A Great Taste 2 Star Gold Award winner in 2012, this micro-lot was produced by Michael & Tina Gehrken exclusively for Grumpy Mule. The coffee was h&-picked by the farms best team
- it's exceptionally tasty. Lighter roasted, with hints of caramel & candied fruit.
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Produced by a highly motivated, organic estate, this is a toasty, bold coffee with a luscious, velvety body. The coffee is fully dried in its cherry, lending the coffee extra sweetness, depth of flavour & a hint of fruit in the cup. It has a toasty, chocolaty aroma & flavour with a luscious, velvety body. ...

Enjoying the breath-taking backdrop of the Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta mountain range, the shade grown, organic & Fairtrade certified coffee is carefully cultivated on small plots of land using traditional practices. Washed in the abundant mountain waters, the coffee parchment is then sun-dried in wooden boxes or typical patios before delivery to the local cooperative. Fairtrade certification for these producer cooperatives enables the small-scale farmer members to receive a fair & sustainable price for their coffee. In addition, the Fairtrade premium obtained can be invested in social, environment & economic projects such as improving infrastructure, education & healthcare for the local community ...

Yirgacheffe is probably the most tea-like of all Grumpy Mule coffees & is best enjoyed without milk. It has a distinguishing bergamot aroma & provides a delightfully light, zesty cup. A delicate, refreshing daytime coffee, best suited to cafetières, filters & percolators. As the birthplace of coffee, Ethiopia is regarded with great affection by enthusiasts & Yirgacheffe is perhaps the most exciting Arabica to be grown & processed here. “ Yirgacheffe” is both the growing area
- a sub region of the Sidamo district
- & the representative name of this unique coffee. The Oromia Coffee Farmers Cooperative Union is a network of primary cooperatives whose small farmer members are indigenous to the Oromia state of South & South-Western Ethiopia. Founded in 1999 by 35 small, organically certified cooperatives it since has expanded to embrace a host of cooperatives with similar goals. Coffee cultivation takes place on smallholder plots in these mountainous, remote highlands where traditional, organic farming is part of the culture.

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For every pack of Guatemala Pocola sold, Grumpy Mule will donate 20p to the Rubel Raxtu School to help buy equipment, books & furnishings & to support the education of the pupils in this coffee growing community. If everyone gets behind us on this project, with a 20p per pack of coffee donation we hope to see a contribution of up to £2000 to the school which will have been directly influenced by you, the Grumpy Mule customer. Keep informed of ongoing progress via the Grumpy Mule website at www.grumpymule.co.uk/about/guatemala-pocola-school-project Finca Santa Paula & the Producers In January 2009 when Ian & Rob first visited Finca Santa Paula in Pocola, Cobán, they were greeted by a misty, cloud forest landscape dominated by strange, natural sink basins that the coffee trees were planted within. Bought in recent years by experienced coffee hands Christian Schaps & Roni Ascensio, & now under the watchful gaze of their farm manager Adalberto, the plantation had not been maintained but was uniquely situated & at a good height of 1400 metres. A program of rehabilitation was fully underway, including the development of nurseries, new planting activity, heavy pruning of existing trees & the construction of drying facilities. The plantation of roughly 70 hectares had been planted with Caturra, Catuai & Catimor Arabica varietals, but the classic Costa Rican Arabica varietal Villa Sarchí was now being planted for the future. The 2009 harvest would be the first under the new management team where the coffee cherries were harvested, processed, dried & exported by themselves rather than selling the coffee to the local market. Coffee for Grumpy Mule! We agreed to buy whatever specialty coffee they were able to produce from this 2009 harvest
- this was still essentially an experimental lot
- & they would work towards increasing the production & volume of high quality coffee over the next few years. We really hope to continue this working relationship into the future. It could be argued it was a bit of a gamble to buy unknown coffee
- it's no surprise that we usually like to taste a coffee before we decide to buy it
- but the reputations of this production team in producing fine coffee meant it was worth the risk! & we're delighted to say that they've delivered on their word. The Rubel Raxtul School On their return from the trip to Finca Santa Paula, Rob talked about the community school that was located within the coffee farm & it seemed logical that if we were taking something away from the local area (ie the coffee) it would be great to put something back. By linking the project to each pack of coffee, it will allow you as the consumer to have a direct influence in Pocola. Escuela Rubel Raxtul was named after the farmer who donated the land on which the school stands
- the land is within the boundaries of the coffee farm Finca Santa Paula
- & was opened in 1966. This school for 4
- 12 years old teaches over 200 boys & girls with lessons given in the local Q'eqchi language & Spanish. There are presently 7 teachers & 1 head teacher. Coffee Facts Location: Pocola, Cobán in the Department of Alta Verapaz 1400 metres, cloud forest micro-climate Caturra, Catuai, Catimor & planting Villa Sarchí Arabica Fully Washed Some mechanical drying due to the humidity & wet climate






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Grumpy Mule have been buying Diamond Mountain for several seasons now & it's firmly established in the range as both a favourite of their team & their customers. An amazing coffee from one of the world's best coffee farms which we visited once again in 2013. Hacienda La Esmeralda is famous for the celebrated Esmeralda Special coffee (Geisha Arabica) & is located in the picturesque highlands surrounding the town of Boquete in Western Panama, perhaps one of the most stunning coffee areas we've yet visited. The Peterson family are passionate about quality coffee & under the management & guidance of third generation farmer Daniel & father Price, they continue to strive for excellence in coffee, careful stewardship of the land & support of both the 45 permanent & 300 seasonal workers & their respective families. All of the farm & milling activities focus on environmental & social sustainability so that natural habitats are preserved, water courses & resources protected, measures undertaken to minimise erosion & waste organic material composted for fertiliser. Workers are also provided with housing, sanitation & other benefits. ...

One of only 74 speciality food products to win the maximum 3 Star Gold at the Great Taste Awards 2008 from the 4800 entries & a 2 Star Gold winner in 2009. Grumpy Mule have been buying this coffee for several years now & it never ceases to amaze. Now with around 2000 members of which around 80% are women, Musasa (or “ Dukunde Kawa”) Cooperative & the RWASHOSCCO organisation is based in the Rushashi district of Kigali Ngali province. The natural advantages of climate, altitude & Red Bourbon coffee trees presented a unique opportunity for Musasa & its farmers
- to embrace the skills & knowledge that would allow them to grow & process high quality lots of coffees. None of this could have been achieved without the support of the PEARL (now SPREAD) Coffee Program, which has helped to establish localised cooperatives throughout Rwanda's coffee growing regions. This support has included the building of washing stations to process the coffee cherries, vital technical assistance & providing the foundations necessary to export directly to the speciality coffee market & its higher price rewards. Each year Grumpy Mule buy a unique “E lot” of sun-dried Bourbon from the Musasa cooperative. These exceptional lots represent the very finest specialty coffees available from Musasa.
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The Decaf version of Grumpy Mule's best selling coffee; the organically grown Gayo Highlands is cultivated by smallholder producers in the highland districts of Central Aceh & Bener Meriah in northern Sumatra. The Fairtrade-certified KBQB cooperative (Koperasi Baitul Qiradh Baburrayyan) has been licensed since 2007 & now has around 6000 producer members. An excellent decaf for all-day drinking. ...

Grumpy Mule's best selling coffee; the organically grown Gayo Highlands is cultivated by smallholder producers in the highland districts of Central Aceh & Bener Meriah in northern Sumatra. The Fairtrade-certified KBQB cooperative (Koperasi Baitul Qiradh Baburrayyan) has been licensed since 2007 & now has around 6000 producer members. The developing coop
- based around Takengon village, has received considerable assistance in recent years helping farmers to purchase l&, build clinics & provide financing & support. In addition the communities of KBQB are now beginning to reap the benefits of the Fairtrade social premiums. Roasted a touch darker, this is a particularly smooth, full bodied coffee with underlying herbal notes. It has great character & depth of flavour.
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Tanzania Footprint coffee is sourced from Blackburn Estate peaberry & AA (flat bean) lots that are exclusive to Grumpy Mule Each year they source a unique lot of “peaberries”, where the two beans usually found within a coffee cherry have fused into one
- these are then separated at the milling stage & batched together. The taste is more intense & very fragrant. The quantity of this coffee varies from season to season, therefore availability of the peaberry can be limited. Another of East Africa's most distinguished coffee plantations, the Blackburn Estate is owned & managed by passionate husband & wife team Michael & Tina Gehrken. It can be found on the western slopes of Mount Oldeani in Northern Tanzania, an idyllic farm gazing down on the wide valley below. Being located near to the scenic Ngorongoro conservation area, both elephants & water buffalo are frequent “trespassers” on the estate. The huge elephant footprint Ian found one morning during his visit has inspired the name of this exceptional coffee. They'd actually taken an overnight liking to one of the estates underground water pipes & had impressively excavated it to create a spontaneous watering hole! The attention to harvesting & processing detail on this estate is incredible, resulting in a wide selection of micro-lots, from the different zones of the farm, that each have their own subtle nuances & aromas. Pickers select only the very ripest cherries from the historic Bourbon & Kent Arabica coffee trees, many of which were first planted in 1931. The cherries are pulped & the coffee fermented in the cool, overnight conditions before being carefully washed the next morning ready to be sun-dried on shaded nets. All stages are meticulously controlled & monitored. To this day, Ian from Grumpy Mule still maintains that this is the best coffee farm he's yet visited.
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