I came across Yallah Coffee the week before I was due to travel to Cornwall, where Yallah are based, and in a wonderful piece of synchronicity they are located just a few miles from where we were going to be staying. A couple of emails later and Rich had kindly agreed to meet me, and let me look around.
Yallah are a small speciality roaster that sell to the trade and via their website. My first question was to be “why Cornwall?” but when you see their location on a farm, in a lovely location, overlooking beautiful Cornish countryside why would you want to be anywhere else?
Yallah have direct trade agreements with farms in Rwanda and soon Latin America, which demonstrates a real commitment to high quality and ethically produced coffee.
I was fascinated to see green coffee beans or the first time – coffee beans are green before roasting. There were three varieties waiting to be roasted, I was surprised that even before roasting each type had its own unique smell.
Yallah roast in small batches on the premises, the smell was fabulous, and watching the transformation from washed green beans to dark roasted beans felt like watching magic.
I bought two coffees whilst there, one each from Peru and Rwanda.
Both are exceptional, but the Flor Del Norte from Peru has a wonderful balance and gorgeous depth of flavour.
Good people making great coffee – highly recommended.