Journal

Ever wondered what we mean when we say a coffee is “washed”? What about when a coffee bag label says “Natural Process”?    When we think of items as being processed, we may have ideas of methods or ingredients imparted on those items to make them consumable. Imagine spinach for example. Just like spinach can be consumed as is, spinach can also undergo processing to be sold frozen or canned....

The coffee journey starts long before you get your drink at a cafe or brew a cup at home. The behind-the-scenes process is many months long, includes many helping hands, and involves thousands of miles traveled.

We’ve bought coffee from Santa Barbara, Honduras, since 2013, and in the process, we’ve developed close relationships with the producers we work with there: Juan Angel and his son Irvin Izaguirre, Nelson Moreno, and Miguel Ortiz.

At the end of each year, we reflect on the memories made and the highlights that standout. We believe that coffee creates memorable moments in our daily lives. At its core, it’s quite simple. However, the impact a cup of coffee can have is unmeasurable. This was the driving force behind our Best of 2023 set.

Madcap has been participating in the Cup of Excellence since we began. In 2008, Gloria Rodriguez’s coffee, El Porvenir, placed as a top scoring coffee in the El Salvadorian COE. Her coffee and story were truly inspirational, so we were honored to buy her coffee as the first ever coffee purchased by Madcap.

Among the multiple hills and coffees brought to Heza Washing Station, the coffee grown on the hill named Gitwe caught our attention. Our relationship with Gitwe began in 2018 when Long Miles introduced us to the beautiful coffee grown around their washing station.

Situated just below the equator near the heart of the continent of Africa is the beautiful country of Rwanda. The landlocked country sits atop the East African plateau, along the mountains of the Great Rift Valley. 

Tano Ndogo translates in Swahili to “The Small Five,” referring to the five producers with small plots of land who process their coffee together.