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OCTOBER 2007: CATURRA COFFEE COMPANY

A lifestyle with taste

Amongst the large variety of coffee trees there is a very special one, which, if it is handled with extraordinary care and attention, is known for a high yield combined with full flavour and distinct aroma – the CATURRA tree. It is with the same care and attention, that we at CATURRA COFFEE COMPANY proudly offer the best beans for a delightful coffee experience.

CATURRA is renowned throughout Southern Africa for Africanising the coffee culture of Europe by importing the finest African and international beans, carefully roasting them on-site at our Head Office and supplying our customers with the freshest and purest ground coffee.

It all began 10 years ago: a coffee lover went in search of the perfect brew. But much to the disappointment of his discerning palate, it could not be found. It was then, in 1994 that he decided to roast his own beans. The demand for his coffee grew to such an extent that he began supplying other coffee shops with his blends. Since then, a lot of things have changed at CATURRA, except for one: The desire to supply the best quality coffee to connoisseurs and stockists nationwide.

For CATURRA this means sourcing only top-grade coffee beans from around the world, roasting them to perfection in Cape Town, and supplying a range of best blends to restaurants, supermarkets and coffee shops across Southern Africa with the support of a large team of professionals with expert knowledge of coffee, as well as a technical support team to provide fast and efficient installations and maintenance to all customers’ equipment.

To satisfy the individual needs of the customers, the CATURRA also offers a range of tea, crockery, take away cups, powdered smoothie blends, household espresso machines, and a variety of helpful things, making the preparation, selling and consumption of coffee more pleasurable.

Encouraged by the highly favourable reception from the catering industry of CATURRA’s commitment to service and quality, CATURRA has introduced a zip-seal pouch for the retail market. The five available blends have for the last ten years been the favourite and most loved by the restaurants and cafés who are supplied with CATURRA coffee.

CATURRA’S SINGLE ESTATE COFFEES

 

Coffee and wine

At CATURRA, we were thinking about the uniqueness of wines, their different flavours, tastes, smells and qualities, when we created this new range of Estate Coffees. Like wine, coffee is a natural product and its taste and quality is influenced by various factors such as weather, altitude and soil. As these factors vary from country to country, so do the characteristics of each coffee vary from one estate to the other. This is why we find such a large variety of coffee and coffee blends.

Coffee and Africa

Africa is the home of coffee! Coffee beans were first found in Eastern Africa around 500 AD. Until today, African countries have cultivated a variety of high quality coffee beans, which are sold and used by coffee manufacturers all over the world. African coffees have an excellent reputation and are well known for their intense and distinct flavours.

CATURRA has combined these two elementary facts and carefully selected four different coffee estates in four different African countries. These estates supply us with their highest quality, superior Arabica coffee beans. Each of these coffees is unique in taste and flavour. They are packaged in elegant, eye catching pouches and their individual front labels express their “wine character” while the back labels tell the story of each coffee estate.

Wine lovers and coffee connoisseurs will like this range. A good cup of filter coffee and the various specialty coffees such as espresso, cappuccino and café latte are becoming more and more popular in South Africa. Hence innovative ideas on the filter coffee market are easily accepted and appreciated.

The estate coffees attract tourists from all over the world, looking for typical African souvenirs.

• Isanya Estate, Zambia: A lively well balanced aromatic coffee with a citric bite.

In the northern highlands of Zambia, overlooking Lake Tanganyika lays the magnificent Isanya Estate. Isanya means “sun” in the native Zambian Bemba language and the farm’s lush, golden valleys and elevated altitude make it ideal for coffee growing.

It was Mr. Peachey an Englishman who first developed the estate’s coffee potential in the 1930s. Mr. Peachy was a regular pioneer, flying between Cairo, Egypt and Cape Town, South Africa until his biplane crashed near Isanya Estate. While convalescing in the area, he fell in love with one of the nurses whom he later married. He also developed a passion for the Isanya region and its scenic surroundings of rolling mountains and dense forests.

He purchased land for the pricey sum of 1,400 British Pounds and set about turning Isanya into one of the most prolific coffee estates in Africa. The estate now produces over 1,000 metric tonnes of washed Arabica coffee annually.

• Makoka Estate, Malawi: A nutty, well balanced aromatic coffee with a subtle bite.

In 1914, Mr. Roy Wallace and Mr. V. J. D. Ascot travelled from London, England to Cape Town, South Africa on an epic journey northwards that would bring them to the fertile lands of Nyasaland. Together they bought two hundred hectares of prime farmland in the Makoka Valley, 30km. southwest of Zomba, which was then the capital of Malawi.

The southwest of the estate is bordered by the Makoka River, the name of which is derived from the local Chichewa phrase “ku koka” meaning “to pull” and referring to the abundance of fish in the water.

The estate, which is currently run by Mr. Wallace’s son Simon, embarked on coffee growing in 1988. The estate is blessed with optimal coffee growing conditions and can now boast of 36 hectares of drip line irrigated superior Arabica coffee.

• Fairview Estate, Kenya: A rich full bodied coffee, yielding soft current tones and a fresh bite.

Nestled in the citadel of the world’s finest coffee growing region in the central Kenyan highlands, lies the Fairview Estate. The breathtakingly scenic estate is situated at a perfect altitude of 1,750m above sea level and the area’s rich, fertile soils have contributed immensely towards the huge yields of superior quality coffee for now over 95 years.

The use of balanced holistic production methods have ensured the protection of the environment and contributed to the social and economic welfare of the surrounding communities, resulting in the awarding of a globally recognized Uts Kapeh certification.

The estate has a rich and royal history, which can be tracked back to the first title registered owner, his majesty King Edward VII of England who transferred the estate to Ms. Eveline Poy. The present owners, Mr. Leonard Oliver Kibinge and his immediate family, purchased the estate in 1978 after returning from the United States were Mr. Kibinge had been stationed as Kenya’s Ambassador.

• Crocodile Creek: A rounded, full flavoured, well balanced aromatic coffee with a citric bite.

Travellers to Zimbabwe’s magnificent eastern highlands will discover a true coffee grower’s paradise. Nestled against the base of a ridge, known in the local Chindau language as “Chipinge Mountain”, the historic Crocodile Creek was founded by the Edwards family in 1902.

The estate was sold to the Fennel family almost 60 years later and it was the Fennels who built the present colonial style homestead and successfully developed the Estate’s coffee potential. During their many years at Crocodile Creek, the Fennels won the prestigious Zimbabwe Coffee Grower of the Year Award several times.

In 1997, the estate was purchased by its current owners, African Highlands Plantations. Generous rains and mist throughout the summer and winter months contribute to an ideal climate and today the estate produces over 220 metric tonnes of Arabica coffee per annually.

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