Horsham Coffee Roaster | Liza Lot 15 | Rwanda
The Roaster
Horsham Coffee Roaster is based in Sussex, UK. Back in 2012, there were a fraction of the speciality coffee roasters there are today. With their 1kg roaster in their garage, Horsham wanted to showcase the amazing results they were able to achieve on their small-batch roaster.
They have come a considerable way from the garage back in 2012, although they are still a small team their drive and focus is still the same.
"They source the best coffee in the world that has been traded ethically and then use the latest technology alongside experience and quality control to roast the coffee to the highest possible standard."
Horsham Coffee Roasters began much like many other coffee roasters in the UK, testing the water at their local market. After a year of successfully selling their coffee in the infamous British weather and obtaining a loyal customer base, they decided to opt for a more permanent residence.
This allowed them to focus on the sourcing and wholesale side of things as well as the space to increase their roasting capacity.
Through their market presence, they very quickly found local customers keen to use their coffee. Now a few years on they have a wholesale family that reaches from the South of England to Scotland and into mainland Europe. The business has moved twice to facilitate growth and they now roast using a 35kg Loring S35.
Alongside the philosophy that has informed their development over the years their core focus for sourcing has become their Relationship Coffees. These are coffees sourced by Horsham Coffee Roasters through direct links with farmers and producers alongside their import partners.
Currently, they have established partnerships in Rwanda, Kenya and Costa Rica. Well-chosen importing partners are essential to match them with farmers and co-operatives that are dedicated to producing speciality grade coffees.
Horsham Coffee Roaster is committed to purchasing ethically traded coffees with full traceability to its origins. We also endeavour to obtain full transparency of our coffee’s financial trail, giving us and our customers, peace of mind that each farmer has been well paid for the outstanding coffee they produce.
In 2019 Horsham Coffee roasters partnered with One Tree Planted with a commitment to plant one tree for every 1kg of Rwandan and Kenyan coffee sold via their website and to our wholesale customers.
Their low emissions Loring S35 keeps their emissions low but planting trees puts them into carbon credit. You can visit their tree planting page to read more about the project.
Relationship coffees and direct trade
Horsham Coffee Roaster is committed to using direct trade in sourcing their coffee in order to ensure a fair and transparent price for coffee producers that is above and beyond the Fairtrade base price.
In the UK we are extremely fortunate to have numerous speciality coffee suppliers, however, their goal has always been to source coffee directly from origin so that they can work towards building sustainable, mutually beneficial relationships with coffee-producing communities.
They have contributed significantly to certain areas of the coffee-growing world. Especially Rwanda, where they regularly visit. Donating to washing stations and helping build and repair local infrastructure like schools.
In 2017 they introduced the title ‘Relationship Coffee’ to signify which coffees they have obtained through these special relationships, but also to address some of the ambiguity attached to the term ‘direct trade’.
It is not always clear who is responsible for the direct trade and although it is often used to signify a direct link with producers, in reality, this link may involve three or four parties in between producer and roaster (e.g. farmer - washing station - exporter - importer - roaster). With this type of structure in place, it can be very challenging for the roaster and coffee producer to make a direct connection.
The price they pay for their relationship coffee will be well in excess of the Fairtrade minimum price. The co-operative level payment for the Rwanda coffees ranged from 60%-120% above the Fairtrade based price at the last harvest.
The Coffee
The Liza washing station is owned by Jean Paul. He is a second-generation coffee farmer who has worked for many years as an agronomy consultant both in Rwanda and the Congo.
His farm has about 6000 trees and he processes coffee from his own farm and from several hundred local small-hold farmers within the community. The quality he produces is outstanding and this is due to his dedication and commitment to training local farmers and focusing on very careful hand sorting at the washing station. Jean Paul produces a variety of different micro-lots specifically for Horsham Coffee Roaster’s, these include washed coffees and bespoke experimental process coffees.
Coffee is delivered daily during the harvest period (February to June) by small-hold farmers. Usually, they deliver anything between 10 and 100kg depending on the size of their farm.
After delivery, coffee is floated in the water. Defects tend to float and the good quality cherry will sink. After flotation coffee is pulped to remove the fruit and then fermented dry in tanks for about 12 hrs
After fermentation, the coffee is washed to remove mucilage and then moved to dry in the shade.
Drying takes place in two stages. The first stage is done undercover to allow hand sorting to take place and gentle drying to avoid parchment cracking. After 48hrs of shade drying the coffee is moved to raised tables to dry in the sun until reaching 12% moisture.
Each days processing is kept separate to create separate lots.
After the coffee has dried it is stored in a cool stored room and samples are sent away to be roasted, cupped and graded in Rwanda and also sent to us to be sampled. Once we've selected the lots we've like to purchase the coffee will be dry milled. This process involves removing the parchment layer and further sorting to remove defects.
The Review
I was super excited to try the Rwandan Liza Lot 15 coffee from Horsham Coffee Roasters. Firstly I do love Rwandans, they don’t typically have the audacious fruit bomb notes of Kenyans or Ethiopians however I find that they have an extremely large spectrum of flavour notes and you never really know what you’re going to get with a Rwandan.
Secondly, I had just learned about the relationship coffees that Horsham Coffee Roaster was offering and Rwanda seemed to stand out as a place that they hold close.
Opening the bag was a pleasant fragrance of orange zest that almost tickles your nose right at the end.
The aroma when brewing turns sweeter and the suggested caramel becomes present.
The first sips are delicious, the coffee is extremely balanced and pleasant to drink. I tasted green apple but the notes are quick and the sweet caramel flavours layer through the sip before the apple notes turn tart.
The coffee is crisp yet has the depth and body not to scare away the lovers of richer notes.
A really impressive coffee that lives up to the stories behind it. A fantastic example of a Rwandan coffee and one that you can rest assured that both sides of the supply chain are happy.
Worked really well as an espresso. The richer caramel notes were more present than with a paper filter. However, try this one with any filter and I guarantee it won’t disappoint.
