Exporters (KCCE) network. The Kenyan coffee industry tends to be dominated by a few foreign-owned businesses, and KCCE is a collective of cooperative societies that market and export their coffee together, to keep a bit more of the benefits within Kenya. We enjoy working with KCCE, and we can count on some amazing coffee each year.
Admittedly, Kenyan coffee can be a bit polarizing, especially if you’re adding milk or alt milk into the equation. The intense acidity of the coffee doesn’t pair well with the milk for all taste buds, and while combo might work great for you, our usual recommendations for cream tend to come from Latin America. We’re not saying don’t try it, just that it’s not the safest path. But if you drink that coffee straight and want to get those taste buds watering, Kenya Rukira FTW.
We’re tasting bright pink grapefruit, brown sugar, a stone fruit one-two punch of peach and cherry juice. It’s our second washed Kenya for this season, and it’s big, bright, juicy, and complex, just the way we like it.
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GESHA: Colombia Israel Hernandez
$ 31.00
The award-winning Israel Hernandez Gesha is back!
Each year, around the holidays, we love to roast, brew & serve up something a little extra-special that bursts with floral & fruity goodness. And, this is our sixth year roasting up this beautiful Colombian coffee from Israel Hernandez. We feel like a broken record sometimes, but each year seems to get better than the last.
Gesha (or sometimes Geisha, depending on who you ask) is a coffee variety native to Western Ethiopia, but it’s become famous in Latin America. Starting with the 2004 Panama Cup of Excellence, Gesha has been winning national coffee and international barista competitions ever since, thanks to its intense floral and citrus flavors.
While there’s no shortage of established farms producing great examples of this variety, and we certainly could have gone Gesha hunting, this Gesha speaks to something foundational to HUCK’s larger mission -- it’s important for us to seek out special coffees from within existing partnerships, and Gesha is no exception to that goal.
Israel Hernandez grows coffee & farms near the remote town of Rioblanco, and is a member of the ASCAFUR Association, When HUCK visited Colombia in 2017, we had the chance to taste Israel’s first ever harvest of Gesha -- it was so good that we committed to purchase it on the spot. That harvest was just a few pounds of coffee, but we’ve sourced and roasted Israel’s Gesha every season since!
Two years ago, Israel won 4th place in Colombia’s Cup of Excellence, a huge accomplishment for any coffee farmer! We feel lucky that we can continue to roast Israel’s coffee, even after that success and the international acclaim, and have worked with Israel and export partner Caravela to ensure that he stays happy with us. This year we’re tasting jasmine and lavender-esque florals, honeydew melon, a touch of berries, and citrus candy.
This is arguably one of our best coffees every year, from any origin. What a way to celebrate the holidays and ring in another year of delicious coffee!
*** 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. ***
Sister Winter Seasonal Blend
$ 21.00
Each year when the temperatures start to dip and we see snow in the mountains, Huckleberry celebrates with our Sister Winter blend. Among other things, winter is a time for gathering with friends and family, sharing good food and warm drinks.
We want to help you serve up something that pleases the whole crowd, from the more traditional coffee drinkers who love milk and sugar to your 22 year old cousin who's a bigger coffee nerd than you are. And of course, since we're dealing with family, it's pretty important to us that each year, Sister Winter pairs well with fireside chatter and some good ol' American bourbon.
The holidays are also about giving for us, and each year, a portion of the proceeds from Sister Winter benefits a cause we care about. For the sixth year in a row, Sister Winter sales will help the AProCafé Growers Association in various projects. Over the past few years the group has used funds to combat coffee leaf rust, a coffee disease that has wreaked havoc on Central American coffee farms for the last several years, improve drying infrastructure, buy tools for farmers, and finish a micromill closer to some of the association's farms.
Fittingly, our holiday blend is all Aprocafé. We paired washed and natural coffees from the group, forming like Voltron to create a full, bodied, rich, and crowd-pleasing blend. We're tasting dark chocolate, mixed berries and sweet baked goods in this year's Sister.
Good coffee, helping good people continue to make a life growing good coffee.
*** 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: Danilo, Carlos, Manuel, Pedro, and Lucinda, plus some of the raised beds AProCafé has built with past Sister Winter funds. And Dee Snider.
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El Salvador Productores Cafénor
$ 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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