Kiss the Hippo Coffee Beans

Producer Diego Robelo (Aquiares Estate) & Jairo Arcila (Santa Monica) Farm/Mill Aquiares Estate & Santa Monica Blend Composition 80% Costa Rica, Diego Robelo, Washed & 20% Colombia, Jairo Arcila, Cinnamon Co-ferment Location Turrialba & Armenia Altitude 1,000 - 1,500 masl Process Washed & Co-ferment Cultivar Mariana & Castillo Harvest 2026 Expect notes of Cinnamon, Red Apple, Brown Sugar Our Christmas Blend brings two long-standing partners into one festive cup. Eighty per cent is washed Mariana from Aquiares Estate, on the slopes of Costa Rica's Turrialba Volcano, where Diego Robelo grows coffee under more than 50,000 native shade trees. It gives the blend a clean, sweet base. The other twenty per cent comes from Jairo Arcila at Santa Monica, outside Armenia in Colombia's Quindío, where the cherries ferment alongside cinnamon sticks before drying. Together, they deliver notes of warm cinnamon, crisp red apple and brown sugar. Jairo Arcila is a third-generation grower, and his sons Carlos and Felipe founded the export house Cofinet, which processes the family's coffee. The cinnamon goes in at fermentation, with the cherries, rather than on the roasted bean, so the spice comes from the coffee itself and not from a flavouring. Mariana is an F1 hybrid that Aquiares grows for its resilience to a changing climate. We roast the blend for espresso and filter alike. With milk, the cinnamon and brown sugar lead. Black, or as a pour-over, the red apple comes forward.

Producer ASOPEP & ASCISP cooperatives, around 175 smallholder growers Farm/Mill El Indio Program, multiple indigenous family farms Location Planadas, Tolima Altitude 1,500 - 2,150 masl Process EF2 Natural, EA Decaf Cultivar Caturra Harvest 2026 Expect notes of Blackberry Jam, Treacle, Cacao El Indio is grown by smallholder families in Planadas, high in the mountains of Tolima. The coffee comes from two cooperatives, ASOPEP and ASCISP, together representing around 175 growers, some of them from the local Nasa We'sx indigenous community. Cherries are hand-picked and given Cofinet's EF2 extended fermentation, 24 hours aerobic then 50 hours sealed and cool, before drying whole. Decaffeination is sugarcane EA, using ethyl acetate derived from cane. Blackberry jam, treacle and cacao, with none of the caffeine.

Producer Felipe Arcila Farm/Mill Jardines del Encanto Location Quindío, Colombia Altitude 1,850 masl Process Cold Natural Cultivar Maracaturra Harvest 2026 Expect notes of Lime, Orange Sherbet, Kiwi Maracaturra is a cross between Maragogype, famous for its oversized beans, and the compact Caturra. It was developed in Nicaragua and is rarely seen in Colombia, so Felipe Arcila brought it over himself to grow at 1,850 metres at Jardines del Encanto in Quindío. Processed as a cold natural, the whole cherries dry slowly under cool conditions, and the result is a cup of real intensity. The acidity is vivid and electric, sharp lime and orange sherbet, with ripe kiwi carrying the sweetness through to the finish.

Producer Diego Robelo, Aquiares Estate Farm/Mill Aquiares Estate Location Turrialba, Cartago, Costa Rica Altitude 1,000 - 1,400 masl Process Anaerobic Natural Cultivar Centroamericano (F1 hybrid) Harvest March 2026 Expect notes of Guava, Amaro, Melon Aquiares Estate sits at the foot of Costa Rica's Turrialba Volcano in Cartago Province, the largest coffee farm in the country and a long-running test bed for what regenerative coffee can be. This lot is a small one of Centroamericano, an F1 hybrid developed just up the road at CATIE Turrialba in partnership with CIRAD and the regional coffee institutes of Central America. The variety was bred for leaf-rust resistance and high yield, but its Rume Sudan parentage carries something else: a capacity for floral and fruity complexity that few hybrids can match. The lot was processed as an anaerobic natural, the whole cherry sealed and fermented without oxygen before being dried with the fruit intact. The result is a cup of remarkable character: tropical guava, herbaceous amaro and melon, layered and complex.

A natural Ethiopian espresso blend from Bench Maji, roasted for a deeper profile of dark chocolate, caramel, and walnut.

Producer Girma Tamiru Farm/Mill Girma Tamiru washing station Location Idido, Yirgacheffe Altitude 2,170 masl Process Washed Cultivar Ethiopian Landraces Harvest November 2025 to January 2026 Expect notes of Mandarin, Lemon, Earl GreyGirma Tamiru's name loosely means Grace Miracle. He runs his own washing station in Yirgacheffe at 2,170 metres, taking cherry from smallholders who farm around two and a half hectares apiece, and he controls the lot from cherry selection through to export, which is still rare in Ethiopia. More than a hundred people work the site through harvest. Only the ripest cherries get through, floated first to drop the underweights. Mandarin and lemon up front, with Earl Grey sitting behind them.

Producer Numerous female coffee producers from Kecho Anderacha Farm/Mill Telila Washing Station Location Kecho Anderacha, Gera district Altitude 2,000 masl Process Honey Cultivar Ethiopian Heirloom Harvest Late 2025 Expect notes of Lemon, Apricot, Honeycomb In the hills around Agaro, in Ethiopia's Jimma zone, a group of female coffee producers tend smallholdings often no bigger than an English garden. Their cherries travel a short distance to the Telila washing station at Kecho Anderacha, run by Mike Mamo of Addis Exporters. Here, this honey-processed lot is pulped, fermented overnight, and dried on raised tables for around eighteen days. Leaving a little of the cherry's mucilage on the bean builds a rounder body and a deeper sweetness than a fully washed Ethiopian usually offers, while keeping the bright fruit character intact. The cup is layered and sweet: ripe apricot, lemon, a honeycomb finish.

A bright blend of washed Kenyan coffee and Jairo Arcila co-ferments from Colombia, combining strawberry, green apple, and vanilla sweetness.

An organic house blend pairing cooperative lots from Honduras and Peru for a milk-friendly cup with chocolate, berry, and syrupy body.

Producer Eddy Macdonald Lopez Lopez Farm/Mill Finca Las Gardenias Location Pianche, Malacatancito, Huehuetenango, Guatemala Altitude 1,900 masl Process Natural Cultivar Bourbon Harvest March 2026 Expect notes of Strawberry, Raspberry, Red Grape Finca Las Gardenias sits high in the mountains of Huehuetenango, Guatemala, at 1,900 metres above sea level. The 15.3-hectare farm is run by Eddy Macdonald Lopez Lopez, and preserving the natural environment is central to how he operates. Native trees, spring-water sources and native wildlife, including the Quetzal that is Guatemala's national bird, all share the land with the coffee. The estate is Rainforest Alliance certified. Eddy's Bourbon cherries are harvested at peak maturity and dried whole cherry in two stages: five days on the patio under managed sun, then a further seventeen days on African-style raised beds, hand-turned every hour. The natural processing draws out the variety's deepest fruit character, producing a cup that punches well above the classical Guatemalan profile: Strawberry, raspberry and red grape, layered and bright.

An anaerobic honey Excelsa from local communities in Nzara and Yambio County, South Sudan, naturally lower in caffeine with chamomile, chestnut, and honey notes.

Producer COCAFELOL Co-operative (300+ smallholders) Farm/Mill Multiple smallholder farms Location Ocotepeque, Honduras Altitude 1,200 - 1,900 masl Process Washed, Mountain Water Cultivar Bourbon, Typica Harvest 2026 Expect notes of Dark Chocolate, Toffee, Brazil Nut Organic Decaf is our go-to decaf, decaffeinated without chemicals so you keep the full flavour of the coffee and lose only the caffeine. We roast it medium-light to stay clean and sweet. This release comes from COCAFELOL, a cooperative of around 300 smallholder farmers in Ocotepeque, in the mountains of western Honduras where the country meets Guatemala and El Salvador, grown between 1,200 and 1,900 metres and certified Organic and Fairtrade. A rich, nutty cup: dark chocolate, toffee and a long Brazil nut finish. The Fairtrade premium paid on COCAFELOL's coffee has built something practical: a small business that turns coffee husks and natural fungi into fertiliser, given to member farms free of charge. Decaffeination happens at Descamex in Veracruz, Mexico, where the green coffee is soaked in water from the glaciers of Pico de Orizaba, Mexico's highest mountain. The water draws out the caffeine along with the flavour, then is filtered to remove the caffeine and returned to the beans, so they take back everything that makes them taste of Honduras. Enough body for a flat white, enough sweetness to drink black after dinner.