{"id":225064,"date":"2026-01-12T11:32:14","date_gmt":"2026-01-12T19:32:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/royalcoffee.com\/?p=225064"},"modified":"2026-01-12T13:41:07","modified_gmt":"2026-01-12T21:41:07","slug":"notes-between-cups-entry-1","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/royalcoffee.com\/notes-between-cups-entry-1\/","title":{"rendered":"Notes Between Cuppings Entry 1"},"content":{"rendered":"

Off the cuff thoughts\u00a0Jan 7, 2026<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

With the New Year upon us, we were inspired to try something\u2026 well not new per se\u2026 in truth\u00a0it\u2019s\u00a0a bit of a return to our roots: some more personal reflections in our newsletters.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

I met with Royal co-founder Bob Fulmer casually last month, we chatted about this and that, some old travel\u00a0stories\u00a0and a little reflection, plus a chance for him to taste our recent\u00a0<\/span>Yemeni Crown Jewel<\/span><\/a>\u00a0(and take a little green for his own, to roast his way).<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

It\u00a0came to light\u00a0that after his first\u00a0somewhat chaotic\u00a0visit to that country, circa 1990,\u00a0<\/span>his journal notes<\/span><\/a>\u00a0became the basis for the first Royal Newsletter\u2026 at the time distributed via snail mail. He posited that this was something uncommon,\u00a0possibly unprecedented\u00a0in the coffee importing business.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

So, in that spirit,\u00a0here are a few random thoughts I pulled together.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Memorable Recent Coffee Cuppings:<\/h3>\n

Two recent cuppings stood out in my memory, for two related reasons. Partnerships with producers are two-way streets, and the key to keeping traffic flowing smoothly on those streets is\u00a0good communication.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Madagascar\u2019s\u00a0probably not\u00a0a country\u00a0you\u2019ve\u00a0tasted much coffee from, but\u00a0I\u2019m\u00a0hoping\u00a0that\u2019s\u00a0about to change. We bought a little late-season contract\u00a0of\u00a0robusta this year from a new organization supporting legacy farmers in the region.\u00a0I\u2019m\u00a0hopeful this is the start of something special.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

One of the things that the Madagascar Coffee Company is hoping to bring to the equation is centralized processing. For the last few years, Madagascar\u2019s coffee farmers have\u00a0largely been\u00a0left to their own means to process coffee cherries. Centralization can help with organization, consistency and quality, and traceability. MCC sent me seven samples of new examples of their processing methods, asking for feedback. The results are\u00a0great,\u00a0I\u2019m\u00a0really excited\u00a0about the improvements for both the bulk quantities of robusta, but also the arabica\u00a0micro-lots.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The next harvest won\u2019t start until much later in the year, but having conversations now about what worked and what didn\u2019t with the small experimental lots can set the stage for success down the line. Interestingly enough, the coffees we preferred largely didn\u2019t do anything complicated\u2014washed processes with normal fermentations, natural coffees with little to no infrastructure – it felt good to recommend practices that are both common and easy to implement to get great tasting results. More to come on this front, for sure.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The second cupping was with Charlie Habegger, whose connection to the Mountain Harvest group in Uganda has had hits and misses over the last few years. Uganda\u2019s<\/a> coffees are typically thought of as\u00a0somewhat inexpensive\u00a0and a bit boring, but Mountain Harvest is changing that, with the benefit of unprecedented traceability in the country. Their ten or so samples really impressed both of us. With their harvest wrapping up, this was the ideal time for us to taste examples of what they\u00a0were capable of producing\u00a0and\u00a0essentially put\u00a0in \u201corders\u201d for coffee prior to processing.\u00a0We loved their natural options, fruit flavors absolutely flying off the cupping table, and some\u00a0really unique\u00a0honey\u00a0processing methods as well.\u00a0Of course, the standard washed grades were a cut\u00a0above and\u00a0have the benefit of being partially sourced from a majority women-producing group, plus\u00a0they\u2019re\u00a0certified organic.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Offering clear preferences, projecting volumes, and being realistic about the market appeal of unusual coffees like those from Uganda and Madagascar is\u00a0absolutely critical\u00a0to their success. We\u2019re still working on these projects, and don\u2019t have anything contracted yet, but if these are the kinds of coffees that sound appealing to you, communicating that to us helps move that conversation up the supply chain and provide confidence to produce and offer these types of unique flavors and origins.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Sourcing Green Coffee<\/h3>\n

As far as strictly coffee business goes,\u00a0we\u2019re\u00a0landing good volumes of Peru<\/a> and Colombia<\/a> currently. We also just saw the arrival of our annual container of Kivu Belt coffee from Rwanda<\/a>, with more of the \u201coff-the-beaten-path\u201d coffees from the Southern hemisphere on its heels, like Burundi<\/a> and Bolivia<\/a>, and a little Madagascar robusta for the first time in many years.\u00a0We\u2019ve\u00a0also been busy securing Brazilian coffee since the tariff exemptions, and\u00a0we\u2019ll\u00a0see plenty of that coffee soon, albeit a little later in the year than usual.\u00a0On the Crown Jewel<\/a> horizon, Colombia is taking center stage for much of the next month or two, with Pink Bourbon, SL28,\u00a0Gesha, and a few co-ferments all imminent.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Sourcing season has begun in earnest for the northern hemisphere, led by Central America and Mexico where contracts are being drawn and a few early approvals have already been made.\u00a0We\u2019ll\u00a0start seeing fresh crop Ethiopian samples within a month or so, but keep in mind\u00a0all of\u00a0these coffees still need to complete harvest, processing, and milling. Expect the floodgates to open in the second quarter and, for Ethiopia,\u00a0probably a\u00a0little later.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Lately at The Crown<\/h3>\n

This week at the Crown\u00a0<\/a>we\u2019ve\u00a0been busy cleaning the roasting equipment, the first (overdue) truly deep clean in a long while. This is your reminder, roasters, to keep your machines tidy to prevent accidents and unexpected maintenance issues\u00a0<\/span>\ud83d\ude09<\/span>. Private\u00a0trainings<\/a> have\u00a0picked up here too, plus the blitz to \u201cevolve\u201d Q graders before the end of the grace period last year has kept our education department on its toes. And the Tasting Room\u00a0remains\u00a0busy, serving up our newest signature\u00a0drink\u00a0the \u201c<\/span>Hey Mambo<\/span><\/a>!\u201d an Italian inspired amaretto and raspberry soda with espresso and cream.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

That\u2019s\u00a0probably enough\u00a0rambling from me this time around. Anything you want us to address in a future newsletter?\u00a0Don\u2019t\u00a0hesitate to reach out,\u00a0we\u2019d\u00a0love to\u00a0talk\u00a0shop with you.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Cheers,<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

-Chris<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Co-fermented coffee is a new processing approach where producers add natural ingredients like fruit, hops, or spices during fermentation to enhance flavor complexity. Unlike flavored coffee, these additives interact with the beans before drying, creating unique taste profiles while sparking debate over labeling, transparency, and authenticity within the specialty coffee industry.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":9,"featured_media":155126,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[10257,10255,10256,10260,10258,10259],"class_list":["post-225064","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","tag-additive-fermentation","tag-co-fermented-coffee","tag-coffee-fermentation-methods","tag-coffee-labeling","tag-coffee-processing-innovation","tag-coffee-transparency"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/royalcoffee.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/225064","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/royalcoffee.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/royalcoffee.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/royalcoffee.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/9"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/royalcoffee.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=225064"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/royalcoffee.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/225064\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":225158,"href":"https:\/\/royalcoffee.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/225064\/revisions\/225158"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/royalcoffee.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/155126"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/royalcoffee.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=225064"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/royalcoffee.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=225064"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/royalcoffee.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=225064"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}