WORLD OF COFFEE GIFT BOX
If you're reading this, it's likely that you are now the proud owner of our World of Coffees Gift Box and are ready to embark on a coffee tasting journey across 12 countries. Each box is numbered from 1 through to 6 and each box contains 2 x 70g of coffee for you to enjoy. Read on to learn more about each coffee individual coffee.
Box 1
Our Mexico Monte Azul is grown on a coffee farm under a natural forest canopy with an abundance of plant species, contributing to both fertile soil and a fertile breeding ground for wildlife. Don Pepe is a family business, started by Pepe Gorbene in 1992. Over the years the business has grown to where it now exports over 50,000 sacks of coffee annually, trading a further 70,00 sacks internally. These beans benefit from the rich, volcanic soil, high altitudes and shade-grown practices that protect biodiversity and enhance quality. The beans are hand-picked and carefully sorted, before being hulled (removing the outer layers of the coffee cherry, including the pulp and mucilage) at the processing mill. The beans are then sun-dried on raised beds and raked often to ensure even drying.
Tasting Notes - With a medium to dark roast, this coffee tastes like milk chocolate, toasted almonds and brown butter with a hint of dried cranberries.
Huehuetenango means ‘Place of the Ancients’ in Nahuatl, and is pronounced way-way-tenango. The Aztecan ruins of Zaculeu lead the way to coffee farms placed within the Cuchumatanes Mountains, one of three non-volcanic regions. The microclimate produced at this high altitude, of between 1,400m and 2,000m, and limestone soil gives this premium coffee a unique fruity taste and juicy acidity.
Farmers selectively hand-pick the coffee cherries and pulp them using small hand-powered or electric drum pulpers. The pulped beans are fermented in containers before being agitated to remove remaining cherry mucilage from the beans. The beans are then thoroughly washed with clean water and spread out on raised beds or patios to allow the beans to try in the sun.
Tasting Notes - With a medium roast flavours of citrus, white chocolate, juicy pear and apricot with a white wine edge emerge. Juicy with a long finish.
Box 2
Grown in the fertile soils of Honduras, North American. Madre Tierra is a washed coffee sourced by producers within the GEA Women's Project, in Lempira, Ocotepeque, Intibuca, Copan, La Paz, El Paraíso and Comayagua. The coffee plants are grown at altitudes between 1,100 and 1,650 meters, the coffee cherries are then picked and dried on patios, with solar dryers or on raised beds. When coffee is growing at high altitudes like this one, it slows down the growing process allowing the coffee beans to absorb the natural sugars from the coffee cherry, resulting in a more flavourful cup.
Woman producers, whether because a partner has passed away or migrated, or out of pure passion for coffee - seize the opportunities that coffee presents, taking a rough patch of land and turning it into a successful coffee farm. The women rise before dawn to care for children and elders and tend to housekeeping, all before heading to the fields to tend to the coffee plants.
Tasting Notes - With a medium roast, this coffee features delightful notes of dark chocolate, roasted hazelnuts with a tart blackcurrant finish.
Named after the famous Masaya Volcano in Nicaragua. This coffee is grown across mountainous regions, in addition to the moist microclimate, higher elevation means cooler night temperatures, which slows cherry maturation, giving the coffee bean (the pit of the cherry) more time to soak up the more desirable flavours from the cherries pulp. This coffee is perfect for those who like a strong and dark tasting, full-bodied coffee.
Our Nicaragua Masaya coffee is carefully picked, de-pulped and washed before being left to completely dry on patios in the Nicaraguan sun. Once dry the beans make their journey to us in Northumberland, where we carefully roast the beans in small batches to bring out rich and dark flavours of orange peel, marmalade and dark chocolate with an oak smoked finish.
Tasting Notes - These beans are dark roasted which produces decadent flavours of orange peel and marmalade, dark chocolate, liquorice with an oak smoked finish.
Box 3
From the foothills of the Andes, these high altitude (1,250 to 2,150 m) Colombian Excelso beans are sourced from some of the country's best co-operative farms. Only the best Columbian coffees are permitted to be exported, our Mocha Mondo Gold beans being one of them.
The Magdalena River, Colombia’s largest river, runs through the region, providing plenty of water for coffee farming and generating (directly and indirectly) up to 86% of Colombia's gross domestic product. The fertile volcanic soil of the Andes mountain range helps to produce healthy coffee cherry plants with a bountiful crop.
Tasting Notes - We roast these beans just past a medium roast which produces a delightfully smooth, rich and full bodied coffee that's well balanced with flavours of milk chocolate, nuts and a naturally sweet hint of fruit.
This premium gourmet coffee is grown in the rich, volcanic soil of the peruvian mountains. Grown at high altitudes in the mountains, because these beans are shade-grown, the flavours in the cup are more expressive due to slower growing time.
Tasting Notes - With a light to medium roast, these beans produces notes of caramel, milk chocolate, citrus, yellow fruits and kiwi.
Box 4
Brazilian Ipanema Yellow Bourbon
A quality gourmet coffee from the Ipanema estate in Brazil. Located in the middle of the Mantiqueira mountain range, the Fazenda Rio Verde estate is a true natural sanctuary, where coffee occupies just over 40% of the total area. Fazenda Rio Verde has the most rugged terrain amongst the three farms that Ipanema Coffee own. Ranging from 800 to 1,350 metres (2,600 to 4,400 feet) in altitude, almost all of the farm's harvest operations must be conducted by hand due to the topography of the land. The soil is predominantly clay on a red mineral volcanic base, rich in compostable material. On the mountain slopes, the diversity of vegetation has given these soils an unequalled richness in terms of nutrients and organic material.
The varieties of coffee bean produced at Fazenda Rio Verde range from Acaia, Mundo Novo, Red Rubi as well as the exceptional Yellow Bourbon, Yellow Catuai and Yellow Icatu. The Yellow Bourbon variety is a first class Brazilian arabica bean, characterised by low acidity and delicate flavour. The beans deliver a tactfully balanced brew with a gentle sweet aroma. The unique, yellow fruits and well formed beans makes it a true heirloom amongst the most sought for beans from Brazil.
Tasting Notes - With a light to medium roast, these beans produces notes of smooth milk chocolate, rich caramel and Irish cream, a truly delectable coffee that proves its worth as a true heirloom variety.
Daydream as you sip, imagining warm and lush green plataus and a slow, easy pace of life. Take a moment to savour this elegant and distinctive coffee from the Kenyan mountains, grown at 1,600 - 1,800 metres above sea level!
The Peaberry coffee bean is particularly associated with Kenya and Tanzania. Kenya is well known for its highly organized network of coffee cooperatives. The topography of high-altitude plateaus in major Kenyan coffee regions combined with acidic soil provides excellent growing conditions for Arabica beans.
Simply described as ‘the champagne of coffee’, the Peaberry is the second highest graded coffee from Kenya. This oval shaped bean is the single occupant of the coffee cherry, usually each coffee cherry produces two coffee beans but with peaberry there is only 1 coffee bean per cherry. This means the single peaberry bean gets twice the nutrients from the plant which gives it a unique and distinctive flavour. Its a rather rare occurrence that only affects about 5% of the world's coffee beans and results in a naturally sweeter and more flavourful coffee bean.
Tasting Notes - These light to medium roasted peaberry beans elicit notes of sugar cane, blackcurrants and citrus coupled with cinnamon and nutmeg.
Box 5
This premium washed coffee comes from the Oromia Forest, where the coffee plants are shade grown slowly in bright red soil. Being grown at a high altitude, over 1,800 metres, produces a low-acidity smooth tasting coffee. The beans are medium sides with a distinctive rounded shape and green in colour when unroasted. Many specialty roasters consider washed Limu coffee from Ethiopia to be a premium gourmet coffee.
Ethiopia is the original home of coffee. Coffee trees have grown in the wild here for centuries and the environment is perfect to continue producing amazing coffee, without adding anything to it. More than a thousand different varietals of the coffee bean grow in Ethiopia and most is processed naturally. High elevations in the southern mountainous region make for excellent growing conditions.
Tasting Notes - The flavours that emerge with a medium to dark roast are milk chocolate, nuts and toffee with a white grape snap.
This distinct single origin coffee comes from the Western Malabar Coast in India. India is particularly well known for Monsooned Malabar, a unique coffee that was extremely popular in Europe during the 19th and 20th centuries.
The flavours of Monsooned Malabar were originally unintentional and were simply a by-product of transporting green coffee beans to Europe. The journey from India to Europe took approximately 6 months and the coffee, which sat in the hull of the ship, and would absorb moisture from the sea and the humid winds. The moisture led the beans to swell to a larger size and turn a pale beige colour. The taste of the coffee became smoother and more full. Today, though shipping technology has advanced and now allows for the control of moisture in hulls, the demand for Monsooned Malabar remains, leading producers to recreate the conditions of this particular coffee using special setups in the warehouses that take advantage of the harsh monsoon winds and rain.
Tasting Notes - With a medium to dark roast, a bold, slightly spicy and smoky flavour emerges with hints of cloves, tobacco, chocolate, malt biscuits and nuts.
Box 6
About Old Brown Java
This unique coffee was created in the 16th century, when it was used as ballast in the holds of sailing ships. The conditions created from being surrounded by wood and the brine of the sea gave the coffee a distinct flavour. Sailors also used the colour of the beans as a guide to how long they had been at sea. Today, the beans are monsooned and held underground for 2-7 years to replicate the woody and peaty profile.
We call our Old Brown Java the 'Marmite' of the coffee world. Try it and see if you're team 'love it' or 'hate it'.
Tasting Notes - We roast this coffee to a medium-dark roast with flavours of smoked oak, peaty whiskey, dry roasted peanuts and dark chocolate, with a hint of liquorice.
This premium single origin coffee hails from the Bena Bena Valley in Papua New Guinea, home of the Goroka Festival. This washed, partial Blue Mountain variety bean is organically grown at altitudes of over 1600m, giving the coffee an earthy profile and a snap of acidity.
In early 1945, as the war in New Guinea was subsiding, four village plots in the Korofeigu area were identified by the administration for coffee planting by the villages. Thirteen villagers from Korofeigu and other surrounding areas were selected to be sent to a newly created school for training in coffee production. For the next 12 months, government officials moved around the Eastern Highlands selecting village plots and encouraging them to plant seedlings while continuing to train the youth of these areas. The initial reaction of the indigenous population was of indifference; in a bountiful valley that could produce so much, it was thought that a crop that would take three years to harvest a return was a waste of time. Although some plots were neglected, none were removed, allowing the beginning of a coffee-farming culture in this area.
From these small plantings in and around Korofeigu, coffee would become the most important commodity in the development of the New Guinea Highlands. Today, it is Papua New Guinea’s most important agricultural crop, directly or indirectly providing the major source of income for a third of the country’s population.
Tasting Notes - The flavours that emerge with a medium to dark roast are dark chocolate and almonds coupled with honey, warm spices and ginger.
This concludes our tasting journey across 12 different countries. We hope you enjoyed the experience! Did you have a favourite? All of the coffees you've tasted in our world of coffee gift set are available to order separately on our website.
Across the 12 different single-origin coffees you have tasted:
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Different roasts - Light, medium and dark roasted coffees
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Various processing methods - Washed, natural and monsooned.
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Coffee with a rare mutation - Kenya Peaberry
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A heirloom variety - Yellow Bourbon
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A Women Produced Coffee - Madre Tierra Honduras
And most importantly supported us and the many farm and cooperatives across the world involved in cultivating these coffees, Thank you!