I’m very excited to share with you this lovely coffee from the Rwandan Cup of Excellence, this lot of coffee placed 13th with a average score of 86.69 from the international jury. I was lucky enough to be on this jury this year and this was one of my favorite coffees- it had tough competition! Although this coffee cups very differently here than in Rwanda it is still super tasty, we found it to be very sweet like a super sweet peach syrup, with prunes and a lovely lime acidity that makes it super balanced you’ll also find a hint of vanilla and jasmine in the finish. I hope you enjoy it as much as we do.

NAIROBI The Kenyan buying season is one of my favourite times of the year, a great reason to visit a country and coffees that I love. The harvest is running a little late this year, so even though I delayed my trip by a couple of weeks I might still have arrived a few weeks before the real big hitters roll in from the mills. Nevertheless, getting early indicators of which factories and lots are going to stand out is a good base for later sample shipments. Wednesday was a lovely day of extensive but leisurely cupping at the Dorman offices. With Kennedy and Daniel I got a chance to take part in a cupping of some of Armajaro’s C lots, including some Tanzanian AA’s, AB’s and grinders. It’s always useful to calibrate yourself on the types of coffee that go into bulk blends, instant and the like, it really makes you appreciate the clean, articulated, complex coffees that we strive to produce in specialty. We went through between 100 -120 samples, most of them from week 13’s auction catalogue, and some outturn weeks 17 and 18 samples from the mills. Unlike last year, and more true to ‘tradition’, the AB’s while mostly very good, are not standing out as much as the AA’s, and there are a fair few AA and PB lots that are already showing promise. With John retired, Sam has taken over the sample roaster and has really kept the coffee’s potential showing through well. Even in the cases of bad potential, like the Western Kenya coffee that had potato in one of the cups. A first for me in Kenyans, I was really surprised to see this. Lydia mentioned that this lot was from a factory close to Lake Victoria and not from the areas around Nyeri where we usually find our coffees. I’m not sure if it has anything to do with what’s in the water, but hopefully it’s not something that is going to keep spreading across the lake from the potato-ridden Rwanda and Burundi. As the cupping progressed I was happy to see some old favourites showing well across more than one grade, and some more AB’s standing out. My favourite Kenyan barista, John Muli, also stopped in for a quick cupping. I left Lydia with a wishlist for which factories I’d be keen to revisit later in a couple of days and went off for a visit to the KCCE warehouse for a quick tour. After spending far too long in a hot taxi either sitting in the traffic or bumping along on the unbelievably badly maintained dirt roads (how any big trucks make it down these paths is beyond me) I pulled up to see the smiling faces of Phyllis and Lucy, two lovely ladies who market the KCCE coffees, run the cupping lab and facilitate contracts between buyers and coops. They are a young company but are very keen to get into the specialty side and very open to the exchange of information throughout the chain for overall quality improvement. Their warehouse currently holds about 14000 bags comfortably/18000 bags uncomfortably, but was only half full so far with the late harvest. Clean, tidy and well organized, these guys really impressed me and I look forward to seeing how they progress. Snailing back into the city center it had finally become dinner time. Being the season for green buyers to be in town, I was lucky enough to end up sharing a meal with a great bunch of people, like Eton Tsuno from Temple Coffee (thanks for the coffee!), Jeff Duggan from Portola and a lovely girl from Terarosa whose name I won’t brave spelling! Interesting discussions ensued on the difference between Kenyan and Central American farming, processing and sale/purchase procedures, the pros and cons of either structures, and the benefits on exchanging information and resources between such differing worlds. THIKA The next morning the trip went up country to Thika and a visit to SMS who I also visited last year. This time I took the opportunity to have a look at their varietal plot, with young plantings of K7, Ruiru 11, SL28 and SL34 trees, as well as 40 Batian trees, the new variety that has many buyers worried that quality might end up sacrificed for yield and disease resistance. The way that ECOM works in Kenya through the SMS/Highlands/Sangana structure is really interesting, and it was great to hear more news of the progress they are making in farm outreach programs. According to their numbers, in Kenya 700.000 producers have less than 4 hectares of coffee growing land, there are 2000 small estates of 4-25 hectares, and only about 200 large estates of 25 ha +. But while the smallholders have a far larger share of total land between them, the estates still outperform them on yield by 5-6 kg of coffee per tree. Of the roughly 75% of total land that they have, the shambas only produce 60% of the total cherry, while the estates represent 40% of the country’s output on their roughly 25% of the total production area. One of the goals for SMS is to organize the growers and spread information and resources among them to be able to increase their yield from 1-2 kg cherry per tree up to 5kg. This would be achieved by improving for example the fertilizing and pruning schedules. Over a 3 year period they have seen the average outputs of model farms increase by 2 to 2.5 kg, and while there is still room for improvements the early signs are good. They also target female producers specifically, as they found that while the husbands would be the ones who came to the lectures, they rarely passed the info down to their wives, who are the ones actually working the land. They have about 2000 farmers who now act as promoter farmers, and by encouraging women to step up to this role in increasing numbers, the results have improved noticeably. I also got some more detail on how the pricing structure works, from auction price through the warehouse/mill/society/factory structure down to the growers. In 2010/11 (generally a good year price wise for the growers) the average price paid at auction was $329 per 50kg of coffee. About 30% of this goes to cover taxes, commissions and fees paid to the mills, marketing agents etc. Of the 70% left, another 20% goes towards running the societies and factories, maintaining the equipment, paying staff etc. Someone correct me if I’m wrong, but that should mean that the grower should that year have received an average of $3.68 for his cherry, which compared to the (current) C is a very good price. However, the cost of production in Kenya is high and difficult to calculate, and prices are unstable from year to year as is the harvest. Seasons 08/09 and 09/10 generally saw prices of about half, or less than half, of that $3.68. We then drove northwest from Thika to Gatura, to see Mabae, the smallest of the Kinogerama Society’s five wetmills. It’s made up of about 400 members, one of them being manager Samuel Kirangi who together with Esther the record keeper and Peter from SMS took us around to see the factory. They explained their procedure which goes along with what I normally see in Kenya. The growers collect the ripest cherries in the morning, deliver to the factory between 10am and 5pm, sort again at the delivery point, and then have only their best cherries weighed and filled into the receiving tanks. They can deliver as often as 3 times per week if they want, normally picking at least once a week over the 2-3 months that harvest lasts. Samuel’s farm is 2 acres, one planted with Ruiru 11, the other with tea and other foods, with room for his cows. While coffee is the more profitable crop, it only provides income for a few months per year. Tea however is an all year round crop, so Samuel delivers freshly picked leaves to the collection point 15 km away on a weekly basis, earning him 14 shilling per kg. All the growers have their own identifying number and Esther will make note of everything that they bring, issue a receipt and distribute a small advance on pay issued by the society (it can take up to 4 months from picking till the coffee sells at auction). Everything about how the coffee is fermented, dried and stored is made note of, and after the coffee gets delivered to the mill, they get a milling report on how the coffee graded and cupped. This way they can implement measures to improve year on year. While this factory stopped receiving cherry 4 weeks ago, it’s easy to see how the operation works. From the collection tanks, the 4 disc pulper/sorter that can do 4000kg per hour, the fermentation (12-24 hours) and soaking tanks (4-6 hours), the skin drying (1-3 hours) and drying tables (14-21 days) and the conditioning bins. While drying the parchment is covered to protect from the intense midday sun, and at night to keep the dew away. Water is pumped up from the Chania river and recycled onsite to comply with the regulations of their certificates. The Mabae factory is at a fairly low altitude, so they have just finished their small crop, and are expecting the larger main crop in April/May. They have only been with SMS and their farm outreach project for a year, but are already seeing the benefits in more efficient management, cleanliness around the mills and better staff training. Still they are facing challenges such as low prices, lack of funds for fertilizers and machinery, and too dry, wet or cold weather at the wrong times of year. Grower motivation has been low, labour is intensive and the average age of the growers is increasing as the younger generation opts out of continuing to farm the land they inherit. One younger producer who has embraced the SMS support and seen the benefits is smallholder Salome, who has about 200 productive trees on her shamba close to the Mabae factory. With a year’s worth of training and more focus on weed control, pruning and fertilizing with compost, her production has at least doubled. From a very low yield she now produces close to 4kg per tree, but the target is still 5+. She also has avocado trees, sugarcane, bananas, timber from her shade trees, chickens and cows to supplement her income, as the coffee trees didn’t use to pay for themselves nevermind make a profit. But with continued work she hopes to turn this trend around for good. To complete the chain we stopped by The Highlands Mill to see their operation and squeeze in a quick cupping, before spending another few hours on the highway heading back into Nairobi. I won’t hold my breath but I hope that after the upcoming elections, somebody will seriously see to sorting out this appalling traffic! Read more in last year’s Kenya reports: Part 1 Part 2 Part 3

To celebrate the new run of Tshirts we have created a new blend to go with them, This blend of Sweetshop is comprised of, our super fun Naturally processed lot from Ethiopia, Jirmiwachu (60%) and a fully washed lot from Tega and Tela Farm in Limu, also Ethiopia. This may just be our fruitiest one yet! This latest blend can be found here

We have extended the run of sweetshop tshirts due to demand! This will be the last run of these (for real) We have 100 mens printed on 100 % cotton Continental Tshirts . If you want one they can be ordered here . Please be aware that there is limited number of these tshirts and exchanges for sizes may not be possible, so please check size before ordering.

Last year we hosted a yard sale of all our old and spare cups, saucers, brewing implements, tools, accessories etc etc. It was a huge success so we are doing another one, except we’re doing it inside, cause it’s freezing out there! We’ll open up for the public two days next week, so you can come grab yourself a bargain piece of equipment, drink some coffee or pick up some beans for the holidays! We’re at 8 Pritchards Road, E2 9AP. Our normal webshop range will also be available for sale. Tuesday Dec 18th 4pm-7pm Friday Dec 21st 3pm-5pm Most of the items are used, some are new in boxes, and a lot of it has history as part of barista competitions. We hope to see you next week! Here are some examples of the sort of things we’ll have on offer, and there’s lots more where this came from!

Earlier this year I was lucky enough to be selected to partake in the 2012 Cup of Excellence in Rwanda, this was the country’s fourth competition. After partaking in the El Salvador COE 2011 as an observer I was nervous and excited to judge for the first year. Rwanda was my first choice of country as I went to El Salvador last year and I wanted to go somewhere completely different and see how differently things are done. I flew into Rwanda’s capital Kigali where the jury stayed the night before driving straight to the lab in Kayonza district which is east of Kigali. Driving out to Kayonza it struck me how clean and tidy everywhere is- so clean and everyone is so house proud. The amount of people I saw outside of their houses sweeping and cleaning was amazing, I don’t think I’ve ever seen that in the UK. I was told later on that once a month everyone has to get out and clean the streets from rubbish hence why the streets are so clean. When we arrived in Kayonza we went straight into calibration and getting comfortable with the sheets. In total there were 26 international jurors from Japan, America, United Kingdom, Germany, Czech Republic, and many more which created a wide and varied selection of palates which always leads to exciting and sometimes strange descriptions. The national jury had cupped over 300 coffees and whittled our selection down to 169 coffees, the national jury clearly worked very hard and I do not envy their job! The next day the hard work was meant to start, we were due to cup at least half the submissions, however we could only do 2 tables due to a power cut the night before which meant the coffees could not be roasted in time. We came to learn that power cuts are a regular occurrence. The next 2 days were spent cupping all the remaining entries which were 51 coffees, the roasters had stayed up to midnight roasting all the samples so we could cup them in time. It’s hard to imagine how much work and effort goes into running one of these competitions especially when you have to work against things like power cuts. These people make it all possible, there’s so many awesome people here I hope I get to see them again in the future! The amazing people that make it all possible! After the Cup of Excellence was over I was fortunate enough to be invited by Jo Berry from Mercanta to visit a couple of washing stations that they buy from, on this list was Buf Cafe, Kinunu and Musasa; all of which were amazing but I was super excited to go to Musasa. I have been in love with this coffee for a couple of years, but last year was the first year I have personally roasted it and was not only super tasty but it was a dream to roast. Musasa On the day after the competition Zacharie the general manager of the farmers association for RWASHOSSCO picked us up from our hotel in Kigali and drove us a couple of hours north west to the Ruli district where Musasa is. RWASHOSSCO is a small farmer owned marketing/exporting and roasting company that works on bringing together small co-operatives to increase quality and value in coffee they work. With 16 washing stations and 6 coops in Rwanda, RWASHOSSCO was originally run by Minani (who is the president of Musasa now ) and Epiphany (who owns Buf cafe) We were greeted at Gatagara washing station which is part of the Musasa Co-op by Minani who is the president of the co-op and Issac who is the general manager. Musasa has approx. 2000 local farmers that deliver coffee to be processed. Minani showed us where the coffee gets delivered and sorted by the farmers before being weighed and graded by employees of Musasa, each lot of coffee is then given a code before the processing starts. All coffee from that day will be tagged with a code that represents the day i.e. 15th of August will be 1508 and this tag will follow the coffee through all stages of processing so that it can be tracked back to a farmer if needed. Zacharie explaining the coding system. Musasa employs up to 200 people in high season, every drying table has a single person that is responsible for ensuring that the coffee is turned when needed and making sure it is cleared for the next lot when the coffee is ready. The coffee spends an average of 21 days on the tables depending on weather. Coffee in Parchment waiting to go to the dry mill. This coffee was wet processed on the 9th of August, as you can see by the code on the bag- making it traceable back to the farmers. After being removed from the drying table, coffee in parchment is bagged up and stored in the warehouse to be sent out to be dry milled in Kigali, still all with their code attached to it. The farmer is given a receipt for the coffee which they then take to the office for payment/invoicing. The information is filed by farmers name and includes all needed information like date, bank account details, sector, district, station, amount paid, price per kilo, advance, and then it is signed by the farmer. Musasa also have a savings type scheme set up so the farmer can choose to not collect their money until they need it, they can also get advances if wanted. Minani Musasa placed #18 in this competition and this system means that the farmers who’s coffee did so well will be fairly paid. Minani said that there were 20 farmers whose coffees were in the lot and they would be paid depending on the amount of coffee they contributed. Next to the station Minani has set up a small farm that is used for training local farmers on the best farming practices. This also allows the farmers to meet each other and exchange ideas and learn how to improve their quality. They also grow grass there that seeds are taken from and given to farmers to use on their land. Minani teaches the farmers to grow shade trees on their land and he has been given a grant from the government for his work in replanting shade trees and helping the environment. Shade trees Minani outside his training farm Overall I was really impressed with Musasa’s dedication to helping their farmers to be better and deliver the best quality coffee they can. They understand the importance of education in a community that does not have easy access to such things and work hard to work together. I look forward to roasting this coffee again this year and hopefully I will be able to do it justice. If you ever get the chance to go to Rwanda my advice would be to go, it’s amazing! The people are the most amazing, warm, caring and welcoming, the scenery is beautiful, I could imagine living here very happily, AND they have coffee on their money! Coffee money! DUKUNDEKAWA – COFFEE LOVE

It’s getting close to that time of year again! Square Mile will be closed from and with Saturday December 22nd, to and with Tuesday January 1st. We do recommend that you place your orders well in advance of the 22nd, and order enough to last till around January 7th to avoid delays in shipping. For webshop customers, the last roast and dispatch day before the holidays will be Thursday Dec 20th. The first roast and dispatch day (including filter subscriptions) in 2013 will be Thursday Jan 3rd. For wholesale customers, the last day we’ll send coffee out via DPD will be Thursday Dec 20th. Our Friday deliveries with the van will go as normal on the 21st. The first day we’ll be sending coffee out with DPD in the new year will be Thursday Jan 3rd. Van deliveries will resume on Friday Jan 4th for those on that regular run. If you’re nearby and urgently need coffee after the holidays, we’ll be back in the office starting Wednesday Jan 2nd and you’re welcome to come collect from the roastery or arrange for a courier to pick some up. We wish you all a great festive season! Team Square Mile

I was also lucky enough to be able to attend the 1st Burundi Cup of Excellence, another great opportunity to explore an origin I don’t often see samples of. Held in Bujumbura, it was a week of wonderful people and gorgeous landscapes, and in spite of the potato problem ; some really tasty coffee.

Straight after the Honduras Cup of Excellence I flew to Mexico City to take part in the first ever Mexico Cup of Excellence, a competition many years in the making and a very exciting chance to explore an origin I rarely get to cup. We were really happy to be able to purchase the 3rd place winner from La Lagunilla , which is now available in the webshop !

Back in May I had the pleasure of attending the Honduran Cup of Excellence in Tegucigalpa. I didn’t manage to get too many pictures but I thought I’d put a couple up on here just to have a small record of some of the people involved in the event.