Maximum fruitiness, unabashed sweetness, and tradition thrown out the window—that’s exactly how Sweetshop works. The current version of this blend from London-based roaster Square Mile Coffee combines equal parts Ethiopian Bookkisa Natural and Costa Rican El Higuerón. The goal is to bring as much fruit, sweetness, and fun as possible to the cup, not to create a traditionally balanced espresso. Bookkisa brings bold strawberry notes, floral tones, and bergamot along with a creamy, slightly milky texture, while El Higuerón adds jam-like and candy-like sweetness. The result is a juicy, playful, and aromatic espresso that definitely doesn’t pretend to be a classic.
The Ethiopian half of the blend comes from the village of Bookkisa in Guji, where small-scale farmers supply cherries to the Dambi Uddo processing station, which is affiliated with Sookoo Coffee. It consists of a selection of Gibirinna 74110 and Serto 74112. The Costa Rican portion comes from the El Higuerón farm in Tarrazú, run by Mario Araya and the Araya family. They operate their own micromill, Los Cuarteles, and have long focused on the Catuaí variety and the red honey processing method. Square Mile collaborates with the family repeatedly precisely because of the sweet, jam-like character of their coffees.
Each half of the Sweetshop lot undergoes a different processing method. Bookkisa is natural, meaning the whole cherries are dried along with the beans, which in this lot enhances the pronounced strawberry fruitiness, creamier texture, and floral aromas. El Higuerón undergoes the red honey method, in which the skin is removed but a sticky layer of pulp remains on the bean. The coffee is then dried on elevated outdoor beds, and the fermentation process is naturally influenced by the prevailing weather. The combination of both methods gives Sweetshop its characteristic intense sweetness, layered fruitiness, and distinctive character. The current blend is 50% Bookkisa and 50% El Higuerón, though Square Mile may adjust this slightly throughout the season.
- Processing Station: Ethiopia – Dambi Uddo
- Farm: Costa Rica – El Higuerón