October 05, 2020
We love Melbourne based Rumble Coffee for so many reasons. The main one being they stand by a strict no-BS policy. Rumble’s extremely transparent about how their farmers and the local community is treated. It’s apparent that their relationship with their coffee farmers, including Marlon del Valle and his family from Guatemala, is quite special.
Rumble Coffee’s homebase is in a renovated warehouse in Melbourne’s inner-west suburb of Kensington. The team travels the world, searching for the best farmers, before returning home to roast the beautiful beans they’ve sourced from hardworking coffee farmers. This month Rumble’s beans of choice hail from a passionate coffee farmer in Guatemala, in the Huehuetenango region.
Guatemala has a lot to be proud of with its Mayan ruins, diverse landscape, colourful culture, and being a world class coffee origin. There are a few perfect coffee-growing spots in this Central American country. Huehuetenango, located in the northern highlands known for its striking mountain scenery, is the one Rumble was drawn to.
Huehuetenango has a unique microclimate that’s perfect for coffee farming. Beans from this region tend to have a beautiful rich, sweet flavour with a hint of winey acidity. Rumble Head Roaster, Matt Hampton, fell in love with Huehuetenango when he visited and met so many passionate young farmers that faced huge challenges of being paid fairly for their product.
This is where the brilliant Marlon Del Valle comes in. Marlon owns a coffee plot in Huehuetenango with his brother Rudelfi which is overseen by his hands-on mother and Del Valle matriarch, Maria. Marlon’s commitment to the community and unique agronomic expertise make this coffee something special. While the Del Valle family used to sell cherries to the local market, Marlon and his brother had a dream of building stronger relationships and exporting their coffee internationally. This was the perfect coffee farm for Rumble to partner up with for this month's featured roasts.
“After my first visit to Guatemala, I realised that we could help young coffee growers get access to the Australian market and better prices than they were getting from local buyers.” — Matt Hampton, Rumble’s Head Roaster
MARLON – FILTER ROAST
Marlon is this month's filter roast. It’s named after Marlon Del Valle, the son of the Del Valle family who has been tending to his family's coffee crops for over 25 years.
Tasting Notes:
Look for bright, juicy notes of lime and grapefruit with a solid milk chocolate finish.
Recipe:
6g per 100ml of water
MARIA – ESPRESSO ROAST
Introducing the mother of all espresso roasts: Maria. This roast, unsurprisingly, is named after Marlon’s mother Maria. Maria passed on the ownership of the farm to her sons Marlon and Rudelfi - but still gets her hands dirty and works on the land to this day.
Tasting Notes:
This coffee is clean and bold with a brilliant orange/apple acidity and long, soft plum finish.
Recipe: 21g in to 42g out over 30 seconds
Check out Rumble’s giant collection of brew recipes on their second Instagram account, @rumblerecipes.
It’s an amazing resource, they break everything down for you!
“The biggest change since last year is obviously the pandemic. COVID-19 has impacted the whole world and the coffee industry didn't escape. But we’re all pulling together - putting one foot in front of the other and carrying on roasting great coffees.” — Matt Hampton, Rumble’s Head Roaster
The pandemic has impacted the whole world and that includes the coffee industry. Rumble had to close their retail store at the roastery but they’re still doing free delivery to local suburbs and growing their online sales. They’re extremely close to opening a new showroom/espresso bar at their roastery in Kensington where they can personally showcase their coffee. Thank you so much to the team at Rumble for sourcing amazing beans and roasting them to perfection. Enjoy!
