Our Coffee Subscription Pick: March 1 - 15
• 28 February 2011
• Category: Exceptional Coffee
Classic Blend - Skookum.
Coffee blends are an art form and a beautiful, delicious science. Yet, it’s rare for coffee lovers to be granted access to a coffee roasters back room to see first hand the remarkable amount of expertise, timing and technique that goes into creating a well-balanced blend.
Coffee education really is at the heart of Salt Spring Coffee, so herein lay the making of our Skookum Blend.
The Blend
This season’s Skookum blend is comprised of three coffees from three different origins: Nicaragua, Guatemala and Peru.
Roasting Skookum
Each of our three Skookum coffees is roasted separately under the watchful eye of Matthew Hill our master roaster, Mickey and I. Raised in different climates, at varying altitudes and by a different farmer, each green coffee has its own unique characteristics, which in turn means its own roasting sweetspot. This season, the Nicaraguan coffee best suits a dark roast level, while the Guatemalan and Peruvian coffees are ideal at a medium roast.
The secret to Skookum is the art of balancing the body, acidity and flavour profile of the three different coffees. This season, we trialed, cupped and revisited the percentage of each brew in the blend many times over to ensure we share the classic Skookum Salt Spring Coffee devotees have come to love.
Enjoy your cup.
Banks Thomas, Director of Coffee
2011 Pick 2.2
Our Coffee Subscription Pick: Feb 16 - 28
• 15 February 2011
• Category: Exceptional Coffee
Classic Blend - Moka Java.
Up until now, our coffee subscription subscribers have enjoyed our picks of the seasons top single origin coffees. Now, it’s time to change it up. Moka Java is our next pick and the first organic, fair trade blend we’ve shared to date.
The History
Moka Java is legendary in the coffee industry, with its origins dating as far back as eighteenth century Europe. What’s made the Moka Java blend so appealing – and given it its memorable name - is that traditionally, it consists of two very different coffees: one from the Republic of Yemen which is known to produce sweet coffees with obvious fruit flavours; the other, from the Indonesian Island of Java which is known to produce full bodied brews with earthy undertones.
The Coffee
Here, we’ve taken the classic Moka Java approach but applied a modern twist. Under the careful eye of Matthew Hill, our master roaster, we’ve blended our Ethiopia Harrar and Sumatra, Aceh Gayo to create this season’s Moka Java.
Why the twist? Securing certified organic coffees from Yemen has proved difficult in recent years - so to ensure our Moka Java is certified organic and fair trade we’ve chosen to update the blend with a sweet, fruity brew from Ethiopia.
Enjoy your cup.
Banks Thomas, Director of Coffee
2011 Pick 2.1
Our Coffee Subscription Pick: Feb 1-15
• 30 January 2011
• Category: Exceptional Coffee
Culinary Single Origin - Sumatra, Aceh Gayo.
Yes, it’s true - Sumatran coffee has been a long-time favourite of Mickey McLeod’s our co-founder, President & CEO - and while historically we’ve purchased our Sumatra, Aceh Gayo by fair trade, in 2010 we proudly signed the Koperasi Baitul Qiradh Baburrayyan (KBQB) co-op to our Fair to Farmer Direct program.
The Co-operative
Today, with 8,000 members (1600 of which are women) the KBQB co-op has flourished tremendously in just a few short years. Despite a civil war being waged in its home province of Nanggroe Aceh Darussalam (a peace treaty was signed in August 2005) and the devastating earthquake and tsunami that rocked the region in late 2004, the KBQB co-op has emerged as a bright light in Aceh.
The Visit
Mickey, Robbyn and I first visited the KBQB co-op in 2009 and plan to return again this March. Our intent is to continue developing (and nurturing) our relationship with the KBQB and to cup coffees from its 2011 harvest. To our dismay though, friends and colleagues within the KBQB co-op and the coffee industry as a whole have shared that we may experience challenges securing a large supply of high-quality coffee from Sumatra - due to extreme rains in recent months.
It’s our sincere hope that we are able to fulfill our long-term purchase agreement with the KBQB – not only for Salt Spring coffee lovers and café goers, but to help relieve (in a small way) the financial burden a co-op experiences when an entire seasons coffee crop is lost.
Enjoy your cup.
Banks Thomas, Director of Coffee
2011 Pick 1.2
Our Coffee Subscription Pick: Jan 14-31
• 14 January 2011
• Category: Exceptional Coffee
Culinary Single Origin - Papua New Guinea, Waka Jawaka.
If there’s one brew that everyone at Salt Spring Coffee adores, this is it. Earthy with a dark chocolate twist, our Papua New Guinea, Waka Jawaka from the Yha Hauka region of PNG enjoys a surprisingly sweet berry finish.
The Co-operative
The Independent State of Papa New Guinea is situated in the Southwestern Pacific Ocean. With over 850 indigenous languages, it’s one of the most culturally diverse countries on the planet and still one of the most rural. Access to Yah Hauka is limited – heavy rains and poor road conditions mean that we can only access the villages 6-months of out a year. We haven't yet visited our partners in Yha Hauka but Mickey McLeod intends to do so in the spring of 2011 while the roads are still in tact.
Having yet to visit Yah Hauka our PNG, Waka Jawaka Single Origin Coffee is not direct trade certified which is why it carries the Fairtrade certified logo. The purpose of Mickey’s upcoming trip is to establish a direct trade relationship with the people of Yah Hauka. Coffee really is the only source of revenue in the region so individuals and families are still the primary coffee producers.
Amazingly, in PNG coffee is often still transported to processing by foot, a journey that can take a family as much as one full day. Establishing a direct trade relationship with the people of Yah Hauka will give Salt Spring Coffee the opportunity to work closely with the community and possibly help to establish a processing and drying centre closer to home.
Enjoy your cup.
Banks Thomas, Director of Coffee
2011 Pick 1.1
Our Coffee Subscription Pick: Jan 1-13
• 30 December 2010
• Category: Exceptional Coffee
Culinary Single Origin - Peru, Pangoa.
Over the past few weeks we’ve noticed something special about our Peru, Pangoa – it keeps getting better and better.
When first cupped at origin it enjoyed a classic nutty finish. More recently though, the coffee has matured to enjoy a slightly sweeter taste - flavours of brown sugar and sweet orange are slowly beginning to dominate. With the rise of these new flavours, there’s no better time then now to share this brew with our coffee subscription subscribers.
The Co-operative
Situated in the rugged and remote mountains on the edge of the Peruvian Amazon Basin, the Cooperativa Agraria Cafetalera (CAC) Pangoa is a long established farmer-run co-operative. Originally formed in 1977 with just 50 members, the co-operative is now 800 members strong, 200 of which are certified organic. In addition to coffee farming, CAC Pangoa is a unique co-operative because they also produce organic cocoa and honey in the lower elevations of the Basin.
CAC Pangoa is part of our Fair to Farmer Direct™ program. They were the first co-operative to sign-on to F2F in early 2010. One year later, with happy healthy famers producing exceptional coffees neither we, nor CAC Pangoa have looked back
Enjoy your cup.
Banks Thomas, Director of Coffee
2011 Pick 1.0
