pls. see below coffees we want to feature in April/May Beanscene. Attached photo to be used. Could we also pls. change the colour of the background, into another one from last edition and also change the font type for coffees? also could we pls. place the attached picture on the side rather than below, make it a bit bigger in size and place the coffee names on right or left side with a bit smaller font size and see how it looks like? thanks so much. Pls. confirm receipt of this material.Pls. let me
Kenyan AA Ruera Estate
Kenyan AA tatu Estate
Kenyan AA gethumbwini
Kenyan AA Karundu
Kenyan AA Mtaro Estate
Hawaiian Maui washed Caturra
Indonesian simalungun fancy triple Picked
Indian Plantation a Kondadkhan
Indonesian ‘sunda Hejo’ –
Harvest 2012
Costa Rican Rfa Hacienda Aquiares
Ethiopian fair trade Organic Limu gr.2 washed guatemalan Organic Rfa Bird friendly guatemalan Organic Rfa Coe –
El Pintado
Brasil Daterra Connoisseur Pack
- Mundo Novo varietal processed in four different ways: Pulped,
Natural, washed and Pulped Raisin
Available in Australia & New Zealand from Cofi-Com Trading Pty Ltd
Ph: +61 (0) 2 9809 6266 - www.coficom.com.au
ORIGIN
Dariusz Lewandowski has supplied coffee to some of the best specialty coffee roasters in the world.
He currently works with Coficom Pty.
The
of a
I t was around a year ago when I first met Gabriel Rivas and his coffee manager Arturo Ferron.
It was a long awaited meeting.
I had been curious for some time to find out more about the personalities behind the exceptional Finca Kassandra green beans. My boss, Andrew Mackay, had told me countless anecdotes from his previous visits, and assured me it was a special place. So, after a rather nervous handshake and some social pleasantries, we quickly delved into the topic of coffee beans. It didn’t take long before Gabriel and Arturo felt like old friends.
I wanted to know everything about this ancient Aztec country and its coffee beans. Mexico has a population of around
115 million, and is one of the top 10 coffee producing countries in the world.
It yields roughly 5 million 60-kilogram bags of coffee per annum, from plantations close to the Guatemalan border. It began producing coffee in the late 19th Century and is well known for types such as
Oaxacan Plumas, Altura and Liquidambar
– all Arabica varieties brought in from the Dominican Republic and Cuba. The country plays a key role in the supply chain of green bean coffee to consuming countries. It focuses on organic and certified coffees, creating a niche market that enables thousands of small farmers to concentrate on organic production.
Over half of all Mexican coffee beans are organic or sustainably certified. Chipas
beanscenemag.com.au 81

ORIGIN
Parts of the Kassandra farm have been left virgin to allow for natural shade.
and Oaxacaare are probably the best known.
The industry in Mexico has had a difficult past. Between 1970 – 1990, government quotas, subsidies and rapid rural development raised production almost ten fold. However, the ‘lost decade’ that followed saw financial crisis and the collapse of international coffee prices hit the country and its farms very hard. Coupled with a lack of government support and the emergence of Coyotes saw the property as a place to retire, in surroundings that reminded him of the farm he had grown up on. He came from humble beginnings in an area called
Coyoacan, on the outskirts of Mexico
City. His father was an iron smith and his mother, nicknamed Trini, was a native Mexican from the Tehuanatribe.
Of note was Trini’s cousin, Matilde, who was employed by a German immigrant,
Wilhelm Kahlo, better known in Mexico as Guillermo Kahlo. Guillermo and
– unscrupulous coffee brokers – the farmers struggled to survive. Eventually, cooperatives were born and a sustainable solution for Mexican coffee farming emerged from the rubble.
Gabriel Rivas is well acquainted with the history of Mexican coffee production.
Indeed, Finca Kassandra has a unique place within its story. Gabriel’s father,
Guillermo Rivas, and grandfather,
Andreas Rivas, purchased Casa Blanca, a ranch situated in Veracruz near the city of Huatusco, in 1983. Don Andreas
82 beanscenemag.com.au
Matilde married and had four daughters,
Matilde, Adriana, Cristina and the famous
Frida Kahlo. Don Andreas fondly recalls playing with his cousins as a small boy, and would often mention to Gabriel how the girls were all known for their beauty, and Frida for her art.
Money was tight growing up. With 10 siblings, Don Andreas had limited options to further his education. He enlisted in the
Mexican Army and quickly rose through the ranks, showing a particular aptitude for mathematics. This was rewarded by an invitation to join the newly established
Naval Engineering Academy in the state of Veracruz. He graduated in 1938 as a naval engineer.
Soon after he married Maria Isabel
Diaz. They had three sons; Andreas,
Guillermo (after his uncle Guillermo
Kahlo) and Luis. During the Second World
War he transported oil from the port of
Tuxpan, Veracruz to Harlingen, Texas under the threat of German U-boats off the coast of New Orleans. After the war, he became an electrical engineer for a stateowned company where he worked until his retirement at 65.
Rancho Casa Blanca, originally a cattle ranch, became a coffee plantation in 1990.
The region is well known for its high quality coffee, situated 1200 metres above sea level with an annual precipitation of between 1400 – 2000 millimetres. The rainy season lasts from June to February with a dry season from March until May.
The average temperature is 22 degrees
Celsius, providing perfect conditions for producing high quality coffee. A total of
38 hectares were planted with Caturra and Catuai varieties. With the subsequent introduction of proper farming and management, a yield of 30 Quintales per hectare has been reached, which is sold as cherry to local mills. Today, Casa Blanca is
70 hectares, replete with its own dry mill, in operation since 2003.
Finca Kassandra was established, towards the end of 1996 when Guillermo
Rivas (Gabriel’s father) purchased a number of cattle ranches near Casa Blanca. These were then combined to form the 465 hectare Finca Kassandra.
Don Guillermo was ambitious from the outset. His vision was to turn the plantation into the largest and best coffee estate in Veracruz.
It has always sought to produce a high yield of Estate Quality Coffee
– ensuring these standards by producing and milling the coffee on site. Although situated some 16 kilometres away from Casa Blanca, on the road to Coahepec, the conditions have proved even more favourable for coffee production. Annual precipitation is similar, but importantly the temperature is a couple of degrees cooler thanks to an elevation of between 1240 – 1450 metres above sea level.
In keeping with his ambitious vision, Don Guillermo visited El
Salvador, Guatemala, Jamaica, Costa Rica, Colombia and Brazil to ensure the plantation grew varieties in their purest form. He returned from his travels with Pacamara, Caturra, Catuai and Typica
(Jamaican Blue Mountain) seeds. The plantations were started in
June 1997 at the beginning of the rainy season. Since then some 398 hectares have been planted with a further 40 hectares converted in
2004. It’s pleasing to note that 27 hectares have remained unplanted to allow the virgin rain forest to remain a refuge for the wildlife.
Finca Kassandra, formerly a cattle ranch, was left with few trees by its previous owners. Initially it was decided to start an open plantation, similar to the high production farms of Costa Rica. This approach has altered over the years and currently there is a plan under way to plant shading trees of local and foreign varieties to aid the coffee during cold spells. Although shade technically makes the trees less productive, the plants fair better as they produce lower yields, the ground retains more water during the dry season and, as a result, the cup is markedly improved. Shade also protects trees from inclement weather often associated with higher altitude plantations.
I noted too that these trees are home to many permanent and migrating species of birds.
Don Gabriel sees continuing the proud family tradition at Finca
Kassandra and Casa Blanca as a great honour. I found his energy and passion for the coffee bean infectious and inspiring. It is hard not to recall his last words from the evening we met: “We miss Don
Andreas and Dona Chabela, but their spirit, values and stories live on in the trees and coffee produced in Finca Kassandra’. There is no doubt in my mind he serves this legacy handsomely. finca Kassandra
Product Name: rfa shG finca Kassandra
Tree varietal: arabica / bourbon, caturra, catuai, catimor
Plantation Producer: finca Kassandra
Country of Origin: Mexico
Area of Cultivation: Mountain Mesofilos forests, huatusco region
Altitude: 1200 to 1500 meters
Temperature: 22 degrees (c) average
Harvest Period: January to May
Harvest Method: hand pick
Processing Method: wet mill and dry mill
Certification: -rainforest alliance
Aroma: citric and chocolate
Flavour: strong taste of fruit, plum, port wine like, citric and chocolate
Acidity: sweet and intense. (well-marked)
Body: Medium-body (well balanced)
Finish: clean
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