Czar Street is made up of the following components:

80% Guatemala Finca La Bolsa washed

Finca La Bolsa isn’t just your run of the mill coffee farm, it’s a large extended coffee family! Our relationship with 3rd generation producers, Vides 58, is one of our longest and most cherished – our offer list just wouldn’t be the same without a beautiful washed and funky natural lot from this little coffee paradise over the course of the year. The farm has been in existence since 1958 and is the brainchild of Jorge Vides, a distinguished medical professional whose hobby for coffee cultivation turned into something much more meaningful. La Bolsa stands for ‘handbag’ and is aptly named due to its position nestled between two mountains, which provide a very stable, humid microclimate. This combined with the limestone rich soils give the coffee trees all they require to produce cups of great quality with the perfect balance of acidity and body.

La Bolsa is a place where social, agricultural and environmental aspects of farming are a key focus of plantation management, ensuring sustainable practices are front and centre throughout every stage of production. By design, the farm is more than just a place of work. It is an important hub for not only it’s workers but for the whole community, providing work, education and healthcare to the region. We had the pleasure of visiting the vibrant and colourful on-site school during our last trip where we learned all about the curriculum and the various initiatives available to the children from their fully qualified, full-time teachers. As well as academia, the school has also made Associate Coffee Care available to it’s students – a project that seeks to reduce child labour and improve quality of life for coffee pickers and their families. Students aged between 2-14 years old have access to nutritional advice and are taught valuable life skills that have been designed to aid them in everyday life and improve general health.

The farm is rainforest alliance certified but in essence it is so much more. With each visit we have been so very impressed by the fertility of the land, general health of the crops, organisation on the farm and commitment to the conservation of the ecosystem that is being both farmed and lived in. This is testament to the skilled agronomists and dedicated workers on site who enforce good agronomic practices which align with and in most cases surpass Rainforest Alliance standards.

20% Ethiopia Buriso Dambi natural

This lot comes to us from Buriso Amaje – a producer with a 10 hectare farm in the Sidama region in Southern Ethiopia. Buriso’s farm has fantastically high altitude at between 1,950 and 2,200 metres above sea level! He interplants his coffee trees with banana, avocado, Albizia and Sesbania which provide wonderful shade cover for the coffee encouraging the slow development of the cherries.

There are ongoing concerns about the lack of resilience in some of the traditional heirloom varieties in Ethiopia with the increase in climate related problems – many of the older varietals are very susceptible to pests and disease. Buriso grows the 74158 and 74160 varieties that have been developed by the Jimma Research Institute. These varieties were selected from wild plants in the Metu-Bishari forest in the Illuababora zone in Western Ethiopia, specifically to provide more resistance to Coffee BErry Disease whilst not compromising cup quality.

Buriso and his family harvest and process the cherries themselves – as they do not have access to a pulper, the entire crop is processed naturally hence the care and attention that goes into cherry selection. Buriso hand sorts his cherries in a floatation tank before carefully drying them on raised beds to ensure a balanced and clean cup profile. Whilst drying, the cherries are turned hourly by hand to ensure a controlled fermentation and uniformity across the lot. The resulting coffee is clean and consistent with so much character.