People talk about good coffee, but rarely about the folks who make it – and we don’t mean hipster baristas. We’re referring to the communities of dedicated men and women who cultivate and collate the beans. This is a mindset Nespresso wants to change. In fact, the Swiss label’s own connoisseurs have trekked across Brazil, Colombia, Ethiopia (dubbed the birthplace of coffee) and even India to highlight, through unique flavors of its Pure Origin brews, the expertise of each country’s coffee farmers.

Coffees from Lake Kivu in Rwanda and Chiapas in Mexico are further refined using Nespresso’s roasting and grinding technology.

The same can be said about Nespresso’s new limited-edition blends, Umutima wa Lake Kivu and Tanim de Chiapas, farmed by small but exceptional coffee-growing communities in Rwanda and Mexico respectively, and further refined by the company’s know-how in roasting and grinding. The beans in the former, picked and sorted laboriously by hand so only the best beans are selected, is a refreshing blend punctuated with juicy fruit accents and enhanced by an aftertaste that’s delicate on the palate. Coincidentally, Rwandan coffees are considered some of the sweetest and most flavourful of East African selections. The latter comprises beans grown using generation-old practices amid food crops, such as avocados and oranges, in the shade of a lush, tropical rainforest – a technique that gives the silky-smooth coffee its delicious nutty notes and bready aromas.   

According to Nespresso head of coffee Karsten Ranitzsch, while different practices are used to grow the two blends, both communities in Rwanda and Mexico share the same commitment to quality. “Umutima wa Lake Kivu and Tanim de Chiapas are Pure Origin coffees, which means that 100 per cent of the coffee has been sourced from the respective countries,” he says. “Nespresso is then able to amplify their intrinsic flavor qualities by utilizing a split-roasting* technique for a perfect in-cup result.”

Umutima wa Lake Kivu and Tanim de Chiapas are available at S$24 for a duo pack and S$56.10 for a five-sleeve pack at Nespresso’s boutiques and online at www.nespresso.com.

For more on Nespresso’s community values and origins, click here.

*Split-roasting is a technique that involves roasting different coffee beans separately at varied temperatures to bring out the unique characteristics of each variety.

Story Credits

Text by Kenny Loh

This story first appeared in L’Officiel Singapore.