Thank you for picking up our new newsletter! We have been through many versions of these over almost 42 years and decided it is more than time to reduce the amount of paper we use. You will find the important farm and tasting details on the Coffee List, and a monthly round up of our news here, the farm information is available on the website.
Firstly we want to thank everyone who supported us and by extension the farmers we work with during the last few months; customers who ordered coffee and staff who went above and beyond to get orders out to everyone. Decisions we all made during the last few months have meant that we are able to support farmers that we have been working with for many years and continue to support new projects that have just started.
In Central America most of this year’s crop has been shipped. We have coffee coming from Capetillo, Santa Catalina, La Bolsa (Guatemala), Telia, Montes de Cristo, Lago, Chico, (Costa Rica) and Malacara A, La Divina Providencia (El Salvador). On the farms, the general post-crop tidy-up, pruning and maintenance of equipment is well under way. In Colombia we would normally be getting ready to hold our coffee competition in Nariño. We need to buy coffee here differently this year and are relying on our staff in origin to carry the weight of all the sample roasting and tasting. There are local government restrictions in place for the farmers and when they can bring their coffee into town so we are looking at how we can help any farmer who can’t make a return journey before the afternoon curfew. Coffee from Nariño will arrive in December or January and some will be shipped for decaffeination in Mexico.
The harvest is now underway in Brazil but they are having a particularly difficult time with controlling the virus. At the moment the coffee growing areas are relatively free from many cases and there are numerous precautions in place for the crop. Normally we would travel to Brazil in August, this year we will be receiving samples at the roastery instead. We expect to taste around 160 samples to select 20 lots from the crop. We support Carmo Coffee’s Cria Carmo program and we anticipate they will need more support this year. Please see carmocoffees.com.br for more information about this important project.
The new crop coffees from Ndaroini (Kenya) and Tessema Edima, Alemayehu Daniel, Suke Quto (Ethiopia) will arrive soon. There have been delays in shipping due to the virus.
In the roastery we are busy tasting all the shipment samples from Central America and deciding on the order to use the coffee. Some coffees are better roasted as soon as they arrive and others can take a bit longer to stabilise.
Our shops are now open with reduced or different hours. We have built screens in all sites to help with distancing and there are (often changing) lines being drawn on the ground and new procedures to follow as we all start to find our feet with the corona way of working. Please check the website for opening hours and keep an eye on our instagram for the latest coffees on the counter.
We have all had different experiences of the Covid-19 crisis and we all have difficulties and challenges coming our way. For us, a good cup of coffee has always been a miracle wrapped up in hard work from everyone involved and that continues.
With our thanks and very best wishes for the months ahead,
Monmouth
