$ 21.00
Fresh Crop Ethiopia season is here, and we're kicking things off with a brand new coffee, Gure Kesso!
When we think of Ethiopian coffee, the two most famous regions are Harrar - known for it's blueberry-forward, if slightly-inconsistent naturals - and the South - floral coffees from Yirgacheffe, Sidama, and Guji. Over the past decade + though, the western coffeelands have been catching up in a big way. Starting with massive infrastructure investments from Technoserve in the mid-2010s, the Agaro and Gera microregions have become powerhouses in their own rights, and while Huck's Ethiopia-lineup remains South-heavy, we tend to feature at least one great coffee from the West each season.
Telila Washing Station is one of the newer players in the Gera region, started just 5 years ago by Mike Mamo and run by Fikru Demissie. And while this is our first time roasting coffee from the station, we've been eyeing and tasting these coffees for a few years now, just without the space to bring any Telila coffees to Huck... now's the time though!
Telila does a remarkable job with both traceability and singling out the absolute best coffees they can. Hundreds of smallholder farmers in the area deliver coffee cherry to the station for processing, and Telila separates out each day's delivery by village, processing them separately. This coffee comes to us from farmers in the kebele (village) of Gure Kesso, and it's one of the best washed Ethiopias we've had the chance to taste this year!
With honeydew, lime popsicle, and wildflower honey flavors and delicate complexity, Gure Kesso is a refreshing way to kick off 2024 Ethiopias and 2024 summer!
*** 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: Fikru Demissie + Telila Washing Station, courtesy Osito Coffee
$ 21.00
Brazil is still a relatively new feature on the Huck single origin menu, and where excited to showcase our first washed coffee from the country - Forno Grande by Jose Schiavo!
Brazil has a reputation for massive farms, flat terrain, and boring-if-consistent quality, and while we’ve learned that’s not the case if you’re working with the right people, some things are common throughout most of the bigger coffee-growing regions, even on the smaller farms. The climate is warm and dry, farms generally focus on natural-processing (even if it doesn’t always taste super fruity), and the farms tend to be both flatter and less-shaded than we’re accustomed to in other parts of Latin America.
Espirito Santo is an outlier. This region is actually quite hilly, with a cool, humid, microclimate and plenty of water access. As a result of that water, farmers can produce washed coffee, and as a result of that humidity, they have to at least remove the cherry skin before drying, to prevent mold and other defects. That means the honey and washed processes rule the roost here. Plus, the hilly terrain we’re used to in Peru and Colombia forces farmers’ hand to handpick coffee, as opposed to the more mechanized picking in other parts of the country.
Two years ago we visited Brazil for the first time, and in addition to spending time with longer-term partners BD Imports, Apara Cafes, and farmers in the Campo das Vertentes area of Minas Gerais, we also spent some time with Thiago Trovo at Osito Coffee’s new Brazil office. Thiago has a long history working with larger Brazilian export companies, and a specific interest in promoting and further developing coffee in Espirito Santo.
On the right farm, the result of all those factors are coffees that can taste more like a typical Central American coffee than a typical Brazil. Cleaner, brighter, and more nuanced, without some of the heavier fruit, process-influenced flavors that quality-focused farmers need to pursue in other parts of the country. We’re not knocking fruity Brazils by any means, but we like clean, too, and variety is the spice of life.
This is our second year roasting coffees from Espirito Santo, and for our first year with a fully washed Brazil, we’re highlighting Jose Schiavo and his family farm, Sitio Forno Grande. There’s a hint of complex + bright orange and apricot marmalade, but nougat and chocolate sauce are the stars of the show.
*** 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. ***
📸: Jose Schiavo + Sitio Forno Grande, courtesy Osito Coffee
$ 23.00
Huck has been with Long Miles since their first harvest in 2013, and each year we’re lucky enough to taste through multiple delicious coffees from the group. Long Miles isolates coffees from individual hills, with Gitwe and Ninga the most frequent in our lineup. This year, Gitwe hill produced our favorite washed coffee, and we’re stoked to roast this one over the spring and into the summer!
The Long Miles Coffee Project was founded by Ben and Kristy Carlson, an American couple who moved to Burundi. Upon seeing the difficulties farmers faced while Ben was working as a coffee trader, the Carlsons built two washing stations in the region, and have worked with area farmers to help them fetch better prices. By working with the farmers to develop stringent quality practices at the farm level, then washing and milling the coffee with meticulous care, Long Miles is able to ensure that the coffee is of the highest quality possible. By working with Huckleberry and other roasters who commit to coffees before they've shipped from Burundi, the Long Miles Coffee Project is able to pay the farmers a higher price for their coffee than they would receive on the open market and from other washing stations.
Gitwe is a specific hill near Long Miles' Heza washing station, and this coffee comes exclusively from the Long Miles farmers living on that hill. Over the past few years, Gitwe has produced some of our favorite coffees - natural, washed, and honey alike. For two years running, washed Gitwe has been our favorite Long Miles Coffee.
We’re tasting tangerine, honey, and peach tea (think iced, sweetened, in a bottle that rhymes with apple) in this year’s Gitwe. With body, balance, and acidic complexity all at the same time, it’s gonna be a roast team favorite for the entirety of its turn at Huck!
*** for roasting schedule, shipping, receiving & additional information, please visit out Frequently Asked Questions ***
Photos courtesy Long Miles Coffee Project
View full product details$ 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. ***
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