When you work or run a franchise café of a major chain, then you might not get access to the most exclusive lots or have time to brew them for that matter. Most of the time, these cafés teach you the basics that you need in order to run a successful business.

They offer you a chance to build your operational skills and create a loyal customer base and act as a spring board to the next chapter in your life. This is what happened to Loïc Perneau of Datura Coffee in Paris.

After successfully owning and running a Terres de Café franchise for four years, Loïc realised that he needed something else to further advance his developement and curiosity as a coffee professional.

From major chain to small boutique roastery

Taking a step back from processing big volumes and working with more mass-friendly coffees, Datura Coffee is on a quest to champion rare and unique microlots.

Loïc has always been fascinated by coffee’s incredible diversity of flavours. There are so many unique characteristics that can be found in coffees from around the world.

In particular, he loves the impact that nature itself can have on any given coffee. From the weather to the soil and from the altitude to the other plants in the viscinity, there are so many external factors that will impact your cup even before the cherry is picked.

At Datura Coffee, the sourcing is done with meticulous attention to detail, chosing only coffees that really have a story to tell. That is why for me, it was almost impossible to choose only one of the three coffees that Löic sent for our cupping.

It ended up being two. I keep saying that France is probably one of the most exciting places for specialty coffee right now and Datura Coffee is yet another example of a fine roaster that stands out.

In the medium-term, Loïc also wants to have his own branded Datura Coffee shop, something that would allow him to combine his love for direct customer interaction with serving the best coffees.

He still works as a barista next to his new day job as the head roaster for Datura, something that he says keeps him connected to the community he serves.

A Datura Coffe shop is in the works for the near future

Since launching in April of this year, Datura Coffee has won a lot of fans in many places and I am glad that it joined us as the GEMS partner for the final Coffeevine box of 2024.

As I alluded to earlier, I chose two of its coffees for this GEMS edition, which normally only features one. The reason is that I simply loved the coffees that Loïc sent me too much and couldn’t choose one.

The two picks that made it are a gorgeous and elegant Gesha from El Socorro in Guatemala and a sweet and beautiful Gesha from Gesha Village in Ethiopia.

The first is from Diego De La Cerda who runs the El Socorro farm in Palencia. This coffee offers light fruity notes and florals. The second is from the Oma block in Gesha village and is a natural processed coffee offering sweet and juicy notes with a floral finish.

Both of those coffees will offer a first-hand taste of Datura Coffee’s commitment to quality and passion for the beverage we all love. No surprise then that they were quickly sold out. You can find Datura Coffee’s current offerings on its website.

One of the things that is such a strange contradiction about America and its recent re-election of Donald Trump is just how xenophobic much of the country is when it was, in fact, built by immigrants. I know, I know, it’s all about those illegal immigrants but let’s not kid ourselves, with Trump back in the White House soon, everyone who does not have an American passport is shaking in their boots. Lucky for her, Melania is an American citizen. Can you imagine what would happen if she wasn’t?

New York of all places benefited the most from its immigrant population. Wherever you go in the Big Apple, you find countless businesses with foreign names, streets that are named after Amsterdam and former mayor Robert Anderson Van Wyck and the most diverse food scene in the world. It’s what makes the place so rich, what gives it its flavour. That’s also where Driftaway Coffee fits into the picture.

Started as a coffee subscription, now roasting its own coffee

Founded by Anu Menon and Suyog Mody, Driftaway Coffee is an immigrant-owned and female-led coffee roastery from Brooklyn that started operations in 2014. I first became aware of them after Suyog sent me a little taster package in the mail with the goal of letting me taste some of Driftaway’s finest seasonal coffees of the moment. I love it when roasters send me unexpected packages and I get to discover new potential Coffeevine partners who I might otherwise not have come across.

What I love the most about their story is that Driftaway was origially founded as a coffee subscription service to fill a gap in the market. Anu and Suyog were going through a phase of changes in their lives and were looking for ideas for their own business and after getting gifted an espresso machine and grinder for their wedding, they started to look at coffee from a completely new angle than purely as the conveyor of caffeine.

In those days, Brooklyn didn’t have many places to get freshly roasted beans and this got them thinking and doing. Since then, Driftaway has become a vibrant and pioneering specialty coffee brand that employs a diverse mix of people, sources its coffees from underrepresented minorities and then roasts them to bring out all the best flavours. For example, it works with former US Cup Tasters Champion Julien Grey Langevin to offer coffee education classes.

After getting my first taste of Driftaway’s coffees, I jumped on a call with Suyog and we hatched a plan to get them featured as one of our Global coffee roasting partners in the December box. As a mixed-race and gay immigrant myself, I always champion companies that represent minorities because diversity makes everything more interesting and there are many people out there who simply don’t have a loud enough voice to be heard.

Employing and supporting a diverse group of people

For it’s Coffeevine debut, Driftaway will roast a truly outstanding Pink Bourbon lot from Colombian producers Luis Enrique and Robinson Cuellar. The brothers have backgrounds in agronomy and coffee processing, perfectly complementing each other during the coffee production process on farm La Pradera where they have 13.000 coffee trees in service. They produce different varieties like the Gesha and Chiroso as well as Caturra, Pacamara and Pink Bourbon.

This coffee is a great example of the extraordinary characteristics that the Pink Bourbon has. It is sweet, juicy and a little bit tart. This is the kind of coffee you want to have when you are showing off your brewing skills to your guests. Absolutely exquisite!

Get this outstanding coffee along with its companion from Rosetta in Cape Town as a one-off order, subscription or as part of our Total Package. View all options in our shop.

Pre-orders close on 15.12.2024 / Ships globally on 16.12.2024

You might have seen or heard that James Hoffman is doing one of his ‘world’s largest cuppings’ again. This time, however, he is taking aim at decaf and with good reason. Decried for many years as a terrible option that was really only suitable for people with a heart condition or pregnant women, decaf largely sat collecting dust in some cupboard below the espresso machine, often preground because why bother grinding it fresh, right?

Well, no more. This is not just because people are generally becoming a bit more aware of their own health and well-being, shunning long-loved staples like alcohol, sugar and caffeine, not, it’s also because decaf itself has gotten really good. Since I introduced our decaf options in the summer, we’ve had a really incredible selection of decaffeinated coffees that taste almost as good as regular ones. And I do say almost because like non-alcoholic beer, you do notice there is a difference, albeit a smaller and smaller one.

A roastery dedicated to coffee mindfulness

For this month’s decaf pick, I reached out to Calm Coffee Roasters, a newcomer based in London that was founded this year by William Whiting. Will, who used to be a civil engineer in his previous life used to always go to Borough Market in London during lunch to grab a coffee while daydreaming about becoming a roaster. One day, he mustered up the courage to walk into London institution Monmouth Coffee to ask for any job they had available.

In a British version of the American dream, Will then basically worked himself up from packer and delivery driver to roaster, getting through an incredible 1 metric tonne of coffee a week. When he and his wife welcomed their first child in 2023, they became more conscious about their caffeine intake and Will began thinking about a way to showcase decaf and low-caf coffees in a fun and approachable way. And so it was that in 2024 Calm Coffee Roasters was born.

Will doesn’t just choose excellent decaf and low-caf coffees but he also makes his own interesting blends that contain decaf and regular coffees. This way, he can really play with flavour, caffeine levels and origins, something that can really add a lot of vibrancy to the cup. I was really interested in getting Will on board for this box because I think people working primarily with decaf should really get a bit more attention.

The coffee that he will roast for us this month is a super vibrant and pleasing natural and sugarcane decaf processed Caturra from Elias and Shady Bayter at El Vergel in Colombia. I have worked with El Vergel before and featured one of its regular coffees, which is why this lot was particularly attractive to me. The coffee has lots of body and stone fruit in the cup, which makes it the ideal companion for those late afternoons when you don’t want to get a full dose of caffeine in your bloodstream. Let’s all be a bit more demure and mindful!

Grab the last few bags of this release on our decaf page or explore our other offerings by visiting our shop.

Pre-orders close on 15.12.2024 / Ships globally on 16.12.2024

As we near the end of the year 2024, I look back and think to myself ‘what a year’, right? WOW! I experienced so many highs and lows, I felt like I was on a rollercoaster for most of the past twelve months. Luckily, I always found a way to get back up and I am happy to end the year on a very positive note.

That’s why I am extra happy to share such an incredible selection of coffees with you this month. The final Coffeevine edition for 2024 really has it all. From old time favourite roasters to brand new names, there is a bit of everything. I hope these coffees will keep you company during the coming weeks and help you get off to a flying start in the new year 2025.

Below you will find the recipes from our roasters. I hope you’ll find them useful. Happy holidays!

Basic Setup

As in any good kitchen or bar, you want to be sure to have a few key items at your disposal that will aid you in preparing a delicious cup of coffee.

These include:

• • Scales (with or without a timer – you can use your phone or your watch)
  • A good quality burr grinder such as the Comandante Grinder
  • Your favourite brew method (Origami, Kalita Wave, V60, AeroPress etc)
  • A clean vessel for brewing and decanting
  • A ladle or stirrer for agitating the grounds
  • Water for brewing. I mix my own using the Lotus mineral drops. I’ll share a recipe soon!
  • A pouring kettle but a regular kettle will also do, however, it requires more precision

It’s very important to always freshly grind your coffee just before preparation because coffee is very volatile and quickly loses its full aroma in a matter of minutes.

You can also vacuum pack your coffee in portions, name and number each batch and then keep it in a dry cool place or put it in the freezer.

For espresso, I use my home espresso machine, a Profitec Pro600 espresso machine and a Profitec ProT64 grinder.

Drop’s recipe for filter:

Brewer: Kalita 155 Dosage: 15g of coffee Grind: Medium-fine Water: 250g Temperature: 96°C

Start the bloom with 40 – 50g of water and wait for 30 seconds. Then add up to 100g, wait until your timer reaches 1:00 minute then top up to 150g, wait until 1:30 minute and top up to 200g and at 2:00 minutes, add the rest up to 250g.

Drop’s recipe for espresso:

Dosage: 18g Grind size: Fine Yield: 40g Extraction time: 0:28 – 31 seconds

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Ernst’s recipe for filter:

Brewer: Aeropress Dosage: 16g of coffee Grind: Medium-fine Water: 230g Temperature: 85°C

Inverted method. Inset the filter intot the lid and rinse. Add your coffee and add 230g of coffee in one go. Stir and wait until 1:45 minute and stir again. Add the lid back on, revert the Aeropress onto a vessel and push the coffee out all the way.

Ernst’s recipe for espresso:

Dosage: 19g Yield: 40g Extraction time: 0:32 seconds

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Father’s recipe for filter:

Brewer: April Brewer Dosage: 15g of coffee Grind: Medium-coarse Water: 250g Temperature: 94°C

Start with a 50g bloom for 0:30 seconds. Then add 50g more water at every 0:30 second interval. If you don’t have an April Brewer, you can also use a Kalita or an Orea Brewer. Simply adjust grind size to compensate for the flow of water.

Father’s recipe for espresso:

Dosage: 18g Yield: 50g Extraction time: 0:25 – 28 seconds

Driftaway’s recipe for filter:

Brewer: V60 Dosage: 18g of coffee Grind: Medium Water: 280g Temperature: 94°C

Grind your coffee and add to the brewer. Then start with an 80g bloom for 0:40 seconds. Continue with 50g pulses every 0:20 seconds. The total brewing time for this coffee should be between 2:30 minutes and 3:00 minutes.

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What did you think of these recipes and and the coffees themselves? Feel free to leave a comment down below to share your own recipes and favourite brew methods. Find all of our current offerings.

In 2017, I had the pleasure of visiting Cape Town while on a trip to South Africa for a dear friend’s wedding. I arrived just before Christmas, the weather was hot and the city was experiencing its worst drought in years. And yet, I was delighted to dive head first into its burgeoning specialty coffee scene, probably Africa’s finest, which was being developed by leading names like Rosetta Roastery.

I visited Rosetta personally in 2017

One of my first stops during this stay in the Mother City was at Rosetta Roastery’s café in The Yard, a development down by the spectacular Zeitz Museum of Modern African Art. I remember seeing the Kees Van der Westen Spirit espresso machine on the counter and enjoying a perfectly prepared Flat White, which was a great introduction to the local scene for me. Many more great experiences would follow and I set myself the goal to try and work with these pioneering local roasters at some point in the future.

Now, you might say, ‘why did it take you seven years, honey?’ Well, the simple answer is, that until 2023, The Coffeevine only occasionally featured non-European roasters in its monthly selections and it’s since relatively recently that there is a structure in place to bring additional Global roasters to Europe and the world.

I reached out to Robert Cowles, co-founder of Rosetta Roastery, a few months ago to check in and find out what the interest levels for a collaboration were on his end. Robert, who currently lives in Copenhagen with his wife, was immediately keen to get this ball rolling. Though he lives in Europe for most of the year, there is a fanastic and very talented team back in South Africa that is running the show on a day-to-day basis.

Voted Best Roastery in South Africa 3 times

While South Africa produces some coffee locally, its is very small scale stuff compared to its behemoth northern neighbours. However, the appetite for great coffee is definitely there as I witnessed already seven years ago and not just in the major cities like Cape Town and Johannesburg. As one of the early adopters of specialty coffee, Rosetta Roastery helped shape the local coffee industry and continues to set the bar high for others to follow. Its flagship café on Bree Street has been crowned ‘Best Roastery in South Africa’ three times and was also mentioned amongst the world’s best specialty coffee shops by the Financial Times.

I am excited to bring you one of Rosetta Roastery’s tastiest coffees in the upcoming December box, one that really stood out to me on the cupping table a few weeks ago. The coffee in question is from Ethiopian producer Buku Abel located in Guji. This is a natural processed mixed heirloom lot that offers a deliciously sweet cup with a fruity punch in the after taste. It’s exactly the kind of coffee that I personally love. Sweet, clean and comforting.

If you want to get this coffee along with its Global companion from Driftaway Coffee in December, be sure to visit our shop to explore our options.

Pre-orders close on 15.12.2024 / Ships globally on 16.12.2024

Hello there!

Thanks for dropping by on this blog post about the final Coffeevine edition of the year 2024. I am so excited to share and incredible selection of coffees with you next month that I picked out for our coffee subscriptions, one-off boxes and gift boxes. Honestly, when I was cupping the various candidates for this edition, I was blown away by the quality of the coffees and the variety of flavours. Every one of the roasters brings something truly unique to the table and it will be my pleasure to share these exquisite lots with you.

Please note, as this is the final edition of the year, we will be handling a slightly shorter preorder period to ensure that our boxes can get on their way on the 16th of December rather than the 20th, which is our usual shipping date. But enough about that. Let’s look at our roasters and their coffees.

EUROPEAN ROASTERS FOR DECEMBER

Fathers from Ostrava, Czechia

It’s no secret that Czechia has some of the most ambitious roasters in Eastern Europe and Fathers is undoubtedly in the very top of that crop. This friendly family-run roastery from Ostrava has been a Coffeevine favourite for years and following a cheerful meeting with its founder Petr Kvasnička during the World of Coffee in Copenhagen this summer, we discussed getting Fathers back into a Coffeevine box at the earliest opportunity.

These days, Fathers is no longer just a small family-run affair but includes a full team that has driven the company’s growth and allowed it to engage in some cool initatives like helping to fund a Quality Control lab in Eastern Uganda. For its return to The Coffeevine in December, Fathers will roast a lovely natural processed Pacamara from El Salvador’s Finca Los Angeles.

Available with separate roast profiles for filter and espresso.

Drop Coffee from Stockholm, Sweden

Joanna Alm is one of the most accomplished people in specialty coffee. A trail-blazing female entrepreneur who was instrumental in the development of the Nordic coffee culture in Sweden and who has been an inspiriation to countless roasters who followed in her footsteps. She’s also been a huge supporter of The Coffeevine since day one and was a guest speaker during our Virtual Coffee Festival in 2020. Lately, she’s taken a step back from the business to focus on her role as a mother after marrying Stephen Leighton of Hasbean fame a few years ago.

Having Drop Coffee in one of our boxes is always a huge honour for us and I am thrilled that they will join us for the December edition with an exquisite washed Ethiopian coffee from Hunkute, which has been one of their most popular coffees for years.

Available with a single profile for filter and espresso.

Ernst Kaffeeröster from Cologne, Germany

The other trailblazing female roaster in this edition is Maren Ernst of Ernst Kaffeeröster in Cologne, the city where I spent my childhood. I regularly used to visit Cologne back when my grandmother was still alive and my father still lived there, and I always made a point of trying to catch up with Maren for a coffee or a little walk in the neighbourhood of her first café. Since opening her shop in 2014 and offering the people of Cologne her take on specialty coffee, Ernst has been unstoppable.

I am very excited to have Maren and her team back in a Coffeevine box this December as they always deliver super tasty coffees that leave a lasting impression just like the chosen lot from Colombia’s San Agustín, a clean and juicy washed coffee that offers fireworks of flavour.

Available with separate roast profiles for filter and espresso.

GLOBAL ROASTERS FOR DECEMBER

Driftaway from Brooklyn, United States

A few weeks ago, I randomly got an email from Driftaway Coffee in Brooklyn in which I was informed that they would send me a bunch of samples for me to enjoy. Normally, we don’t accept unannounced samples but since they were already on their way, we left the universe take its course and indeed, the coffees did not disappoint. Shortly after, I jumped on a call with Driftaway’s co-founder Suyog Mody to discuss how we could collaborate and asked him to send us a few more coffees to include in the December cupping.

What I loved about Driftaway’s story right off the bat was that it’s an immigrant owned and female-led business that is championing women and minority producers. It’s colourful packaging and exquisite coffees add to the charm. During the cupping, it was hard to pick a favourite but in the end, I landed on a bright and juicy Pink Bourbon from Luis Enrique and Robinson Cuellar in Colombia.

Available with a filter roast profile.

Rosetta from Cape Town, South Africa

In 2018, I was in Cape Town for a friend’s wedding and I had the chance to explore the city’s budding specialty coffee scene. What I found was a truly exceptional level of quality, customer service and diversity, which really impressed me. One of the city’s leading roasters then and now is Rosetta, a brilliant brand that has staked out its position as one of the country’s best. A few months ago, I jumped on a call with its owner Robert Cowles who spends much of his time in Copenhagen these days, and we hatched a plan to get Rosetta featured in this December edition.

For it, Rosetta will roast a fabulous natural processed Ethiopian coffee from the Buku Abel processing station in Guji. This coffee really sang on the cupping table and has a very surprisingly sweet punch in the after taste.

Available with a filter roast profile.

GEMS ROASTER FOR DECEMBER

Datura from Paris, France

I can’t stop raving about French roasters. Honestly, they are some of the best in the world right now and I am regularly discovering exciting new names whose coffees are breathtakingly good. A few months ago, I saw Datura, a new microroastery from Paris, launching at Motors Coffee, which is one of the best coffee shops in the French capital. I immediately reached out to its owner Loïc Peneau to see if we could link up for the GEMS edition in December and he was totally on board.

And I’m thrilled to say that for the first time in GEMS history, we are not featuring one but TWO lots. I simply couldn’t decide which one I loved more, ha ha. Thus, there is a gorgeous washed Guatemalan Gesha from El Socorro, which is limited to 50 bags and there is a stunning natural processed Gesha from Gesha Village in Ethiopia, which is not limited. The latter is also part of our Total Package. Expect to cry a tear of joy as you enjoy these.

Available with a filter roast profile.

DECAF ROASTER FOR DECEMBER

Calm from London, United Kingdom

And last but not least, we have another delicious decaf lot that for the upcoming December 2024 Coffeevine edition. Ever since adding decafs to our range, I have been exploring a whole new world of specialty coffee roasters who I never even knew existed. In November, we featured Les Révélations from Paris who exclusively roast decaf coffees and now, we are following this feature with Calm from London who also offer a wider range of decaf, low caf and medium caf coffees next to regular lots.

I was super keen to get them on board for the December edition for which they will roast a very pleasing and comforting natural and sugarcane decaf processed lot from El Vergel Estate in Colombia.

Available with a filter roast profile.

We bring you one step closer to the world’s best roasters.

Find the complete selection of coffees for December in our shop now.

You can order this selection until 15.12.2024 / All Dcember boxes will ship on 16.12.2024

I am regularly browsing Instagram profiles of prospective roasters to see if there are any exciting new names out there that I would like to feature in one of our Coffeevine boxes. Recently, I made a very curious discovery that immediately got my attention. I seemed to have found a roaster that only offers decaf coffees and goes by the name of Les Révélations. Could this be true and if so? Who was behind this daring venture?

My next step was to send this company a quick message and before long, I got a reply from its founder Piroska Hunyadi who confirmed that Les Révélations was indeed a new roaster that only sourced the highest quality decaf coffees from the best producers. This very courageous decision was primarily inspired by her own experience with caffeine. After she first discovered specialty coffee in 2020 and began to familiarize herself with the subject and product, she noticed that caffeine was having an adverse effect on her well-being.

I can also speak from experience as I drink a lot of coffee during the day and often find myself suffering from caffeine’s negative effects such as fatigue, restless sleep and lack of focus. It’s funny, isn’t it? Coffee was always sold as this magic potion that would make you a hyper productive machine and people often touted their excessive numbers of daily cups of coffee as some kind of badge of honour. The truth is, coffee, like many other things is best enjoyed in moderation.

Frustrated by the often poor quality decaf coffees available, Piroska went on a mission to find the tastiest lots and together with Q-grader Martin Suard, she set up Les Révélations as a brand that showcases decaffeinated coffees from a completely new side. Roasting is done on a Loring to bring out the best flavours in each coffee and their seasonal lots come from a variety of origins including Ethiopia, Colombia, Panama and more.

I have said many times how much I admire and love French roasters because they are really doing something different and taking big risks. Les Révélations is a great example of yet another roaster that stands out for all the right reasons and it’s thus a big pleasure for us to have it as our decaf partner for the November 2024 Coffeevine edition.

For this, it will roast a super yummy anaerobic natural processed Panamanian Swiss Water decaf from Creativa Coffee District, which sourced lots from various farms in the Hornito, Reinaciemiento and Boquete regions. I remember visiting Boquete many years ago and spending some time touring the coffee farms there. It was a great experience and I am so glad that I can now bring you one of those exceptional coffees as our November decaf pics.

Want to explore the world of exceptional coffees? Then be sure to order yours.

To receive this excellent coffee or to order any of our other offerings, just visit our shop now.

Pre-orders close on 15.11.2024 / Ships globally on 20.11.2024

For this selection, we teamed up with six brand new Coffeevine partners who I handpicked based on their uniqueness, nerve and talent. Oh, and their coffees, of course! I think the lots from Ripsnorter, Cayo, Von&vonnie, Brave, 96B and Les Revelations really represent a broad palette of flavours and will keep you in good company over the coming weeks.

Alright then, let’s get brewing, shall we?

Basic Setup

As in any good kitchen or bar, you want to be sure to have a few key items at your disposal that will aid you in preparing a delicious cup of coffee.

These include:

• • Scales (with or without a timer – you can use your phone or your watch)
  • A good quality burr grinder such as the Comandante Grinder
  • Your favourite brew method (Origami, Kalita Wave, V60, AeroPress etc)
  • A clean vessel for brewing and decanting
  • A ladle or stirrer for agitating the grounds
  • Water for brewing. I mix my own using the Lotus mineral drops. I’ll share a recipe soon!
  • A pouring kettle but a regular kettle will also do, however, it requires more precision

It’s very important to always freshly grind your coffee just before preparation because coffee is very volatile and quickly loses its full aroma in a matter of minutes.

You can also vacuum pack your coffee in portions, name and number each batch and then keep it in a dry cool place or put it in the freezer.

For espresso, I use my home espresso machine, a Profitec Pro600 espresso machine and a Profitec ProT64 grinder.

Ripsnorter’s recipe for filter:

Brewer: V60 Dosage: 15g of coffee Grind: Medium-fine Water: 250g Temperature: 95°C

Classic pourover recipe for this one. Add your coffee to the brewer and start with a 30 second bloom using 50g of water. Then, add the remaining 200g in one constant pour. Give it a gentle swirl and wait for the coffee to drain through.

Ripsnorter’s recipe for espresso:

Dosage: 20g Grind size: Fine Yield: 44g Extraction time: 24 seconds

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Cayo’s recipe for filter:

Brewer: V60 Dosage: 16g of coffee Grind: Medium-fine Water: 260g Temperature: 94°C

Start with a bloom of 30 seconds using 32g of water. Continue with a second pour up to 180g followed by a third pour up to 260g. Brew time : 2:30 minutes.

Cayo’s recipe for espresso:

Dosage: 17,5g Yield: 43g Extraction time: 27 seconds.

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Von&vonnie’s recipe for filter:

Brewer: Aeropress (inverted) Dosage: 18g of coffee Grind: Medium Water: 250g Temperature: 95°C

We use a super classic recipe. Rinse your filter, add your coffee and then start with a 30 second bloom using 50g. Then, add all the remaining water, give it a good stir and replace the cap. Turn on its head at 2:15 minutes and then press all the way down.

Von&vonnie’s recipe for espresso:

Dosage: 19g Yield: 45g Extraction time: 25 seconds

Brave Coffee’ recipe for filter:

Brewer: V60 Dosage: 15g of coffee Grind: Medium-fine Water: 240g Temperature: 93 – 94°C

Use a total of four pours of 60g each. Start with a 30 second bloom and then follow this with 60g more water every 30 seconds.

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What did you think of these recipes and and the coffees themselves? Feel free to leave a comment down below to share your own recipes and favourite brew methods. Find all of our current offerings.

When I received my most recent copy of Standart Magazine and I reached the piece about Thai Dang, co-owner of Vietnamese specialty coffee roasters 96B, I was delighted. Thai is a stylish woman with bright red lipstick and thick-rimmed glasses who runs 96B alongside original founder Hana Choi, and who came into the world of specialty coffee from a completely different field; political science.

After Thai graduated with her Mphil from Oxford University, she spent some time working in Ho Chi Minh City and Hong Kong but it was at Coffee Sweet in Taipei where she had her real awakening. I can relate because I also had a very special coffee experience there a few years ago.

After returning to Vietnam, Thai went on the hunt to find the best specialty coffee in her home country and a potential career change. When I was in Vietnam back in 2007, I spent some time in Da Lat in the highlands where much of Vietnam’s coffee is grown and I became accustomed to drinking the uber-sweet Vietnamese coffee that fuels millions of people every day. But Thai was looking for something more elevated.

That’s when she came across 96B, a fine café that Hana had founded in 2016 and that had made a name for itself as a haven for high quality specialty coffees. After a while, Thai proposed to become co-owner and brought all of her experience in branding and operations to the table to push 96B into a new direction, sourcing and roasting.

Out of Vietnam’s annual production of around 1.88 million metric tonnes of coffee, only 3 percent is Arabica. That is probably also partially why it’s virtually impossible to find high quality Vietnamese Arabica coffee in Europe. But 96B doesn’t discriminate. As Thai explained to me over video call, at 96B they look for the most interesting and sustainable coffees out there, which include Arabica, Robusta and Liberica, a rare variety that is native to west and central Africa and that is hailed by many as a future-proof coffee species because it can grow at lower altitudes and is generally more resilient to environmental conditions and pests.

However, for 96B’s first Coffeevine feature, our goal was to focus on a rare Arabica lot that would really tell the story of the country as a coffee producer and the work that 96B does with farmers. Almost all of the coffees that it purchases are sourced directly from farmers who also set the prices. This allows producers to value their own coffees and earn a much better price than the fair trade norm.

The coffee that I picked for the November 2024 Coffeevine edition is an experimental Tha1 variety that was produced by Radar Farms in Da Lat. This variety is a hybrid between native Vietnamese and Ethiopian varieties and was first developed 25 years ago in an effort to create new high-yielding and resistant varieties that can offer a path forward for coffee farmers during times of climate change. It is a sweet and vibrant coffee that has characteristics of Catimor and Ethiopian heirloom varieties and this will be the first time that 96B is available anywhere in Europe.

Want to explore the world of exceptional coffees? Then be sure to order yours.

To receive this excellent coffee or to order any of our other offerings, just visit our shop now.

Pre-orders close on 15.11.2024 / Ships globally on 20.11.2024

Exactly ten years after Ekameth Wipvasutti, aka Tay, opened Brave Coffee Roasters in Bangkok, he was crowned World Aeropress Champion. Not a bad way to mark his first decade in the world of specialty coffee and yet, for Tay, this was only confirmation of his commitment to pushing the boundaries of Thai specialty coffee and his passion for promoting his country’s story on the world stage.

Thailand has been a relative underdog when it comes to specialty coffee, at least from a European perspective. I still recall how my friend Lennart Clerkx first spoke about the wonders of Thai specialty coffee many years ago, way before many people even knew that Thailand produced coffee in the first place. However, if you have backpacked around Thailand’s far north, then you will most likely already had many cups of delicious Thai coffee.

I don’t actually remember if I ever had any Thai coffee when I was in Chiang Rai back in 2007 but as I made my way through Laos, Vietnam and Cambodia, I had my fair share of Vietnamese coffee. More on this in my next blog post about 96B.

Like many of its peers in other coffee producing countries, Brave has been at the forefront of championing locally grown coffee and it maintains very close relationships with a plethora of Thai farmers who its team members visit on a regular basis. This has allowed Brave to not just promote the finished product but to be part of the entire chain from seed to cup.

As I’ve previously said many times about Mexican roasters, for example, having such initimate access to coffee farmers who are often just a few hours away, allows coffee roasters like Brave to share knowledge and feedback from the end of the supply chain all the way back to the start, which in turn also offers unique opportunities to collaborate on experimental lots. It’s a pity that this practice in not the norm across the coffee producing world, especially in places like Ethiopia where export controls almost prohibit the finest lots from remaining in the country, thereby depriving the local population from ever savouring their the best coffees.

In a region of unequal development with highly impoverished Myanmar, Laos and Cambodia on its periphery, Thailand always stood out as a forward-looking nation, albeit with questionable governments and outdated policies. Yet, its entrepreneurs are some of the best and smartest in the world and it is home to a vibrant specialty coffee scene that is the envy of the region.

For Tay, it’s important that Thailand gets its place in the sun and he is constantly working towards raising Thailand’s profile through competitions or through new partnerships like the one with us. I selected Brave for the November 2024 Coffeevine editon because I want to give our subscribers more access to rare origins and help them get an understanding of what producers like Supon “Goh” Chaosuwanwilai are doing.

His farm is in the far north of Thailand and he’s been working closely with Tay for four years. All of the coffees on the Sirinya farm are planted and nourished with the greatest care and once they’re ready for harvest, Goh’s pickers chose only the ripest cherries for processing. This lot was processed with an experimental F3 natural process, which represents a three day open-air fermentation until the cherries have reached a certain temperature before they are laid out to dry in the cool mountain breeze for around three weeks. This process lends the coffee a vibrant and juicy cup profile.

Want to explore the world of exceptional coffees? Then be sure to order yours.

To receive this excellent coffee or to order any of our other offerings, just visit our shop now.

Pre-orders close on 15.11.2024 / Ships globally on 20.11.2024