Madres y Maestras Colombia Microlots
Roasting in April: Madres y Maestras
A meticulously grown and processed coffee dear to our hearts is shipping to subscribers of our Small Batch coffee-of-the-month club this April: Madres y Maestras Colombia Microlots. Longtime Peetniks will recognize the origin, Huila, Colombia, and might even recognize some of the names of the female farmers who skillfully brought this coffee to market. We’ve been working with them for years, watching their farms expand as their businesses thrived. We’re thrilled to feature their spectacular coffee this April.
Coffee is Personal
From the roast you love, to the mug you always reach for. And it doesn’t get more personal than beans grown by four women on their own small family farms. These ‘Maestras’ do it all—from planting seed to picking fruit at just the right time, fermenting the seeds, sun-drying in their yards, and checking for readiness by hand. They truly put a bit of themselves into every bean. And it shows in the quality of this coffee. If big syrupy body, bright fruit, and sweet-as-candy flavors sound appealing, you’re in for a treat.
Small Can Be Big
Small things count. The flavor packed into a little bean. Seconds of roasting time. A handful of micro farms at 6000ft elevation in Colombia. Madres y Maestras is produced by four women coffee growers who sweat the small stuff. All of it. Producing only between 3 and 18 bags of beans on each of their farms, they meticulously care for their crop at every stage, mostly by hand, even drying the beans themselves in their yards.
Coffee Growers’ Impact at Origin
In contrast, their impact on their community is big. When they aren’t focused on their own businesses, they’re sharing their learnings and training the next generation coffee farmers. They were all top graduates of the Women’s Center for Entrepreneurship and are putting their business and agronomy training to good use working to train other women coffee farmers in their community, inspiring the next gen to invest in diversified futures. Two of the women are members of Mujeres to Market, a microloan program sponsored by Peet’s which helps farmers expand their business to span the seasons. That’s a whole lot of positive impact originating from a few women who had the will to find a way.
Did Someone Say Chocolate?
Of course, how this coffee tastes is no small deal, either. The Huila region is known for coffee-friendly conditions with cool nights, warm days, and soil rich in volcanic minerals contributing to a complex brew. You’ll notice a big syrupy body, sweet-as-candy fruity and floral flavors, and an overall brightness. This coffee is an absolutely stellar dark roast. In the Cupping Room, we were very impressed by the texture—“plush and velvety, with a rockin' bod”—and a sweet, chocolatey profile. One taster even described it as “pouring chocolate syrup in your mouth.” (Not literally, of course, but you get the idea: So. Much. Chocolate.)
NOTES FROM THE CUPPING ROOM
“They truly put a bit of themselves into every bean, so every bean deserves our full attention.”
Dialing in the times and temperatures is core to any roast. When we say that we use our five senses, we mean it. Those familiar with coffee roasting are aware of terminology like “first crack”—this is an audio cue that we roasters listen for. No ears, no cue. (You can insert your own shade-throwing, here, regarding computerized roasting machines. “How can a machine hear for those cracks?” Yeah… good question.) This washed coffee from Huila tested our hearing: both first and second crack were very quiet. First crack was pretty much just one or two loud pops, and then that was it.
It’s subtleties like these that test our mettle but also make us feel pretty great about what we do. Just like the four women who grew this coffee do it all—from planting seed to picking fruit to drying it in their yards and checking it by hand—we take care and pride in roasting their coffee to bring out its very best qualities. The roast went a little fast in the beginning and responded well when the heat was reduced at that hushed first crack. Finishing with remarkably consistent color, it was easy to hit any Agtron number after seeing the hue from just one batch as a reference. Another one of our senses working overtime.
And the payout for all that hard work is sweet. This is definitely a coffee for chocolate lovers, no matter how you brew it or how you take it: pour over, Chemex, black, with a slug of heavy cream … there’s no going wrong here. And it’s a great mug to lift in honor of Women’s month!
-John Nicolini and Michael Madden, Roasters
LIMITED RELEASE PEET’S COFFEES
You might think that a monthly coffee subscription sounds amazing in and of itself, but Peet’s Small Batch coffee-of-the-month takes it a step further. These are microlot coffees, which is why you can only find them at peets.com and you can only access them if you have a subscription. They’re special—their rarity means they can sell out—fast. Subscribing ensures you get to taste each one of these remarkable lots. And if you’re a tried-and-true fan and subscribe to of one of our other coffees or subscription series, not to worry: you can do an add-on of this limited release to your next shipment. At least, while it lasts.