Our Beans

Cannonball Coffee uses a combination of single-origin beans from two different producers.

Rwanda Coko Robusta

Robusta has for long time been considered inferior to Arabica. It is often used to pad out cheaper coffees and because robusta beans typically provide a good crema it is also used to give a good visual appeal to the most mediocre blends. At Cannonball we have sourced a single-origin robusta bean with a similar level of complexity in the cup as an arabica coffee. What’s more, the robusta bean contains typically twice the amount of caffeine as its Arabica cousin, making it perfect for those in need of a serious pick-me-up. 

This particular robusta comes from the terroir of Coko, situated in the northern province of Rwanda.  Coko benefits from a savanna climate, with a dry winter and high average temperature throughout the year. Northern Rwanda is a large growing region, home to thousands of small producers, each owning a parcel of land where they grow their own coffee. With its lakes and mountains, the region is ideal for the development of excellent coffee. The elevation is greater than 1600m which is perfect for growing coffee trees. A number of forests in the region are protected and it is even possible to see gorillas in the wild - the population of gorillas has increased in the past 10 years. 

Much like in the rest of the country, the northern region is in development, the first coffee washing station was built in 2004 and these days there are hundreds of stations across the country. The Rwandan coffee industry is booming and producing some very high quality coffee. The industry has been responsible for creating jobs, improving livelihoods of small farmers, growing expenditure and consumption in the economy and even helping in the reconciliation process between forming warring factions. 

As you can probably tell, we are very proud to use this coffee.

Brazil Cerrado (Honey Process)

Cerrado is a region in the state of Minas Gerais, in the west of Brazil. It's a young coffee-growing region, having been established in the 1960s, but now recognised internationally as a quality growing region in the country. Coffees from this area are typically big on body and taste, with sweet, nutty and chocolate tastes.

The quality of the name 'Cerrado' has meant that in the past, more coffee has been exported with the label Cerrado than the capacity of production. In 2013, the producers were granted a Denomination of Origin (DO) called 'Cerrado Mineiro'. This mark certifies that the coffee originates from the region of Cerrado and possesses the qualities of its terroir - specifically, having been grown at an elevation of between 800m and 1300m above sea level and has scored a minimum of 80 points on the SCAA grading scale. This score means it can be called a ‘Speciality Coffee’.

The Denomination of Origin groups 4500 producers covering 17000 hectares. Each bag produced under this DO is marked and traced with a bar code and a QR code which allows us to trace the name of the producer.