$12.50
Thunderbolt - Bold Blend
Designed for espresso, and for all the deep, bold, and strong coffee lovers out there.
Over the past nine years, we’ve brewed many coffees, tasted many more, and played around with a whole lot of roasting styles. On top of that, we've had a few tasty beer collaborations over the last few years. That got us thinking more and more about different flavours, different styles, and how craft brewers offer such a varied range and style of beers, but yet they’re all delicious in their own right.
There’s no ‘one way’ to ‘do’ coffee or one coffee that everyone will enjoy. So we’re always looking, tasting, roasting, sourcing and challenging ourselves to try new things and to better ourselves and the coffee we grow, roast, and brew.
Cue Thunderbolt. It's a bit different than our other blends. It's our rustic blend, yet it's finessed; punchy and delicious. It‘s like the stout of our coffee blends. We’ve crafted this blend to give that kick that so many love while retaining Flight Coffee's quality and social impact at origin due to our stable pricing buying system (always ask us about this).
Producer: Various small lot holders
Region: Rwanda, Colombia, and Brazil
Process: Washed, Washed, and Natural
Varietal: Red Bourbon, Castillo, Colombia, Castillo, Yellow Catuai, and Yellow Bourbon
Roasting Profile: Espresso
Please note, if you're selecting 500g, you will receive 2 x 250g bags.
BUMBOGO – RWANDA, GAKENKE
Producer: Bumbogo CWS (Coffee Washing Station)
Region: Gakenke, Gasiza
MASL: 1650 - 2000
Process: Washed
Varietal: Red Bourbon
Roasting Profile: Filter, Aeropress, French Press, Espresso
Bumbogo Washing Station is a new station built by Neza Trading Company and co-owned with Muraho Trading. Bumbogo is located in an area known for high-quality coffee production in Rwanda. It is a highly competitive region in Rwanda and has been home to some of the winning lots of the Cup of Excellence.
All cherry is hand-sorted before a pre-pulp float, under-ripe or damaged cherry is removed, along with any foreign objects. Cherry is then floated in pre-pulping tanks removing any floaters. Next, coffee is fermented in dedicated concrete fermentation tanks for an average of 12 hours. During this time the fermenting parchment is agitated several times through the day by way of ceremonial foot stomping. After fermentation, coffee is released into a large serpentine grading channel. This is a moving channel of water that allows any floaters or foreign objects to float off and be discarded.
This process also separates parchment into different density grades. The highest density grade, A1, is trapped by submerged gates early on in the serpentine, where lower density coffee is allowed to pass through. Eventually, we end up with three grades, A1 and A2, which sell as specialty coffee, and A3 grades which usually sell in the commercial market. During the washing process, parchment is continuously agitated to encourage lower density parchment to float and to clean any residual mucilage off the parchment. Once the parchment is separated into grades, it is given a final post wash rinse. At this point, coffee is taken to a pre-drying area where the parchment is hand-sorted, removing any insect damaged, discoloured or chipped coffee. The parchment is laid out to dry and turned on a regular basis throughout the day.
NEMBA HONEY - BURUNDI, KAYANZA
Producer: Nemba CWS (Coffee Washing Station)
Region: Kayanza
MASL: 1818
Process: Honey
Varietal: Red Bourbon
Roasting Profile: Filter, Aeropress, French Press, Espresso
The 2016 harvest was our first year importing directly from Burundi. We partnered with a new export partner who shares similar social values as ourselves. The washing stations are privately owned by our exporters, and employ local managers to manage the stations throughout the year, and employ seasonal workers from the surrounding area through the harvest season.
Each washing station employs 3 to 5 permanent workers and is run by a manager who is also the agronomist who provides farming advice to the local communities. The average pay for the regular workers is 300,000 Burundian Francs per month. This is double the pay of other competing washing stations in the area, and managers are provided housing with electricity, and a motor vehicle.
The washing station encourages producers to pick and deliver only the ripest cherries. Prior to coffee being delivered to the mill, the washing station has a pre-delivery area where producers float, hand sort, and float again, their cherry before delivery to the mill. Cherry is weighed, and producers receive a payment equivalent to the local market rate. They are then paid a quality premium at the end of the season. Their total price per kilo of cherry paid was an average of 490 Burundian Francs (BIF), this being 27% more than the market price of 360 BIF/kg for the 2016 season. In addition to this, each producer was paid a 20 BIF/kg bonus prior to Christmas.
Nemba was built in 1991. It purchases cherry from 3171 farmers off 435 acres of land surrounding the washing station and has a maximum production capacity of 1200 MT of cherry per year. Nemba has placed in several Cup of Excellence competitions, in 2013 it placed 2nd, in 2014 placed 11th and in 2015 placed 1st winning the overall competition.
After floating and hand sorting, coffee is delivered to the mill where it is then passed through the pulper removing all skin and mucilage. Coffee is then run through a serpentine to remove any additional floaters where it is then fermented for 12 hours before being laid out to dry. The coffee is constantly stirred throughout the day to ensure even drying, and it is covered at night to preserve heat in order to ensure drying occurs as evenly as possible.
SANTA SERRA – BRAZIL
Producer: Various small lot holders
State: Minas Gerais
Region: Mantiqueira de Minas.
Altitude: 900 - 1500 MASL
Varietal: Yellow Catuai, Yellow Bourbon
Process: Natural
The Mantiqueira de Minas has some 7,800 producers, 89% of these are small lot holders. This regional blend is composed of coffees from some of these producers and was created with the goal of introducing small farmers to the specialty coffee market. Coffee has been grown in this region for over 100 years and it in 2011 and today the Mantiqueira de Minas region is one of the most awarded regions in Brazil.