Quaffee Newsletter V5I7 November 2016

We would like to take some time to thank you for your support. For us at Quaffee, it has enabled us to continually push the boundaries of what kind of coffee is on offer in South Africa. Thank you for subscribing and taking your time to read our wordy newsletter, and tell you friends about us. This month we reflect back on the year and look forward to what is still to come before we see the end of 2016. We have had a number of firsts this year, do you remember them all?

Looking Back

This year our conviction of only using traceable, quality coffee that reward producers as directly as possible, has been pushed to the limits. On the exceptional side, we have sourced some amazing coffees that the specialty coffee world has identified as rather special:

• First time we offered a limited amount of the famous Hacienda Esmeralda Geisha.
• For the first time ever we secured 2 Ninety Plus coffees. A washed Kemgin Level 7 and a natural Nekisse Level 12 – the latter of which is one of the most remarkable coffees we have ever offered. These coffees have not sold very well, showing us that we need to be very careful in securing coffees of this quality. But if you are looking to spoil yourself or someone you love, then we would recommend you order them before they are gone.
• We have also secured the third place Burundi Cup of Excellence (CoE) winner from Ben at Long Miles Coffee Project, even having to assist in organising the over land tucking of this coffee as well as the other offerings from Long Miles.

Although we have almost totally removed non-specialty grade coffees from our offering, economic pressures have coerced us to still offer some coffee in the value for money section of our available coffees through our Armonizar blend and Sidamo. These coffees may not be fully traceable but they do provide coffee with a basic ethical minimum. The rand and coffee price have not helped this year. We set our pricing structure up in March and sometimes it has been a challenge to secure coffees on time and within budget. We have had a number of transport issues this year, with coffees being delayed from almost every origin. However at the moment we have secured quite a bit of stock so we hope to continue to offer specialty grade coffees at prices that are world beating.

Long Miles Coffee Project talk

Of course being involved with bringing Ben and Kristy from Long Mile Project in Burundi to talk was a unique experience. We believe that this is the first time a coffee producer has been to South Africa to talk publicly about their experiences. The talks were video-ed and are available on our YouTube Channel http://youtube.com/Quaffee.

New Coffees

There are a number of new coffees that have arrived and we will release them as space becomes available on the green and roasted shelves in the roastery. We have also been extending our offering through roasting some coffees at the Vineyard Hotel Roastery that we do not roast at Buitenverwachting. Please subscribe to our twitter or facebook feed for these announcements as releasing a newsletter for each coffee tends to feel like SPAM, which we do not want to perpetuate. Of the coffees that have landed, we have released  an old favourite from Palestina in Colombia (read more here: Quebrandón Info). We also have a new El Savador: Montecristo.

Ethiopia Trip

At the end of November and early December, Frog Quaffer is visiting Ethiopia. The visit only includes the Southern Coffee areas and Addis. The Western area is considered dangerous and so had to be stripped from our plans. This is a pity since it is believed that this is the original area where coffee was first consumed. It is also the area of the most genetically diverse Arabica in the world.

New Website and December

Our new website is close to being finished and we will be taking it live over the December break. Our last delivery of the year will be 22 December and our first will be on the 3rd of January. We will be running the roastery at Buiten for half days on 28, 29 and 30 December.