Mazelab Coffee

From the Ayla washing station, established in 2018 by Faysel Abdosh, sourced from roughly 800 smallholder farmers at high elevation. Washed with a 96-hour fermentation (water changed every 24 hours) and 15 days drying on raised beds under shade nets. Clean and floral, with grapefruit and citrus layered over delicate stonefruit sweetness.

Yellow blossom, floral, citrus, grapefruit, stonefruit

From a high, forested corner of southern Ethiopia where smallholders cultivate heirloom trees around Bursa. Naturally processed — dried whole with the fruit intact — for a layered, fruit-forward cup with floral and berry character alongside honeyed sweetness. Roasted lighter in Prague to preserve those qualities.

Tropical yellow fruit, white blossom, blueberries, peach, raspberry, honey

A washed Ethiopian from a newly built station in Hambella Womena run by Faysel Abdosh — the same site as Mazelab's honey-processed Hambella, but cleaner and more aromatic. Removing the mucilage during washing brightens the cup toward citrus and florals, with the layered fruit typical of Ethiopian heirloom varietals: lemon, mandarin, and stone fruit.

Floral bomb, sweet lemon, mandarin, peach

Grown by Itto Guerra on eleven-year-old Geisha trees at nearly 1,823m in the Chiriquí highlands. Only ripe cherries are hand-picked, then split into three processing lots timed to lunar phases — washed under a new moon, natural under a young crescent, honey under an almost-full moon — producing three distinct expressions from identical trees.

White blossom, apricot, sugarcane, tangerine

Founded in 2008 by Willem Boot, Finca Sophia operates at the extreme upper limits of coffee cultivation in the Nueva Suiza highlands. This lot (#9325) comes from the Colibrí parcel, picked at 2,026m and processed with a 36-hour dry fermentation, thorough mucilage removal, and slow raised-bed drying finished in the dark. Delicate, precise, and long — floral and citrus notes layered over stone and tropical fruit.

Coffee blossom, peach, citrus zest, yellow tropical fruit

AA-grade coffee from SL28 trees on the southern slopes of Mt Kenya, washed using traditional methods. A structured, savoury Kenyan built around redcurrant acidity and a full body, with a distinctive umami depth that keeps unfolding as the cup cools. Roasted fresh in Prague on the lighter side.

Umami, good structure, redcurrant, bodied

A honey-processed Ethiopian from Faysel Abdosh that impressed the Mazelab team on an origin visit. Cherries are soaked, depulped, and dried for 35 days with mucilage intact, yielding a rounded sweetness, gentle body, and expressive fruit character — soft, layered, sweet, and very easy to fall in love with.

Apricot, yellow peach, honey, white floral

A peaberry selection from the Kagunyu factory, run by the Rumukia Farmers Cooperative Society on slopes between Mt Kenya and the Aberdares. The single dense peaberry bean gives a more concentrated cup — dark berries, red currant, and blackberry with characteristic Nyeri acidity.

Berries, red currant, blackberry

From the Kiawamururu wet mill run by Njimbi Farmers CBO in southern Nyeri, where smallholders farm ~0.2-hectare plots of red volcanic soil between Mt Kenya and the Aberdares. Orange and peach up front, black currant and gooseberry beneath, with a savoury umami note underneath it all.

Orange, peach, black currant, gooseberry, umami

A peaberry selection from Njimbi Farmers CBO, which has run the Kiawamururu wet mill in southern Nyeri since 2020. Traditional Kenyan processing — pulping, 24-hour fermentation, river-water washing, raised-bed drying. Pours floral and juicy, full of bright yellow fruits, finished with that unmistakable Kenyan gooseberry snap.

Florals, juicy, yellow fruits, gooseberry