Orders are shipped every Monday, Thursday and Friday. Blends are roasted on Mondays and Fridays each week whilst single origins are roasted only on Wednesdays at this stage (due to batch size requirements).
The roast degree for our seasonal blend is a little more developed (darker) than our individual single origins - making it easier to use for espresso brewing and imparting it with less acidity. Also the right choice for those who enjoy more 'traditional' flavour profiles.
For our seasonal blend we combine ethically traded and in-season single origin coffees to create something both delicious and dependable. For more information on the individual blend components click on the links above!
The coffee beans in this blend began as the seeds of coffee cherries - the seasonal fruit of a tropical forest shrub, grown predominantly in East Africa, Central and South America and Southeast Asia. before being roasted by us, those raw seeds had to be nurtured, carefully hand picked when ripe, fermented, dried and exported. It is a long supply chain fraught with difficulties - that sip of coffee you're enjoying began a long way away and is the result of the hard work of many people.
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Roaster's Choice Subscription
Regular price
$19.00Sale price$17.00
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Our roaster's choice coffee subscription.
Ethically traded, freshly roasted coffee delivered to your door every month? Couldn't be easier! Chose any combination of quantity, size, grind and frequency and we'll keep you supplied with a rotating selection of our unique and delicious single origins.
For filter coffee drinkers we recommend this - the Roaster's Choice Subscription and for the espresso drinkers out there we suggest the Seasonal Blend subscription.
Shipping is charged as per usual - that is receive FREE shipping on any subscriptions of more than 250g per delivery.
Fazenda Progresso (Natural) - Brazil
Regular price$17.00
Save $-17.00
Toasted nuts, butterscotch and milk chocolate.
Country: Brazil State: Bahia Region: Chapada Diamantina Town: Mucugê Altitude: 1,150m above sea level Variety: Catuaí Processing: Natural Owner: Borré Family Awards: Cup of Excellence 2015 #15 Sourced Through: Melbourne Coffee Merchants ---
Fazenda Progresso is a beautiful farm nestled in the Chapada Diamatina mountain range in the heart of Bahia. The farm is surrounded by the Chapada Diamantina National Park, known for its mountainous cliff formations (Chapada) and 19th century diamond mining (Diamantina).
The history of Fazenda Progresso dates back to 1984, when the Borré family migrated from southern Brazil to the northeast and purchased some land in the municipality of Ibicoara, near the town of Mucugê. In the early years, the family tried growing crops such as soybeans, wheat, and English potatoes. The potatoes turned out to be an incredibly successful crop, stimulating investments and making the family one of the largest producers of potatoes in Brazil!
In 2005, the Borré family sought to diversify the activities on their land, and so began to focus on coffee. As MCM learnt when they first met the family, when they commit to a new project, they seek to do it to the very highest possible standard. Their work with coffee is no exception. The family’s commitment to producing exceptional coffee has been unwavering over the last decade. They have sought advice from some of the most respected professionals in the field, including Silvio Leite, founder of the Cup of Excellence and president of the Brazil Specialty Coffee Association, with 30 years’ experience in coffee grading, tasting, and quality control.
The Borré family has invested heavily to ensure that they have the very best infrastructure to process coffee, which allows them to control quality every step of the way, from picking right through to export. They have a dedicated quality control lab with a talented cupping team headed up by Ednaldo Nascimento (AKA ‘Gandula’—nicknamed after the boy that replaces the ball during a soccer match)! Gandula and his team assess every lot of coffee produced and ensure that the quality is the very best it can be.
The Borrés are very hands-on in their approach to managing the farm. They are extremely professional in the way they conduct their business, and they take great care to create an excellent work environment for their staff. Throughout the year, there are around 200 permanent staff members on the farm, and this number grows to 650 during the harvest. Many of these harvest workers return every year, and all are provided with daily bus transportation and food.
In total, 700 hectares of the property are dedicated to coffee; this land is divided up into different plots, which are processed separately. Over time, the family has worked out the optimum way to plant coffee trees in order to maximise productivity, with 50 centimetres between each tree and three metres between each row of trees.This year we have purchased coffee from four different plots on the property; each is extremely unique in its profile, and all are exceptional!
Historically all of the coffee at Fazenda Progresso was processed using the pulped natural method, but in 2017 Fabiano started to experiment with naturally processed coffee, and the results have been exceptional. This lot is a natural processed lot from the farm, which was carefully hand-picked by a specially trained team in August. The cherries were selected at the peak of ripeness, and then carefully dried on meticulously clean patios in the sun, and turned regularly to ensure they dried evenly. When the cherry was almost purple, the dried fruit skin and parchment was taken off with a mechanical huller at Progresso’s mill. The coffee was then rested until ready for export.
The Borré family business has always been managed and directed by family members and is now in its third generation of operation. Fabiano Borré looks after everything to do with the coffee side of the business. He is young, focused and very motivated to produce the very best coffee he can. You can read an interview with Fabiano Borré here.
“Working with something so sensitive, so changeable, involving the most varied areas of knowledge and then get to share all this with incredible people… it’s amazing. That’s why I choose coffee!” – Fabiano Borré
The Borré family takes great care to protect and preserve the ecological health of their area. Water is conserved and meteorological stations are positioned throughout the farm to optimise irrigation and ensure the trees get the right amount of water. Cascara pulp from processing is composted (along with potato wastage, which is very high in potassium and great for coffee trees!) and used to fertilise trees throughout the plantation.
In 2015, for the first time, the Borré family entered their coffee into the Cup of Excellence competition. It placed 15th—a fantastic achievement and testament to the hard work, resources, and focus that have been put into producing exceptional coffee.
This wonderful coffee with intense fruit notes is produced by Upstream's partners GnF at their Konga Sede Washing Station, in the heart of Yirgacheffe - just a couple of miles away from the town that gave name to this world-renown coffee. The station is managed by Yirgalen Melid, who has been working there for almost 20 years. A producer himself, he coordinates the arrivals of coffee during the harvest, and the processing of the beans according to the strict quality guidelines.
More than 400 farmers, known as 'outgrowers' deliver their fresh coffee cherries the same day they are picked from the field to the station, whether for washed or natural processing. The farms, small in size, are situated at an elevation between 1,750 and 2,200 meters above sea level. The total annual production of the washing station is around 150 tonnes. The most common variety of tree is known locally as 'Weleso Gurume'.
Growers are paid the first installment on the spot, then many times they stick around to overlook how their beans are processed. During the offseason they are paid a balance previously agreed upon. This is not an imposed condition but rather a mutual arrangement with the farmers to help them plan their domestic finances. They do not have to go through the ECX but the outturn quality test is of the same standard. The additional transport expenses are saved by the outgrowers adding to their bottom line revenue.
GnF is a family producer and they have 4 washing stations. Upstream have been working with them for 3 years and one of the business patterns (Nithya) visited them last year. They have been focussing on consistently high quality and standardising the processing. Upstream encourage roasters to support respective producer programs directly with financial assistance - 'Upstream Endeavour’ is a program wherein they complete the cycle by giving back to the deserving parties in the supply chain.
Google Maps location of the station can be visited here.
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6 Month Subscription (Gift/Pre-paid)
Regular price
$150.00Sale price$135.00
Save $15.00
6 Month Subscription (Gift/Pre-paid).
Ethically traded, freshly roasted coffee delivered to your (or a friend's!) door every month? Couldn't be easier! Simply select if you'd like single origins or the seasonal blend and then the grind (if needed).
If you choose Single Origin and we'll keep you (or the lucky friend) supplied with a rotating selection of our unique and delicious single origins (good for filter coffee drinkers). Or choose Seasonal Blend for a regular supply of our steadfast and crowd-pleasing blend (good for espresso drinkers).
Don't forget to also let us know if you need the coffee ground.
This is for one 250g bag delivered every month for 6 months (with no additional shipping costs).
Since 1920, Riverdale Estate has been a family owned business where three generations have worked to improve the quality of their coffee plants. The Farm is located in Eastern Ghat Mountains in Yercaud – South India. Prakashan Balaraman is a young and passionate coffee farmer who is challenging traditional coffee growing practices and processing in India.
In the last 10 years Riverdale Estate has been transformed with new modern farming practices like a state of art cupping lab, energy efficient pulping station(wet mill), drip irrigation for the plants, African style raised beds to dry all our coffee and temperature controlled storage room to store coffee beans post harvest The plantation sits at an altitude of 1450 meter above sea level where we grow Green tip Gesha, brown tip Gesha, SL9 and SL5B arabica varieties.
The Loam soil in these mountain ranges have a perfect mixture of clay, silt and sand to grow coffee and other crops like oranges, jackfruit & peppercorn. The estate has a natural water stream which flows throughout the year making it a very interesting place to cultivate coffee.
Only selective ripe cherries are hand picked by our trained pickers at Riverdale Estate. Quality picking = quality green beans this is in our DNA . Training our hand picker team on an ongoing basis and having quality control measure is the key to ensure coffee are picked at the optimum ripeness for different process.
Fruit development is a lengthly process understanding the maturation of the bean development on a weekly basis provides us the roadmap, the work starts from early on the seed development of the endosperm – how the seeds store protein and sucrose within its walls.
Coffee fruit ripen at different stages so our field manager starts the day by choosing which section of the farm is ready to be picked they do that by measuring the sugar content of the cherries with the help of brix meter, once they select the area in the farm we send the pickers to pick the cherries in the field. We invite our roasters community to visit our farm during harvest season (November – January) to experience first hand how the cherries are picked, processed and dried in the raised beds.
We sun dry the coffees in African style raised bed as it helps us to remove the excess water quickly and creates good air circulation for the coffee beans to dry evenly. Any defective or broken bean in the bed gets cleaned along the way. Every few hours coffee gets turned around by hand so all beans are exposed to the sun evenly. Part of the quality control we monitor the moisture loss every day with the help of the moisture meter and record all the data’s so we can maintain the consistency of every lot produced.
For naturals, honey, carbonic and anaerobic lots extra care is needed while drying in the bed. For the first 4 to 6 days coffees are dried in full sun and cherries are spread out evenly into thin layer so cherries dry evenly and the outer layer of the cherries are sealed properly. Coffees cherries are then moved into a part shade drying beds to slow the drying process for 20-25 days depending the process. Once the beans reaches between 10-13 % moisture we store the beans into a purpose build storage space where the humidity and temperature are monitored daily. All the lots processed are stored separately with the name tag where we record all the necessary information like when it was picked, drying conditions, lot size and processing information.
We sun dry the coffees in African style raised bed as it helps us to remove the excess water quickly and creates good air circulation for the coffee beans to dry evenly. Any defective or broken bean in the bed gets cleaned along the way. Every few hours coffee gets turned around by hand so all beans are exposed to the sun evenly. Part of the quality control we monitor the moisture loss every day with the help of the moisture meter and record all the data’s so we can maintain the consistency of every lot produced.
Unique coffee, produced ethically, traded transparently.
This coffee is the result of a research project and public-private sector partnership in Uganda aimed at improving the food security of coffee growers and their families through increasing the quality of their coffee and creating access to high value export markets. Our head roaster Adam was privileged enough to be part of the project team and with two other Adelaidians he met 'on the ground' - Eddy and Daniel - (and the immeasurable support of many more) went on to co-found Intersection Traders in order to bring the amazing coffee that has resulted to Australia. In doing so he's had the opportunity to take what he has learned working in specialty coffee over the years and, working with researchers and farmers on the ground - excuse the pun - 'practise what we preach'.
The coffee was grown on the slopes of Mt Elgon - a dormant volcano located in Kapchorwa in the east of Uganda. Literally translated from the local dialect as ‘Home of Friends’, Kapchorwa has a long history of arabica coffee production and is linked directly to coffee producers in Kenya - located on a smaller portion of the very same Mt Elgon and producing some of the highest quality coffee on the market. With strong diurnal temperature variation and two rainy seasons the region possesses optimal conditions for slow coffee development and an amazing environment of waterfalls and lush vegetation. Despite this ability to grow incredibly high quality coffee, exports of Ugandan coffee have previously only been to the commodity market - due mostly to a lack of access to specialty markets, knowledge or pre-financing and a decentralised post-harvest supply chain. All of which we are working to overcome.
Intersection Traders approached the development of a new specialty coffee program in Uganda with an explicit focus on ensuring that everybody engaged in the value chain would receive substantial improvements in income. Working with researchers at universities in Australia, Uganda and the Netherlands, they’ve trialled and implemented a novel contracting approach that allows coffee pickers and growers to be involved in a transparent and higher-paying harvesting program based around picking quality. From the outset they have explicitly sought to work primarily with youth and women in order to provide more opportunities to disadvantaged groups; furthermore in 2019, working with the local growers’ society they developed the community owned Bugimotwa washing station - giving producers access to the infrastructure and scale required to substantially increase volumes, with an aim to establish more stations in future years along with training in agronomy.
After passing our quality assessment stage (which occurs within eight hours of cherries being picked) the coffee is floated and then for the washed lots it is pulped (using well maintained and clean equiptment) and then fermented submerged for thirty six hours, after which the coffee is washed twice then laid on raised drying beds. The naturals are placed on the drying beds in thin layers diretly after floating with layers being built-up as the coffee dries. The coffee is dried slowly with meticulous stirring for two to four weeks until it reaches eleven percent moisture, after which it is stored in GrainPro until dry milling.
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Timor-Leste Relief Coffee
Regular price$20.00
Save $-20.00
WE WILL BE DONATING 100% OF THE PROCEEDS FROM THE SALE OF THIS COFFEE TO RAW MATERIAL'S TIMOR-LESTE FLOOD APPEAL. SEE BELOW FOR DETAILS.
Ripe berries, guava & nougat.
Village: Koileki (8th Place - Best of Timor-Leste Competition) Washing Station: Atsabe Wet Mill Region: Ermera Country: Timor-Leste Processing: Natural Elevation: 1,700 - 1,800m Variety: Hybrido de Timor & Typica Sourced Through: Raw Material ---
MASSIVE FLOODS AND LANDSLIDES HAVE HIT TIMOR-LESTE Over 14,000 people have been left homeless, without food or shelter, and are extremely vulnerable following devastating floods and landslides that started 4 April 2021. The Timor-Leste government announced their relief package will focus on the city of Dili only due to budget and information-gathering constraints. In response, Raw Material have launched a plan to reach the farming communities in need across the country.
We can do our part - with your help.
We will be donating 100% of the sale price from every bag of this coffee to Raw Material's appeal to assist in relief efforts. If we sell every bag that will equate to approximately $4,000 we will have raised together.
If there was ever a time to buy multiple bags and gift some to friends and family - this is it! Especially considering this is already an amazing, delicious coffee. Drink great coffee and do good at the same time!
Find more information or contribute directly to the appeal here.
Thank you for your support <3
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The Coffee Sector Is About To Become Timor-Leste’s Most Vital Export.
Having found its sovereignty in 2002, Timor-Leste is the world’s youngest country. As the country finds stability, the development of the agriculture sector is rapidly becoming an important pillar for the structural transformation of the country’s economy. Timor-Leste currently faces enormous economic upheaval, as its oil reserves begin to run dry.
As part of the wider development of Timor-Leste’s agriculture, the country’s coffee industry is set to bolster the following:
The provision for sufficient livelihoods, employment, and income; The enhancement of food security and nutrition; The improvement to the sustainability of natural resources and An increase in resilience to climactic shocks
The importance of coffee to thousands of smallholder families cannot be overstated. Approximately 77,000 households depend on coffee for income, impacting approximately 37.6% of all households. A 2011 survey of over 800 households (5,300 individuals) conducted in Ermera municipality/district reported that more than half of the households surveyed rely on coffee for the majority of their income.
More Than A Quarter Surveyed In Ermera Stated That They Received More Than 90% Of Their Income From Coffee.
In Timor-Leste, Raw Material's work is currently focussed namely in the municipality of Ermera. One of thirteen municipalities in the country, it is home to the largest coffee production volumes, as well as the second highest rate of poverty, and lowest average annual spend per capita. These three points reinforce the necessity of RM's efforts being localised to Ermera. In Ermera 57% Of The Municipality’s Population Live Below The National Poverty Line.
RM established their Ermera HQ in Suco Baboe Kraik in 2018. The village chiefs, neighbourhood leaders, and coffee farmers from all across the countryside met with them at the new community wet mill in Atsabe, to plan a new future through access to the specialty coffee market.
A few months after breaking ground in Baboe Kraik, they had taught in-depth 5-day training courses, produced a local-situation-specific 11-part video guide on coffee production best practices, and won the national production competition; setting a new record for coffee quality.
Coffee Has The Potential To Rapidly Improve Livelihoods In Ermera.
"The central hub for processing the cherry of the producers we work with across the Ermera municipality [is the Astabe wet mill]. Sitting at 1400 MASL, the wet mill has served not only as a place to purchase, process, and dry cherry, but as a meeting point for the village chiefs and neighbourhood leaders, and Raw Material.
Expanding the reach of specialty coffee as a viable option for profitable returns includes the importance of training. The Atsabe Wet Mill has successfully served as the hub for training courses in both cultivation, picking, and processing for local producers."
- Suco Baboe Kraik Atsabe, Ermera Municipality
This particular coffee is a naturally processed lot from the suco of Parami. Cherry from the People of Koileki Village, was collected and processed at the Atsabe wet mill in Baboe Kraik then dried for 21 days on raised beds.
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