Our Beloved House Blend
I bet you thought you were about to read something scandalous? Nah! No chance. We’ve got something even better – an ode to our house blend, The Truth.
You could say this is the coffee that started it all. It’s been the steadfast espresso blend that’s been there from the start. It’s guzzled in the form of flat whites in cafés all over the South West and we couldn’t imagine a better coffee to do the job. We work with two outstanding producers to create a blend that is consistent, balanced, sweet and works great with milk. Our focus is on building long-term and sustainable relationships with our entire supply chain in order to ensure consistency, traceability and great quality. I know none of this reads “sexy”, “exciting” or “ground breaking”, but you know what, that’s not what The Truth is about. It’s about cutting through the bullsh*t and creating the single most awesome house blend for our customers.
The Truth is a seasonal blend of Brazil/Peru for first 6 months of the year and switches to Brazil/Honduras for the second half of the year. We do this in order to maintain the freshest crop throughout the year. This will also help us to ensure year-round consistency to an otherwise seasonally fluctuating crop.
Peru is in South America, and Honduras in Central America, so the timing works perfectly (since they harvest at opposite ends of the year). This change will mitigate any risk of having coffee in the blend that is older than we’d like, and will ensure The Truth shines just how it should, all year round.
Brazil Fazenda Paraiso
Pulped Natural Process
Region: Minas Gerais | Variety: Mundo Novo, Yellow and Red Catuai
The Brazil element of The Truth is produced on a farm called Paraiso, by a fantastic producer called Guy Carvalho. Guy is an agronomist who works closely with other farmers in his community to help improve their farming practices. He even has a Youtube channel (and an Instagram page) where he shares information about his agronomic escapades. It’s gripping stuff, if you know Portuguese.
Guy is a great example of responsible farming with biodiversity at its core. He acquired his farm back in 1990 and it’s part of several initiatives to improve high-quality production in Brazil. Fazenda Paraiso is situated in Cabo Verde, a traditional coffee region which has a great microclimate and ideal conditions for growing coffee, but what’s incredible is that more than 20% of his farm is in preserved, indigenous forest. There are also several water springs protected by native vegetation. The dried coffee husks from processing are returned to the tillage in the form of organic compost to further enrich the soil. The farm also benefits from having a beekeeping neighbour, meaning there is a good quantity of natural pollinators during flowering. The farm is located in a mountainous area and the forests run between the coffee plantation, forming a large ecological corridor allowing the transit of wild animals. The list could go on.
Sounds nice and romantic, right? Yeah, but the fact is, Guy’s coffee tastes incredible as a result and brings an amazing mouthfeel and sweetness to the blend. It’s a low acidity coffee, which is exactly what we want, and has notes of chocolate and a slight nuttyness running through it...
Honduras Finca los Ranchitos y Anonas
Washed Process
Region: El Paraíso | Variety: Parainema and Yellow Catuai
The Honduran component comes from the high-altitude hills near Yuscarán where misty mornings and cool nights create ideal conditions for slow cherry development and complex flavour. Father and son team Sebastián and Orlin Valladares farm just over 12 hectares across Finca Los Ranchitos and Finca Las Anonas. The last three years have seen them adopt methods across both farms to improve yields, quality and efficiency. This coffee delivers a sticky, dense and plummy sweetness that makes it really shine with milk.
