Some moments from a magical week traversing the Sierra Sur towards the coast at Huatulco.
Slow sunrises with friends. Cupping and more cupping. Roadside tepache. Meeting the producers at Unión San Pedro. Walking through endless varietal fields at Finca Chelín. Red ripe bananas straight from Don Salomón’s trees, pineapples that tasted like coconut.
Mezcal tasting, then our favourites decanted into whatever plastic bottles we had straight from the still. Too many good things for one week.
Fell back in love with the Fuji. It was hard not to with those skies.
Mexican coffee is special. Mexico is special.
Thank you for a lovely time @redbeetlecoffeelab@rawmaterial.coffee
2025
Ran just enough to stop the five slices of toast I have with my beans from ever meeting the scales. Had other special bean moments with the @rawmaterial.coffee and @exemplar.coffee collectives.
Moved into a new house
and accepted that all the things
do not happen at once. Practice patience.
Saw United win at Old Trafford on my birthday
(there is a God,
and he is kind).
Finally published some research.
Take that imposter syndrome.
Cut words, practice brevity.
Ate Detroit-style pizza in New York.
Dreamt about it ever since.
Celebrated some weddings.
Met a few babies
(introduced by their parents).
Organised the annual-plastic-tube-coffee-making competition with the gang @theroastworks . Sent young Tim Reid to South Korea (go on @tbaristaa !).
It’s not all highlights.
The Gardaí caught me speeding to Galway.
€160
but sure the points don’t cross the border.
Sometimes it’s wild busy.
But it’s good busy,
and I’m thankful that’s
the weight of my problems.
Silver linings.
Sticky, stretchy sunsets.
The Summer was quare long
and wild kind.
The Winter had sticky toffee puddings and raspberry ruffles.
Hugged my friends.
Hugged my family.
Hugged my cats.
We’re raising them so they’re indifferent to being held upside down.
Beer and crisps most weeks.
Sometimes twice.
Same again next year
and I’d be grateful.
Hi everybody! We are building a solar-powered circular economy, intercepting plastic waste, and regenerating the nation’s coffee forests at scale.
See the link in my bio for the full story, and to buy unique coffee xmas gifts that will bring joy to your friends while also creating 20+ years of much needed income for coffee growing families.
Please share, and tag a friend who’d find this interesting! Maybe you know a cafe, roaster, or action-taker who cares about sustainability?
Thank you to everyone supporting this work, both on the ground and from afar!
We spent the past few months going deep, deep down the coffee blending rabbit hole. Safe to say it was much more fun (and complicated) than we had ever anticipated.
The two blends we’ve curated are ultimately characterisations of the blue-sky coffees we’d want to enjoy everyday. They’re the product of dialogue between many palates, and the final ratios and components are the hard-earned fruits of many hours on the cupping table.
We surveyed specialty roasters from across the globe to glean insights to changing philosophies and approaches to blending. The TLDR is we reckon there’s a bright future for blends, but you can read the full report in the magazine!
Cheers to @alexisgagnaire of @tanat.coffee / @people.possession for lending some insights. And the teams @ome.space and @local_ncl for championing our blends this quarter! If you’re in Belfast you can pick up bags via @theroastworks or @weareohdonuts
This issue set out to challenge perceptions and expectations, and I’m confident we’ve delivered. If you get your hands on the coffees or magazine, let us know what you think!
Gamble wedding (wholesome), biscuit championships (intense), moved gaff, made my first coffee blends (tedious but rewarding), made a coffee stout (@tiltnpour 🤝) saw some very special highland cows, and had plenty of beans to boot.
