Red Flag Seasonal Espresso

The Red Flag boldly signifies great coffee and the revolutionary approach to how we do things – from sourcing, to roasting, to the drinks at the cafes. The name adorned our first espresso blend in 2007, and returned again ten years later. This time, we’re waving the flag to usher in our anniversary and celebrate all of the incredible coffee and people along the way!

This Red Flag flies for our community, everyone in the Bay Area and around the world who have made it possible. Thank you!

Join us in saluting this season’s 3 components:

Producers Pride, Costa Rica

In the hills surrounding the tiny town of La Piedra de Rivas, near the Chirripo National Forest, a dozen producing families have come together to build a micro-milling facility called Beneficio Los Crestones. As we enter into a decade of working with these families, it’s exciting to see that this small neighborly cooperative is still trying to grow and innovate. Noticing the impact that their recently improved drying system had on the quality of the coffee, land was set aside to construct twice the amount of drying space alongside a new large bodega to protect the harvest before it makes it’s long journey to San Francisco. This lot collects the coffees from several of the Los Crestones producers in a blend we’re calling Producer’s Pride. Containing Caturra, Catuai, and Villalobos varieties, Producers Pride is a clean, mechanically washed coffee, often called a white honey coffee.

Shakiso Hadeso, Ethiopia

Hadeso is a remote woreda in Ethiopia’s Guji region. Shakiso, the district where this coffee is produced, is located in the East Guji Zone of Oromia, about 500 kilometers south of Addis Ababa. In total, 500 farmers contribute coffee to the Hadeso washing station.Farmers in Hadeso intercrop coffee with native species such as false banana trees, which provide shade and help fertilize the soil. Since producers deliver coffee in cherry form, they do not produce pulp waste on the farm. Instead, collection centers prepare organic compost and distribute it to the producers. The coffee is fermented in cement tanks for 36 to 48 hours and then dried for five to seven days under plastic parabolic covers, depending on the weather. In the cup, you’ll find a bright, sweet, juicy coffee – with a tea like body and notes of lemon and blackberry.

Hunapú, Guatemala

Smallholder producers on the slopes of the Agua and Acatenango volcanoes have been growing coffee for hundreds of years. Most of these families are indigenous producers, who grow the traditional variety, Bourbón, using techniques and traditions passed down from one generation to the next. Once harvested, the ripe cherries are delivered to local miller and exporter Bella Vista where they are processed in a modified washed manner, using an ecopulper to conserve the local area’s scarce water resources. The coffee is dried on raised beds under a protective covering. Each individual lot is sampled and only the best of the best get collected together to form this amazing Hunapú offering.