What is a Single Origin coffee? Simply put, these coffees are defined by the place they come from.

Single Origin coffees are from a specific farm or group of farms that make up small cooperatives. You’ll find that most of our Single Origin coffees are light roasted since this brings out their unique aromas and flavor notes.

This month, we’re sharing our Nicaraguan Flor de Jinotega with you, grown by the SOPPEXCCA Cooperative.

Nestled in the mountains above the regional capital Jinotega, the farmers of SOPPEXCCA grow coffee under the protective shade of bananas, mangos, and mahogany, and alongside dense forests providing home to dozens of rare orchids and winter habitat for hundreds of migratory songbirds. Jinotega is the heartland of Nicaragua’s coffee producing zone and many of the country’s finest coffees come from the thousands of small-scale family farms arrayed throughout the department’s lush mountain landscape.

This landscape wasn’t always organized this way. Before the revolution of the 1980s many of these small family farms were actually consolidated in expansive haciendas owned by foreigners and the country’s elite and farmed with the intensive use of agrochemical fertilizers and pesticides. The farmers themselves were hired labor, invariably poorly paid. In fact, the genesis of the revolution itself traces directly to these large farms, and the thousands of farmers without access to land. One of the central demands and outcomes of the revolution was a process of land redistribution whereby farmers gained access to the land they had worked for generations. Cooperatives arose out of the need to organize these small farms in larger economic unions that could market coffee, facilitate much needed financing, and serve the community’s broad social, economic, and environmental needs.

What is a Single Origin coffee? Simply put, these coffees are defined by the place they come from. Single Origin coffees are from a specific farm or group of farms that make up small cooperatives. You’ll find that most of our Single Origin coffees are light roasted, bringing out their unique aromas and flavor notes.

We are thrilled to share the fascinating stories behind each coffee. This month, Roastmaster, Jacob Long, hand-picked our Ethiopia Yirgacheffe, which also happens to be one of our 2017 Roaster of the Year award winners! Join our Single Origin Club now to have only the finest of coffees delivered to your doorstep each month

Our Ethiopia Yirgacheffe is one of three award-winning roasts from our 2017 Roaster of the Year prize. It's grown by the Worka Cooperative located in southern Ethiopia at about 2,000 meters above sea level. The cooperative is comprised of around 411 members, and is part of the larger Yirgacheffe Coffee Farmers Cooperatives Union (YCFCU). The Ethiopia Yirgacheffe, Gedeb coffee is picked and pulped and washed on the same day, then to be dried in raised beds for no more than seven days.

"Delicate, deeply sweet. Baker’s chocolate, magnolia, peach, black peppercorn, sandalwood in aroma and cup. Gentle, rounded acidity; velvety mouthfeel. The richly drying finish consolidates to baker’s chocolate and peach. An engaging coffee particularly appealing to those who value delicate, cocoa-toned coffees with gentle acidity and engaging spice notes. Reassuring environmental and socio-economic credentials.” -coffeereview.com

What is a Single Origin coffee? Simply put, these coffees are defined by the place they come from. Single Origin coffees are from a specific farm or group of farms that make up small cooperatives. You’ll find that most of our Single Origin coffees are light roasted, bringing out their unique aromas and flavor notes.

We are thrilled to share the fascinating stories behind each coffee. This month, Roastmaster, Jacob Long, hand-picked our Kenya Nyeri Peaberry coffee, which also happens to be one of our 2017 Roaster of the Year award winners! Join our Single Origin Club now to have only the finest of coffees delivered to your doorstep each month.

This Kenyan coffee is grown on the eastern slopes of Aberdares mountain ranges in Nyeri County, Kenya by the family-owned farms of the Othaya Farmers Co-operative Society Limited (FCS). Established in 1956, FCS has more than 14,000 members who generally have half acre plots averaging 250 coffee trees.

Tasting this coffee at its freshest is not something to be missed. This light roast from Africa has a unique mouthfeel with hints of milk chocolate, ripe peach, and caramel. We’re especially fond of this single origin, because it helped solidify our title as 2017 Roaster of the Year, from Roast Magazine. Along with our Ethiopian Yirgacheffe and Paul’s Blend, the Kenya Nyeri Peaberry was judged during a blind tasting alongside a variety of other entrants – and came out on top. We had the opportunity to meet with Jim and Phyllis, representing the Othaya Cooperative, at the Global Coffee Expo in April, 2017, and snagged this photo of them with our Roastmaster, Jacob Long.