Journal — April 2024

By now, Father Coffee and Yonder are old friends. We first featured them a few months into our subscription and brought them on last in October of 2022, a month before our cafe opened in Durham. Father is a fantastic company that has earned its place among the world’s best roasters over the past few years. They first opened in Johannesburg in 2013 and have been at the forefront of Africa’s coffee industry ever since. They consistently work with really delicious beans from great producers all over the world, and this month’s lineup might be my favorite coffees they’ve ever sent us.

You’re all going to love Bombe, a beautifully complex coffee that reflects the mastery of the people who grew and processed it. Named after the the Bombe Mountains from where it is grown, this lot was processed at a wet mill run by two experts: agronomist Atkilt Dejene (who worked with the award-winning Gesha Village project) and processing specialist Eyasu Bekele (who worked on the Reko Koba project). Cherries are processed using a technique borne out of a collaboration between Daye Bensa and Los Volcanes Coffee in Guatemala: the dry-fermented washed process. This is a variation of the traditional washed process, where no water is added to the tank during fermentation. The dry fermentation involves letting the coffee rest in climate controlled fermentation tanks after depulping. This warmer environment kickstarts a faster fermentation, resulting in a full and complex, red fruit flavor profile.

Karimikui makes some of my favorite Kenyan coffees, and this one is no exception. The Gesha/Catuai blend from Dona Idaly Calderon brings the best of both varietals to the cup and tastes fantastic. And rounding out our feature is a single farm day-lot from Daye Bensa (who developed Bombe’s processing technique) and it is a stunner. We can’t wait to hear what you think.

The World Barista Championship is just a few weeks away in Busan, South Korea. One of the coffees Father hoped to share with us, a Koji Thermal Shock- processed Maragogype by world-renowned producer Diego Bermudez, will only become available after they finish at the WBC. Koji is a mold that has been used in the fermentation of Japanese cuisine for thousands of years, and Maragogype is a rare coffee varietal which mutated from Typica and is known for its huge beans and low acidity. It tastes unlike any coffee I’ve had and I’m really excited to share it with our friends in Durham soon. Check instagram to see when we get it in and feel free to DM us if you want to reserve any retail bags of it we can get our hands on.