Overview
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Aldea Yearly Roundup: 25 Proud Moments of 2025
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Upcoming Releases and Runouts
Monthly Features
Filter (Drip)
- Alfredo Ponce
- Bayron Castellanos Honey
- Karolina Alvarenga
Pour-Over
- Ramon Enamorado
Coffee Fun Fact
Did you know that Honey Process Coffee has (almost) nothing to do with honey?
Honey Process, in practice and flavor, is somewhere between a Washed Process coffee (think, Isaias Reyes) and a Natural Process coffee (like Ramon Enamorado’s newly released coffee). After the coffee is harvested, its fruit is pulped off like a Washed Coffee. But, instead of washing and wet fermenting the seeds, much of the “mucilage” or gooey fruit bits are left on the seed of a Honey Process while it dries. So, like a Natural Process, where all the fruit is left intact on the seed while drying, but gooier.
Thus, the seeds (beans) are left sticky and fragrant like honey on the drying beds—hence the name—giving the final product a mild fruity sweetness, more complex acidity, and a creamier mouth feel than a Washed, but likely less funky/fermenty compared to a Natural.
Why Honey Process?
There are many reasons producers choose one process over another but here’re a few for Honeys:
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Honey Processing requires less fresh water than Washed Process, so it’s great for dry climates and seasons, and is less of a burden on local watersheds.
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Honey Processing is less time intensive and risky than a Natural Process.
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Honey Processing can bring more value and complexity to a crop when it’s a less-than-ideal harvest year due to too much rainfall, say, or increased bug pressure.
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Because it’s awesome. A flavor profile in between a Washed and a Natural? Sign me up!
Come try one of these relatively rare Honey Process coffees for yourself at our cafes or order online at aldeacoffee.com.
UPCOMING RELEASES & RUNOUTS
Ramon Enamorado | Natural Process | Release Date: January 30th
Origin: Las Marias, Honduras | Elevation: 1,550 m.a.s.l | Varietals: 100% Lempira
Meticulously produced and dried in Western Honduras, this light roast is complex with notes of fresh-picked strawberries, creamy milk chocolate, and fragrant black tea. Ramon and his wife Ruth Reyes are pioneers of Natural Process coffee in the Lempira region of Honduras and have been producing coffee for Aldea since 2017. Like our other Natural Process coffees, Ramon's coffee benefits from an extended rest period of about 7 days past its roast date before it truly shines.
Bonus Fun fact: Naturals benefit from an extended rest or "degassing" period after roasting because they tend to have a denser cellular structure and can hold more C02 than your average Washed Process coffee (and are thought to produce more C02 during roasting likely due to the additional microorganisms left on the bean surface from the dry fermentation process, or so it is speculated by Girard and Stazzone of Cafe Kreyol.). C02 trapped in the bean can displace your brewing water, and potentially create an uneven extraction if too . . .well, gassy. Thus more rest (between 1 week and 4 weeks after roast date) = better, more even brews for Naturals like Ramon’s coffee.
Ramon’s coffee will be featured on Pour Over for the month of February. Try it next time you’re in!
Roaster’s Pick: Miller Sarmiento | Anaerobic Washed | Release Date: February 6th
Origin: Santa Maria, Colombia | Elevation: 1,952 m.a.s.l | Varietals: Red & Orange Caturra
Miller's coffee, like our last Roaster’s Pick: Finca El Espejo, was anaerobically fermented in an airtight tank for 36-hours after harvest, imparting a fruity/winey aroma, and a wonderful character in the cup. This is known as an Anaerobic Washed Process. It is comforting yet vibrant with notes of ripe pomegranate and orange zest yet counterbalanced by a rich chocolate brownie midpalate. It’s divine, y’all.
Miller (pronounced ME-ler) Sarmiento was very kind and generous to Jeremy, Andrew and I on our trip to Colombia a few years ago. He was the first person we met in Colombia. Always smiling, Miller picked us up from the airport in Neiva and drove us up and down the mountains of Huila to neighboring farms in his sweet, green SUV. He even took time out of his busy week to bring us to a hidden waterfall and shelter built by his family not far from his home, let us ride his cable car, and he and his family hosted us for a couple of delicious, homegrown meals. We are so honored to share his last harvest with you. Salud to you, Miller!
Only available in our cafes, grab a bag of Miller Sarmiento’s coffee while supplies last!
Carlitos Heins | Honey Process | Release Date: February 20th
Origin: Chimizal, Honduras | Elevation: 1,515 m.a.s.l | Varietals: IHCAFE90 & Red Catuai
Adventurous yet balanced, this Honey Process from Carlitos received top scores in our blind tasting trials and features notes of ripe cherries, hot chocolate, and wildflower honey.
Charlie Heins, aka Carlitos ("Little Charlie"), is from Spring Lake, MI. He now lives in Honduras where he plays an important role as the President of Aldea Development. Beyond producing awesome coffee, he also helps coordinate the procurement, processing, and transportation of all the green coffee we receive from Honduras. We’re very lucky to have him on the team and to be the sole purveyor of his coffee.
Learn more about Honey Process coffee from the Coffee Fun Fact at the start of this newsletter.
January and February Runouts
Roaster’s Pick: Finca El Espejo | Est Runout: Jan. 31st
Walberto Castellanos | Est Runout: Feb 9th
Bayron Castellanos Honey Process | Est Runout: Feb 16th
Aldea Coffee Yearly Roundup: 25 Proud Moments of 2025
It has been a whole ‘nother year, folks!
A whole year of evermore sustainable progress, stinkin’ good coffee, exploration, experimentation, impactful community events, new community collaborations, and old partnerships rekindled–things to be proud of, things to be grateful for. Proud moments and accomplishments to keep us going, and some goals left on the table to get us amped for another awesome year to come: hello, 2026!
There are too many to list, but here’s a condensed list of Aldea’s Top 25 Proud Moments of 2025:
- For a fourth year in a row, we sent a group of Aldea team members to visit our long-time coffee producing partners in La Union, Honduras, where 80%+ of our green coffee comes from and where Aldea began 15 years ago.
- We experienced a 42% increase in our online sales this year! Our marketing team was hard at work, growing this branch of our business, and they are super excited to see their efforts paying dividends! [Did you know you can buy coffee online, and have it shipped to you? aldeacoffee.com *wink wink*]
- Honduran Green Coffee Arrival Day went SO well this year. We celebrated with the release of The Arrival Blend and champagne all around.
- Honey Process coffees are back for the first time in years! (Learn more about Honeys in the Coffee Fun Fact section of this newsletter.)
- Our Coffee Equipment Servicing Department went in full-swing and grew tremendously over the year. It’s exciting to see so many local cafes, restaurants, and offices taking advantage of Michael’s certified repair skills.
- Polar Plunge Fundraiser: One of the first things we did last year, and it’s still warming our hearts (though it was so, so cold at the time). 100 people showed and over $1000 was raised for our nonprofit, Aldea Development.
- So much awesome volunteering this year from our staff: Over 640+ Community Volunteer hours clocked by our team in 2025.
- Celebrated Earth Day by cleaning up over 200lbs of trash from our communities!
- Muskegon Bike Co-Op Collaboration: first year of monthly “Marshland Moseys,” making coffee outside, and helping friends to realize what incredible local natural spaces are just a bike ride away from our Muskegon cafe.
- Coffee With the Birds Collaboration Continued: We are so excited to continue our partnership with Ottawa County Parks and be the coffee sponsor for their incredible birding events. Free coffee, donuts, and bird talk once a month throughout the winter? Sign me right up.
- So many To-Go Cups were saved from the landfill this year: 12,156 reusable cups were used, preventing 12,156 cups from entering the wastestream. Good job, everyone!
- The Roastery Prairie’s first year of blooming was beautiful! It gives us hope for how great it will be this Spring, and every year to come.
- Monarch Butterflies: the Monarchs discovered our newly planted Milkweed in our Roastery Prairie and snacked on it throughout the year. We got to watch dozens of Monarchs as they cocooned & emerged just outside our doors!
- MiSBF: Aldea’s Director of Operations, Brittany Goode, spoke on the panel at the Michigan Sustainable Business Forum’s Sustainability Summit. We are so proud of her!
- MKG Sustainability Committee Commenced: Aldea’s Creative Director, Elly Kuyt, is so excited to have been appointed to serve on this committee as a local business representative of Aldea & the Muskegon community. Can’t wait to see all the great things this budding committee brings to the lakeshore.
- Head Roaster Scott Hit a Roasting Milestone: 10,000 Roasts and counting!
- We received awards this year! Aldea Creative Director Elly, received the high honor of a Future 15 Young Professionals Award; and Aldea Coffee received People First Economy’s Good For Workforce Award, and was recognized as one of Michigan Celebrates’ Small Business’ 50 Companies to Watch of 2025.
- We hired a dedicated full-time baker: We are thrilled to have Schyler on our team. She has been crushing it all year, upping our pastry game!
- We had 140,000 transactions at the cafes this year, and 99.9999% positive reviews!
- We are excited to be able to offer a Simple IRA to our team as of 2025 to improve the financial security of our staff and further solidify Aldea as a great place to hold a career.
- Hired an Assistant Roaster, Hannah Sifuentes! So excited to have Hannah on the Roastery team, helping us take our roasting game to the next level.
- Got an espresso bar setup at the Roastery! It’s been awesome using it for training, recipe testing, and staff benefit.
- We hosted so many Roastery Tours and Coffee Cuppings this year as part of our new wholesale onboarding process. Email sales@aldeacoffee.com if you are interested in learning more about our wholesale offerings.
- Shortbread cookies are back - Hallelujah!
- And last, but certainly not least, we celebrated our 10-Year Anniversary of operating as Aldea Coffee, which means we opened our first cafe a decade ago!
A big thank you to every one of you for your support over the last year and beyond. We literally couldn’t do any of this without you.
(I’m a little late in saying this, but) Happy New Year!
Cheers,
