January 2011

• India Coffee Sourcing Trip

  Thu 20 January, 2011
  

  Grumpy Mule’s Damian heads off to India today on a coffee sourcing expedition where he will be meeting producers and exporters, visiting farms and coffee mills and the Indian coffee board.

  His full trip diary, report and photos will be available very soon at www.grumpymule.co.uk

• Tanzania Footprint - Arrival of shipment

  Wed 19 January, 2011
  

  The new crop shipment of Tanzania Footprint from the Blackburn Estate has finally arrived here at Grumpy Mule HQ in Meltham, so we’ll hopefully be roasting the first fresh batch tomorrow. We’ve already sample roasted and tasted the coffee and it’s on fine form, so any orders placed in the online shop from today onwards will be for the new harvest of this coffee.

  Click here to buy Tanzania Footprint in the Grumpy Mule online shop.

• Rwanda Dukunde Kawa Lot 7 Cup of Excellence

  Tue 18 January, 2011
  Rwanda Cup of Excellence

  Back in October we bought the entire award winning Lot 7 from the Rwanda Cup of Excellence auction. The coffee was produced by around 400 farmers affiliated to the Nkara washing station, one of the coffee processing stations associated with the Musasa (Dunkunde Kawa) cooperative.

  This is the first time we’ve ever committed to a full lot but as we wanted to support both the producers and the Cup of Excellence program and hopefully get this coffee into as many shops and homes as possible when the shipment arrives.

  This season will be our 5th year of buying Musasa coffee from the Dukunde Kawa cooperative in the Ruli sector of Rwanda. In that time, we’ve seen their coffee enjoy considerable success in the Great Taste Awards, with 3 Star Gold in 2008 and 2 Star Gold in 2009, and it has enjoyed such popularity amongst our customers that it can be seen as one of the very first Grumpy Mule “Classics”.

  This unique lot was prepared under the guidance of farmer Ladislas Ntagozera, with coffee supplied by many of the 400 producer farmers affiliated to this central washing station where the harvested coffee is brought for processing. It was entered into the 2010 Rwanda Cup of Excellence competition and not only scored highly enough to win the prestigious award, but also finished in a superb 7th place. Congratulations to them and we hope that all of our customers enjoy trying this fine brew!

  From the Bourbon Arabica varietal, this...

• Peru Cafe Femenino Fairtrade Organic Coffee

  Thu 13 January, 2011
  

  Grumpy Mule introduced UK coffee lovers to Café Femenino coffees early in 2010 with our Organic Bolivian (Fairtrade certified) from the women producers of Union Pro-Agro Cooperative. This coffee proved a huge success last year and we’re delighted that we’ve sourced this particular coffee again from the recent harvest, which is due to arrive at the Roastery very soon.
  
  In the meantime, we’ve just received a batch of Organic Peruvian coffee sourced under the Café Femenino program. It’s from women producers of the CECANOR cooperative (Central de Servicios Cafeteleros del Nor Orinete) from the Lambayeque region of Peru in association with the PROASSA organisation and we’ll be roasting this coffee for some local friends of ours.
  
  The Café Femenino Coffee Project is a social program for women coffee producers in rural communities around the world and more than 1,500 women in Bolivia, Colombia, Dominican Republic, Guatemala, Mexico and Peru are active in the project to achieve empowerment, build social and support networks, and earn incomes through the production and sale of 100% single origin, “Café Femenino” coffees.
  
  The success of the Project also initiated the creation of The Café Femenino Foundation, which provides direct grants to selected programs and projects that enhance the lives of women and their families in coffee growing communities. In Bolivia this...

• New Season Harvest of Rwanda Musasa

  Mon 10 January, 2011
  

  The new season harvest of Rwanda Musasa from the Dukunde Kawa (Musasa) Cooperative is due to arrive in early February. This Bourbon Arabica coffee has been a Grumpy Mule coffee since our very earliest days and it’s always a pleasure to receive another delivery of this.

  A sweet, lemony coffee with a caramel-like finish its vibrant flavour makes it perfect for breakfast and daytime drinking. This coffee has also done consistently well in the annual Great Taste Awards, with 2 Star Gold in 2009, the unprecedented 3 Star Gold in 2008 and 1 Star Gold in 2007, showing it to be one of the finest cafetiere-filter coffees available in the UK.

  We’d also recommend trying the micro-lot of Cup of Excellence award winning coffee that we’re expecting to arrive around the same time – this is from Musasa but from a specific group of producers within the cooperative who are affiliated to one of the localised washing stations (Nkara / RWASHOSCCO) in the Ruli sector of Northern Rwanda where the coffee is processed.