Nyiramasoni Donatille, our first Gold Standard coffee!
Now and then, we find an incredibly special coffee. And since our Head of Coffee is so good at hunting them down, we decided they...
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Now and then, we find an incredibly special coffee. And since our Head of Coffee is so good at hunting them down, we decided they...
This is the fifth year we’ve had El Cairo on our menu – so it’s been around almost since the beginning! A Colombian burst of orange and mandarin flavours, it’s a delicious variety grown by Faiber Vega Salazar. Today his farm is thriving, but it wasn’t always that way… Year 1 El Cairo was actually one of the first farms Pact Coffee started a Direct Trade relationship with. Back in 2014, Head of Coffee Will...
What’s that delicious aroma on the wind? I’m getting juicy pineapple and delicious blackberry, and it seems to be coming from our roastery… which can only mean one thing. Nyaruszia Ngara is back. Winner of a Great Taste award in 2018 (deemed to be “simply delicious” by food ‘n’ drink boffins), it’s upholding its status as a genuinely incredible coffee. Leave your kettle to rest a little after boiling, and you’ll be rewarded with a...
Rome wasn’t built in a day. Dough takes an hour to rise, novels take months to write – and whether you think the world was created in seven days, or that humans evolved over millions of years, good things take time! Gender equity, not to mention gender equality, is definitely one of those things. The London Society for Women’s Suffrage formed in 1867, but women didn’t get equal voting rights until 1928 in the UK...
We thought it’d be safer to clarify – we’re not talking about gulping downs cups of unroasted beans (even though dubious ‘studies’ have claimed they promote weight loss, we think it’s a tastier experience to enjoy them properly roasted!). No – we just want you to maximise that feel-good sensation you get from drinking our coffee. Yeah, you’re helping to make coffee a force for good and improving the livelihoods of people in an often...
The New Year is the perfect opportunity for a fresh start. And for Pact Coffee, 2019 was destined to be the year of the recyclable coffee pod. The same delicious flavour profiles, but packaged up into an environmentally friendly capsule (and ones that actually work a lot better with your Nespresso® machines). Check them out! From coffee beans to… Coca-Cola! Our shiny new pods (and they really are shiny!) are made entirely from aluminium. And...
If you’ve been enjoying our coffee for a while, chances are you’ve come across Buenos Aires – a Colombian coffee (despite the name!) with notes of red plum and a crisp, citrussy acidity. Often making up one half of our Fruit & Nut Espresso blend, providing the ‘fruit’ element, it’s a firm favourite that we’ve been buying for five years! In 2018, Will headed back to the farm to meet up with José Ramone Collazos...
1. Different doesn’t always mean good Describing someone’s style as “unique” could be considered a backhanded compliment. So saying the same of a flavour profile could also carry that implication of negativity – the tasting notes equivalent of rolling your eyes at a jaunty feathered hat or thigh-high Doc Martens. Geisha is renowned for its unique taste, but also its diverse flavour profile – something which can mean a delightfully varied experience with each geisha...
Meet Maria Olano, Speciality Coffee Buyer at the Federación Nacional de Cafeteros (FNC) and longtime friend of Pact Coffee Hi, Maria. Can you tell us about yourself? My name is Maria Alejandra Olanao and I was born in Bogotá, Colombia. At 25 years old, I’ve already discovered my passion: coffee. I have a Master’s Degree in Coffee Economics and Science from the Università del Caffè, in Italy. Before that, I studied Business Administration in Colombia...
When you think ‘cupboard essentials’, you might be listing coffee along with things like sugar, flour, vegetable oil… everything ‘basic’ you need to get by....
It’s International Coffee Day. And since we’ve been lucky enough to send Head of Coffee Will and MD Paul over to Colombia in the last...
Like Christmas, it comes just once a year. But, unlike Christmas – it’s not all fun and games (and overeating and over-drinking…). International Coffee Day is a day to celebrate coffee, and also to reflect on issues in the industry itself. This year, the International Coffee Organisation has chosen its focus to be the role of women in the coffee chain – applauding their hard work, and acknowledging the gender inequity inherent in both coffee...
Maybe you’ve heard whispers… changes have been happening in the world of Pact Coffee. We’ve come a long way from Stephen Rapoport’s kitchen, setting up camp in Bermondsey to do everything from roasting and grinding to writing, selling and marketing. But we’ve been growing – and like a hermit crab having to look for a new shell, we needed to find a bigger roastery that’d let us supply you lot with all the coffee you’ve...
Growing, processing and roasting Agronomy: The science of crop growing and land management. Altitude: This massively affects the flavour of the coffee, with higher altitudes generally being best as the cool climate allows the cherry to ripen more slowly. Arabica: The most widely grown coffee variety in the world – believed to be the first type of coffee ever cultivated! It makes up around 60% of commodity coffee and generally all speciality coffee, whereas everything...
Did you know that food and drink have their own awards season? Earlier this year, Pact donned its evening dress and hit the red carpet to take part in the Guild of Fine Foods’ Great Taste Awards. Taking place over 60 days (that’s a lot of costume changes…), these awards have been called the ‘Oscars’ of the food world – and it’s literally a star-studded event. The “largest and most trusted accreditation scheme for fine...
Owning a coffee farm is not a glamorous job. You’re working in a steamy field, not an air-conditioned office. Your pay depends on the commodity market and how well your crop grows – there’s no guarantee of a comfortable salary and benefits each year. It’s unlikely you’ll ever own mansions and helicopters, and it is almost certain that there will be times of extreme uncertainty. So why farm coffee? For the love of it! Unfortunately,...
If you’ve ever opened an email from us, you’ve probably seen us mention Will, our Head of Coffee. Will describes the coffee like this, Will went here, Will did that … et cetera, et cetera. But who is Will? And what does being a Head of Coffee entail? And how do you become one? Just read on, friends, and get acquainted with the bean-counting, coffee-slurping arabica expert that is Will. Like anyone who’s thrown themselves...
Imagine this. Your job is to make brownies for a food market The ingredients one batch cost around £1.50 (you found a great deal on cocoa powder!) - that’s not factoring in the time and energy spent making them, either. When they’re fresh from the oven, oozing gooey chocolate, the people that run the food market take them away to be sold. For a long time, business hasn’t been booming. Maybe everyone’s packing their own...
Taste notes: marmite. Ok, not actually marmite. We’re not that brave. But this Ethiopian coffee is definitely a ‘love it or hate it’ kind of coffee. And we kinda love that… On paper, it sounds universally delicious. Black tea, lemon and blackcurrant flavour notes with a buttery mouthfeel, and light orange acidity. Mmm! But when we first debuted it in 2016, there were some very strong opinions. Some people thought it was fantastic and… others...
“We’re all going on a summer holiday” your colleagues crow, waving condensed guides to Costa Rica and ASOS packages full of flip-flops and swimwear in...