So Long, Summer!
Summer seems to have just sped past us. At the onset, it seemed like it might linger for much longer than it had, and with the roastery’s social calendar chock-full of chances to deepen our community connections, we’re suddenly on the cusp of the much awaited, and now very fast approaching, desert winter!
We can’t wait to embrace our region’s magnificent outdoor season, especially with a host of exquisite coffees in the launch pipeline, kicked off with a trio of Natural, Honey, and Hybrid Washed Cerro Azul Geisha from Cafe Granja La Esperanza in Colombia alongside another Hybrid Washed Geisha from Las Margaritas and a Washed Pink Bourbon from Potosi. Such are the brews to wake us up in the crisp, darker mornings; admire the beautiful shifting skyscapes throughout the daytime with; and cozy up to in the drawn-out evenings.
But first, let’s look back at warm memories from the summer roastery get-togethers we had with our home community.
We’re truly grateful for the opportunity to host three iterations of Cup and Connect, a casual Archers community cupping event, featuring our producing partners from two of the world’s largest volume coffee producers and exporters, Indonesia and Brazil, and the origin of origins and provenance of the tiny but mighty JARC varieties, Ethiopia.
Also in July , we welcomed new and long-time coffee friends nearly every week for the Archers Friday Coffee Club, a totally informal coffee hang to taste and talk about themed coffee picks from our collection and opened up Archers Academy’s Coffee Skill Lab to encourage more newbies in our specialty coffee community to hone their home espresso, pour-over, latte art, and roasting skills through half-day, fully hands-on, and conversational courses designed for every specialty coffee enthusiast, home barista, and home roaster.
And in August, we had the privilege of staging the unprecedented UAE specialty coffee community milestone, A Private Tasting Premiere featuring all of the 2024 Best of Panama Auction Lots — 14 Varietals, 18 Geisha Natural, and 18 Geisha Washed.
A Sunny, Social Start: Cup & Connect with Luiz Paulo Pereira of Carmo Coffees, Brazil (June 25)
Setting the tone for a season focused more on connection, we debuted Cup and Connect with Brazilian specialty coffee leviathan, Luiz Paulo Pereira of Carmo Coffees and Santuario Sul. It was his second time to stop by our roastery in Sharjah toting Brazil-grown, rare coffee varieties for us to taste as a community. Last year, it was the Starmaya. This time it was Eugenioides accessed from Colombia, Geisha originally from the Janson Coffee family in Panama, and SL 28 from Kenya. Know more of what went on that day in June here.
Rising Heat, Hot Topic: Cup & Connect with Enzo Sauqi of Central Sumatera Coffee, Indonesia (July 27)
The heat approaching its peak coincided with Cup and Connect featuring Enzo Sauqi, founder and CEO of Central Sumatera Coffee in Indonesia, who took us through a hot topic — the 4th and 5th Waves of Coffee. As our first producing partner from Southeast Asia, Enzo helped us understand the specific market context for specialty coffee production practices of his team involving the use of additives, such as yeasts and fruits, during the fermentation phase of post-harvest processing to imbue some of their coffees with very specific, consumer-directed sensorial qualities. Read how our July meet-up turned out here.
Cup & Connect with Eliyas Dukamo & Atiklet Dejene of Elto Cofee, Ethiopia (September 22)
Suitably, we sent off a fun, community-focused summer on the season’s last official day surrounded by the most encouraging company. They came to Cup and Connect with a pair of our most passionate, down-to-earth, and inspiring producing partners, Sidama Bensa-based couple Eliyas Dukamo and Atiklet Dejene of Elto Coffee from Ethiopia. Since first meeting them through Kenean Dukamo of Daye Bensa Coffee, Eliyas and Atiklet have been leading us to enjoy more of the JARC varieties’ elevated flavor spectrum. Catch up on highlights and familiar faces among that September crowd here.
A Private Tasting Premiere: 2024 Best of Panama Auction Lots (August 3)
For the first time in the UAE, a homegrown specialty coffee roastery opened the invitation to our community to experience all the 50 Best of Panama Auction Lots at a Private Tasting Premiere here at Archers. Appreciating the breadth of our esteemed Panamanian producing partners’ awe-inspiring works could only fuel the fire of our shared passion for the relentless pursuit of specialty coffee excellence. Get glimpses of that epic moment here.
Say, What’s Cool, Winter?
As we look back on our summer gatherings and celebrate the friendships we started, kept going, and strengthened over incredibly extraordinary coffees, we can't help but stay excited about what lies ahead.
As the warmth of summer brought us together, winter sets the stage for get-togethers with their own, unique, festive character.
With competition season just around the corner, international exhibitions on the horizon, a possibly exciting year-ender, an origin trip to Ethiopia for CQI's Q Processing Professional in January, and World of Coffee Dubai in February 2025, our Archers winter also promises shared moments with our specialty coffee community filled with wider and deeper discoveries while making new connections and rekindling already cherished ones.
So, here's to braving the cooler mornings, revelling in longer nights together, and making new memories over every cup! Say you’ll stay near, friends.