Meet this inspiring woman producer

Dulciniea " Dulce " Borge from Sitio Pinheirinho, Brazil

Dulce was born blind and is an immensely inspiring woman. Dulce never let her blindness cause her to fear her future or fear her work as a coffee farmer. Instead she sees it as an opportunity:

“Vision from the heart is much more important than vision from the eyes. The heart sees everything, while the eyes only see.”

Dulce is also a key part of the Flowers in Action (Flores em Aceo) Project. Flores em Aceo encourages women to produce, process and brand their own coffee, showcasing their talent, creativity and journey. The dedication and passion of these women have proved to be essential ingredients in the creation of outstanding coffee micro-lots.

Dulce says that working with coffee is very gratifying for her, not only because of the remuneration but also because of the ones who value her hard work. “There are moments when Jose Paulo finds himself a bit down, but then he thinks of me and all that I’ve been through, and how I am such an independent woman, able to roast, grind and pack our own coffee. He gets motivated and that’s how he keeps working with devotion and love” – she says.

Being women coffee roaster ourselves, we are very proud to be roasting this beautiful natural process Yellow Catuai from the amazing woman producer herself. We're tasting lots of tropical fruit notes and hints of toasted almonds.

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THE ARRIVALS OF 2021 CROP

It's that time of the year where we get to roast the most fresh arrivals from this year's crop!!

We have officially sold out of all 2020 crop coffees, and welcoming many many fresh crops to drop in the next month. We have secured 8 different lots of Ethiopia Washed that are arriving now in May. So far 4 lots of Kenya AA and AB. We are roasting 2 of the 4 fresh crop Brazils that have arrived earlier this month. We are also in the process of cupping all the samples of Ethiopia Natural process, Colombia and Peru.

We are very committed to serve only the best quality and work very hard to secure just enough coffees for us to roast the freshest crop possible for our beloved coffee friends. This way we can ensure that ickle will always be a vibrant, bright, complex and juicy as we don't roast coffees that are out of season. Older green beans could affect the cup quality such as baggy taste, stale, defective and very dull.

These are some of the fresh crops we are roasting right now. Including fresh crop of the same Ethiopia Kebele, Yirgacheffe Washed we have been roasting for espresso the past three months. We are now roasting 2021 crop for both espresso and filter/long espresso use.

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The Mandarin Process

I would like to talk about this special coffee we're roasting at the moment.

Colombia Luz Helena, Finca Maracay in Quindio region.

100% Caturra varietal grown at 1,600 MASL

coffee cherries were picked at their ripest then undergo the long complicated process called " Mandarin Washed"

Different experimental coffee fermentations has been very popular the past 5 years in specialty coffee industry. Where producers go beyond the natural fermentation when yeast, bacteria, and other microorganisms break down the sugar molecules in the mucilage inside the cherry naturally. This process produces acids and alcohols, which in turn can affect the flavour of the coffee it produces. Poor practices in fermentation can cause the coffee to be over ferment, producing mouldy and undesirable flavours in coffee. Controlling the environment at fermentation process is very important to produce great cup qualities.

Throughout the years we've seen many styles of fermentation in coffee processing, such as the very popular carbonic maceration where the coffee undergoes fermentation in a rich carbon dioxide and limited oxygen environment.

Recent experiments in Colombia, farmers are including fruits in the fermentation process.

We've cupped many of these interesting coffees from Colombia over the last year or two such as Cinnamon process, Lactic Natural, Eucalyptus Honey and Natural, Mint Natural, Rum Aged, Ginger Honey and The Mandarin Processes just to name a few.

This is our first time purchasing coffees that include fruit in the processing, this coffee was a stunner on the cupping table, it has a very clean, crisp and clear tasting profiles unlike the other ones we've tasted throughout the years. With tasting notes of my favourite citrus "Yuzu" along with lemon myrtle, honey and maple syrup, this coffee is A MUST for ickle coffee.

In addition to cultivating coffee, Jairo and Luz Helena also grow mandarin oranges and cherimoya on the farm. This 100% Caturra lot was exposed to an anaerobic fermentation of 48 hours, during this fermentation period, citric acid and dehydrated mandarine skin were added to the anaerobic environment. Later the coffee was placed on raised beds below 35 degrees celsius until ideal moisture content of 11% was achieved.

We have a very limited amount of this amazing coffee. Which we have sold half the amount we secured in

2 hours after releasing on our website.

Enjoy brewing :)

Rowena