Three Years and Counting: Mexico, El Eden Returns and is Better Than Ever

With a memorable name and aromatics that hit you right in the olfactories, our Mexico, El Eden is one of the most popular coffees we've ever roasted.  We're excited to announce it's back for the third year in a row. 

The majority of coffees we roast at Quills are fully washed, meaning the coffee cherry is washed off the seed. Normally, a washed process producers a cleaner and more complex cup. But occasionally we come across a natural process coffee that's too good to pass up. Natural processing, also called "dry" or "unwashed," means the fruit is allowed to dry on the seed. As a result more of the sugars and organic compound from the fruit is infused into the coffee seed, resulting in a unique berry-like flavor.  The natural process is highly labor intensive and poor examples have an unpleasant fermented flavor.  El Eden is unquestionably the best natural processed coffee we've ever had.  While most Mexican coffees have chocolate and nut-like flavor notes, this coffee has vibrant flavors of mixed berries and banana bread. We have baristas that credit El Eden for teaching them to drinking their coffee black! 

Because of our long standing relationship with El Eden and their importer, Tiger Orchid, this year we were able to select lots from a single producer within the cooperative, Adan Hernandez. Last year we had bags from multiple producers, but we found Señor Hernandez's to be the highest quality. But don't just take our word for it. You can try El Eden as a pour-over in any of our cafés or pick up a bag from our webstore. 

The Peru Diaries: Norandino Dry Mill

One of the most overwhelming experiences we had in Peru was visiting the Norandino Dry Mill in Piura. In Peru, most coffee is depulped and washed at a farm level, but the final step of processing, removing the parchment from the seed, is done at large dry mills. Norandino is considered one of the best and Cenfrocafe, Peru's leading specialty coffee co-op, uses them exclusively for their top microlots. Norandino has the added advantage of being only 45 minutes from the nearest port, which means farmers can rest assured nothing will happen to their coffee between processing and shipping. 

After the parchment is removed the coffee is sorted by size and defects are removed. Then it is placed in the GrainPro jute bags that we will receive. 

An operation as large as Norandino is hard for a microroaster such as ourselves to comprehend. The team here can mill an entire shipping container in two hours. During harvest season more coffee passes through this mill everyday than Quills will roast in a year. 

After visiting Norandino, we better understand why many mills are reluctant to do microlots. It takes hard work and careful planning to keep the lots separate. It's much easier to blend everyone's coffee together and get a more generic product. Craft coffee is the result of hard work and intentional effort in every step of the supply chain. Without mills like Norandino we couldn't bring you the high quality of coffee you've come to expect from Quills. 

A Tale of Two Kenyans

Few countries offer such an amazing range of high quality specialty coffees as Kenya. Thanks to its unique varieties, processing techniques, and climate, the flavors we encounter from Kenyan coffee are in a class of their own. That's why we're excited to introduce two new coffees from Kenya to our line-up. 

The first comes from the Gititu Factory in Kenya's Nyeri district. More than 900 farmers deliver their coffee cherries to this factory to be processed. This mill is known for their attention to detail in processing this coffee and it shows in the finished product. We encounter juicy flavors of grapefruit and sour cherry along with rich caramel and notes of clove. It's a classic Kenya that will show you why our roasters look forward to Kenyan coffee season all year. 

The second coffee comes from the Kii Factory in Gichugu. This is one of three washing stations owned by the Rungento Farmers Cooperative Society. The 1,214 farmers that contribute to this washing station have small farms, most less than a hectare, but that doesn't stop this coffee from being one of the best we've gotten our hands on all year. Compared to the Gititu, the Kii is a little less bright, but it makes up for it with exceptional sweetness. Candied watermelon and green apple flavors are well complimented by a creamy body and a spicy finish. We love this coffee so much we're using it as our single origin espresso for the entire month of October. 

The Peru Diaries: Finca El Laurel

We just got back from a whirlwind tour of Northern Peru that covered every step of coffee production. The coffee industry relies on elaborate systems to transport coffee from remote farms to roasters such as ourselves. Over the course of the week we got to meet with producers, visit mills, and sample 40 different microlots. We're excited to share our experiences with you on this blog, as well as a few microlots we selected which should arrive in November. 

A standout experience for everyone on the trip was visiting Wilson Olivera's farm El Laurel. Wilson is on the board of directors of Cenfrocafe, a cooperative of over 1,900 producers. He owns three parcels of land which are known for producing some of the highest scoring microlots in the co-op. 

Coffee trees need very specific environmental conditions. The best coffees come from the most remote places. The higher up the mountain you go, the best quality the coffee. In the case of Wilson Olivera's farm El Laurel that's over 1800 MASL. Getting to his farm involved over two hours on dirt roads that in places were completely washed out. Occasionally we had to pay self-proclaimed security guards that carry shotguns and charge tolls to passers-by.   

Good coffee doesn't happen by accident. The best cherries come from farmers who have very intentional often labor intensive practices that increase the quality of their product. That starts with the varieties the producer chooses to grow. Wilson only grows Caturra and Typica, two varieties known for better flavor attributes. Wilson could increase his production by switching to a different variety, but he knows companies like Cafe Imports (our main importer) are willing to pay a premium for better tasting coffees.  Relationships like this are one of the reasons we've seen coffee quality in Peru get better each year. 

Another practice that increases cup quality if only picking the ripest cherries. Just like any other fruit, ripe coffee cherries are sweeter and more complex, which results in a better tasting cup of coffee. Many commercial coffee farms will strip the trees, indiscriminately picking ripe and unripe cherries alike. The price of coffee traded on the commodity market is irrespective of quality, so these lower grade farms have no incentive to implement more labor intensive systems. At El Laurel they go over each parcel four times, only picking the ripest cherries. Many of the trees at El Laurel are Yellow Caturra, which means their cherries don't turn red. It takes a skilled farmer to know when the cherries have reached their ripest point. 

After the coffee cherries are picked they go through a depulper, which separates the fruit from the seed. Next they will spend 16-18 hours in a fermentation tank before being washed and sun-dried. Because of the cool temperatures and high humidity at El Laurel, Wilson drives much of his coffee down the mountain to Jaen to dry at Cenfrocafe's main warehouse. 

Both Luke (our Director of Operations and Green Coffee Buyer) and I were impressed by the stunning natural beauty of El Laurel and Wilson Olivera's commitment to quality. It's because of producers like him that we are able to bring you better tasting coffee.   

A Look Inside Our New Training Lab

Each one of our baristas goes through a six month training program that includes one-on-one instruction on subjects as varied as coffee extraction theory, steaming milk, and hospitality. Up until recently all of this training took place after hours in our cafés. As we've grown, it's become clear that we needed our own training space. We love coffee, but espresso training at 10 pm is nobody's favorite! We've also developed some great relationships with other cafés in the region we also wanted to have a space where we can better meet their needs.  

The training lab features a complete espresso bar, including a La Marzocco Strada espresso machine and two Mazzer Robur grinders.  For manual brewing training we have Variable Temperature Bonavita Kettles, Hario V60s, Chemexes, and a Mahlkönig Guatemala grinder. Perhaps most importantly, all of the water at our Training Lab is purified with a reverse osmosis filtration system set to our exact specifications. With industry standard equipment and high quality of water, we can focus on helping our baristas develop the necessary skills to consistently make our customers the best coffee possible. 

On Wednesdays, the space is also home to our weekly production cupping. Our Quality Control Team works hard to ensure that each of our coffees is living up to its full potential by tasting each coffee that passes through our roaster. We've used this room for cupping since we started roasting four years ago, but now we get to cup on these gorgeous tables, custom made by our architect, Carter Scott. 

If you're a barista or café owner in the region who is interested in receiving next level coffee training, we would love to hear from you! Courses offered include Introduction to Coffee, Introduction to Brewing, Latte Art, and Advanced Barista Skills. 

Destination: Peru

Earlier this year we were surprised by a coffee from Jaen, Peru. Peru has long been a leader in organic farming practices, but as any coffee roaster can tell you, organic doesn't necessarily mean tasty. Peruvian coffees are known for their heavy body, chocolate notes, and not much else. But this coffee had a sparkling acidity and a deep sweetness. Many weeks it stole the show at our weekly cupping. 

On Sunday we're leaving with our main importer, Cafe Imports, to visit coffee farms around northern Peru and select which lots we want to purchase this year. We're excited to explore a coffee producing region with enormous potential, as well as develop relationships with some of the producers that grow the coffee we're proud to roast and serve. 

You can follow our travels on our Instagram account using the hashtag, #quillstravels. We're excited to share the fruits of our journey with you early next year. 

Now Roasting Guatemala, Finca Palmira

At Quills we select which coffees we roast with several criteria, the most important being flavor. Simply put, we only roast coffees we enjoy drinking. Sometimes those coffees are traceable to a region or cooperative, like our Ethiopia, Konga, sometimes to a specific producer and farm. In the case of our latest coffee from Guatemala, it's the latter. 

Finca Palmira comes to us from the Huehuetenango region of Guatemala. This blend of Bourbon, Caturra, and Catuai varieties from producer Douglas Castillo is a highlight in a region known for fantastic coffees. We taste caramel apple, cherry cola, and cinnamon in what's sure to be a crowd favorite. You can pick up a bag from any of our four cafés or our webstore. 

Now Roasting Ethiopia, Konga

There are few things more exciting for baristas than Ethiopian coffee season. All coffee can be traced back to the Horn of Africa, and Ethiopia is still home to more than 95% of coffee's genetic diversity. These heirloom varieties feature flavors not found anywhere else in the world. 

This is the third year in a row we've purchased coffee grown by the Konga tribe in the Gedeo region of Yirgacheffe, Ethiopia. This coffee comes from ten washing stations that serve over 5,000 small producers. The Ethiopian Commodity Exchange doesn't allow for complete traceability, but superior lots such as this one are separated based on region and quality. We love the stonefruit and citrus flavors and the surprisingly creamy mouthfeel of this coffee. On the cupping table we taste peach, bergamot, and lavender.  

Ethiopia, Konga is now available in our web store and will be in all of our cafés by Thursday.