Our relationship with Newland coffee (Brendan) began when we were cupping with our friends at Necessity coffee in Encitas. Brendan happened to be there at the time and hopped into the cupping with us. He mentioned that he was an importer looking to get the ball rolling on this new venture of his and we exchanged info, kind of your typical networking chit chat. A month goes by I’m in the shop and Brendan swung by, said hi, and dropped off a sample of an auction lot of Guatemalan and some Ethiopian coffees.

We cupped them like we usually do samples and were very impressed with the complexity of these Ethiopian coffees from Morkata. Immediately we knew this was looking to be a great partnership and bought a pallet of Morkata’s washed and natural offering. We plan to meet Morkata and get to know him further this coming spring of 2026, and we hope to make it to his operation in Ethiopia and learn even further about him and his methodology in coffee production Q4 of 2026.