This week, we are stoked to announce the release of our first coffee from Marlon Bolaños, a producer we are extremely impressed by and in the process of contracting several more lots from. We also have the very first fly-crop Kenya, and the introduction of the infamous tomato note. Inspired by our new production roaster's love for Kenyan coffees that lean savory, we looked to Royal Coffee's longstanding connections with coffee factories throughout Kenya to deliver something classic and elegant.
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Marlon Bolaños Gesha Washed:
As we near our 1 year anniversary of launching Shoebox, Colombia season is well underway and we are particularly interested in extremely high quality, advanced fermentation Geshas. This past harvest has truly brought us some of the best coffees we've ever had, and this fruit bomb from Marlon Bolaños's project "The Three Coffee Farmers" is amongst the best of them. Despite growing up in a coffee producing family, it wasn't until the age of 17 that Marlon took an interest in it, signing himself up for a Barista education course at SENA where he learned brewing, green coffee grading, and sensory analysis. Upon returning from that course, Marlon began planting differentiated varietals like pink bourbon, gesha, and chiroso while experimenting with new fermentation techniques on each subsequent harvest. Flash forward to today, and the farm is now owned by Marlon and his 2 brothers, Pedro and Hemerson. Marlon is responsible for quality control, fermentation protocols, sampling and part of the logistics operations. Marlon has also competed and won in several barista and brewing competitions over the last several years, taking spring water from his family's farm for brewing. It's especially suited for coffee due to the natural trace mineral composition, and now coveted by peers after earning the name "Champion's Water." This specific washed gesha lot has quite an interesting process to it, having been submerged in cherry underwater for 48 hours before being drained, left in the same barrels dry to further ferment naturally for 48 hours before being fully washed and dried on raised beds. This advanced processing creates an extremely unique cup, bursting with yellow florals, yellow fig, starfruit, mango and a complex citrus note that reminds us of grapefruit and pomelo. The intense juiciness and acidity here absolutely leapt off the cupping table and we confirmed our forward contract after the first sip.

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Kenya Ngomano Washed:
In the Machakos region of eastern Kenya, farmers surrounding the Ngomano Coffee Factory typically own as little as 1-2 hectares of farm land, producing less than a full bag of coffee from each individual. In order to increase bargaining power and gain access to better agronomic techniques and fertilizers, farmers in Kenya form cooperative societies. The NFCS or Ngomano Farmers Cooperative Society comprises a total of 1115 smallholders living in the Iveti Hills in Machakos county, growing coffee between 1700-1800masl. The main harvest for Kenya is typically in November-December, with a much smaller fly crop season happening after spring rains in May-June. Though the total production is much lower, it is still possible to find high quality microlots. This lot was harvested on the 45th week of the season and processed using the classic double-washed method before being dried on raised beds. In the cup, we find loud bursts of clean red currant acidity and savory tomato undertones. We chose to roast this coffee incredibly light, and it shows in the body and florals, reminding us of Alishan white tea and jasmine.