From the Spanish countryside to your doorstep

October 3, 2017

From the Spanish countryside to your doorstep

October 3, 2017

Operating out of a former organic chicken farm, Puchero Coffee is the one of Spain's most exciting new coffee roasters to arrive on the scene

If you were to turn your dream of owning a coffee roastery into reality, where would you like to set up shop?

Surely, if you are starting from your own café the answer might seem obvious, but what if you had a blank canvas to play with? Over the years we have worked with a few different roasters who decided to ditch the big city for a quiet countryside setting, like for example our friends at Langøra in Norway. While they may not have access to a steady flow of customers, they are rewarded with an extraordinary natural setting and a much bigger amount of freedom to shape their ideal workplace than those city folks might have.

Puchero's barn near Valladolid — Puchero’s barn near Valladolid

That was probably the same thinking that Marco Bergero and Paloma Fuentes had when they left London to return to Paloma’s hometurf to set up their own coffee roastery. The space they chose is barn that was formerly used to farm organic chickens. The elegant design of their refurbished space was heavily influenced by some of the leading cafés and roasteries in the British capital with confident open plan touches that encourage discourse and transparency.

During a recent visit to Madrid, we came across Puchero’s coffees in many of the city’s famed new specialty coffee shops such as Saint Georges, Santa Kafeina and La Colectiva, convincing proof that Marco and Paloma are reaching the right people with their dedication, passion and commitment to quality.

Naturally, as supporters of all exciting new roasters across the continent, we could barely wait to team up with this exciting newcomer from Spain and it’s our pleasure to celebrate their debut in our October ’17 box with a truly outstanding Guatemala, El Rincon IV that perfectly translates their skills into something palatable.

This Guatemala was very unusual indeed, offering a vibrant acidity and sparkling citrus-led flavour profile usually associated with African coffees. The coffee hails from Guatemala’s famed Huehuetenango region where Yolanda Galindo looks after the farm that was originally started by her late husband Roberto Molina and his cousin Jorge Vides. El Rincón is a 25 hectare farm located in a protected corner of a valley that provides the crops with a stable climate with relatively high humidity levels and plenty of nutriens from the rich chalky soils typical for this region.

By the way, if you’ve been wondering what ‘puchero’ means, it’s the Spanish word for pot, pan or stew.