The search for a great cup of coffee is often like the quest for the Holy Grail... well search no further.
The Holy Grail is our premium blend comprised of speciality grade organically farmed coffees. Created to satisfy even the most caffeine hungry pilgrim.
| Location |
50% Ethiopia - Beshasha, Jimma, Ethiopia Organic (washed)
50% San Antonio Huista, Huehuetenango, Guatemala Organic (washed)
|
| Altitude |
2000-2100 masl
1700-1960 masl
|
| Varietal |
Mixed Heirloom
Caturra, Bourbon and Typica
|
| Process |
Washed
|
|
| Owner |
Mustefa Abba Keno
Various smallholders
|
| Taste |
Flavours of lime, jasmine, green apple and raspberry, with a date finish |
Concocted in our state of the art Holy Island roasting facility - aka a couple of old shipping containers with a chimney - Our Holy Grail blend will always be comprised of only organic coffees.
The current blend is made up of an excellent coffee from Ethiopia and a beautiful, classic, washed Guatemalan. Blended, they complement each other perfectly resulting in bags of sweetness and a clean, satisfying, juicy acidity whilst maintaining a balance to the final cup. Our Holy Grail blend works well as a slightly longer espresso but is currently being drunk here as a batch brewed filter - the perfect partner to a hard days graft.
Mustefa Abakeno is a smallholder with 18 hectares of land near Agaro in the Jimma Zone of Western Ethiopia. His farm is located at 2,040masl and is planted with coffee varieties from the Jimma research centre. Mustefa has a small disc pulper that he uses to wash-process half of his coffee; the other half is dried as a natural. Due to a lack of water in the area and limited space to ferment the coffee, Mustefa ferments the pulped coffee for a short period (8 hours) before he moves it to his drying beds (for 13-16 days), and the result is something like light honey. The naturals take 24-27 days to dry on the African (raised) beds.
Mustefa only registered as an exporter in 2018 in order to sell his coffee directly to buyers, which he was able to do after changes to the regulations that year. The small wet mill he set up (called Beshasha) is used to process his own and outgrowers’ coffee, which he keeps separate and dries on raised beds near his house. Mustefa’s outgrowers are all neighbours and each have between 4 and 10 hectares of land.
Mustefa has a small field lab and in 2020 he bought a high-spec Sinar moisture reader to ensure that all the parchment dried in the stations was reaching the same moisture level before being stored in the warehouse. Harun has been assessing and grading the dried day-lots, putting them together based on quality and cupping profile. He is currently training farmers in good agricultural practices (GAP) in order to improve the quality and productivity of their coffee gardens.
The Red de Mujeres, or 'network of women', is a large group of female coffee producers covering five different areas of Huehuetenango. The group is made up of 830 women. Within the entire community of women there are 8 different Mayan languages spoken, highlighting the diversity of culture and language in this area of Guatemala.
All of these women have been either widowed during the 36 years of civil war in Guatemala, or were left when their husbands fled the country during the coffee crisis between 2001 and 2004. Since Huehuetenango was one of the areas hardest hit by the crisis, many people decided to give up altogether and find work elsewhere, leaving their families behind.
With the help of ACODIHUE, these female producers have been united to market their coffee and find international buyers. ACODIHUE has also supported them in training in organic farming methods, from producing and applying fertilizers, to rust and pest control methods. Falcon has started working with ACODIHUE to improve the quality of production even further, starting with Red de Mujeres.
The Red de Mujeres works perfectly with the Ethiopian to round out this exquisite, high end blend!
