Have you been asking yourself ‘what can I get my dad for Father’s Day?’ and coming up stumped? If your dad is a coffee lover, of any kind, we’ve got all your gift needs covered. From the recent convert to the seasoned experts, we have a gift to suit him.

Pascale, who is responsible for managing our farmer relationships was back out in coffee territory; she spends most of her year travelling and visiting producers on behalf of Union. She returned from Ethiopia, a very special coffee heartland, where she visited the Yayu Wild Forest.

One of the last remaining mountain forest fragments of Arabica Coffee (coffee arabica) in the world, the Yayu Coffee Forest Biosphere in Ethiopia is vital for the preservation and conservation of coffee.  To preserve and maintain its primary and secondary wild forest, and prevent any further damage to the forest or loss of coffee species,  the local communities need to have other livelihood options as well as seeing a viable future for themselves in producing speciality coffee.

At Union, we are collaborating with Dr Aaron Davis, Head of Coffee Research at the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, to work with the Yayu community to protect the forest and create a sustainable income for themselves. Pascale visited Yayu to evaluate how we would develop the project.

Judging from the way our Coffee Cherry Fruit (Cascara) is disappearing out of the warehouse, you’re all embracing it as much as we have – hurrah! This is excellent news, as we’re determined to spread the word about how brilliant this stuff is and we’re thrilled at the response it’s getting. Now let’s start to have some fun with it.

We’ve been experimenting with this “Coffee Cherry Fruit” at the Roastery, and Oli has created some delicious and refreshing infusion recipes for you to try at home. After a lot of arduous testing and in-house debate, Oli’s selected the following combinations as a jumping off point for you. Try them and tweak them (brewing time, water temperatures and ingredients) to your taste.

If 2015 is the year you start to really explore coffee, then step this way. We’ve got something to show you.

Cascara has been quietly gaining awareness amongst the coffee community for some time but its production is still very small and variable in quality. At its best, this liquid rose-gold concoction offers great taste, high antioxidants levels, and low caffeine content. So what is Cascara?