This coffee is a single-estate lot from Kivanga Estate in Embu County, Kenya, grown at 1,750 meters above sea level. Produced by Morris Njagi, this lot consists of SL-28 and SL-34 varieties. The coffee is processed using a washed method, where cherries are depulped, fermented in open tanks, and dried on beds for 14-21 days. It features a ripe, big body with sticky sweetness and juicy acidity, offering tasting notes of blackberry, cranberry, amber honey, and lemonade.
Rebecca Grossman and Lucas Smith founded Ilse in 2019, starting with a thousand dollars and a rented roaster in Stamford before building out their own facility in a converted mechanic's garage in North Canaan. The approach is quality-driven: light roasts, single-producer microlots, and a commitment to buying entire harvests from the same farms year after year, some relationships now stretch back to the beginning. Pricing is transparent; each bag lists what the producer was paid, the FOB price, and Ilse's cost. Sourcing focuses on Central and South America and East Africa, with Costa Rica, Honduras, Colombia, and Ethiopia appearing regularly.
