We have achieved the Top Level of the IFS Food Certificate, an international standard recognised by the Global Food Safety Initiative (GFSI) to audit the food quality and security of the processes and products of the food companies.

The process of certification has been very difficult and hard work, with a complete dedication by Cafés Camuy Management, that has been able to communicate and involve the whole team in the importance of the IFS Norm, internally with the optimization of the operative process as well as with the advantages that bring about for our client in the service, food security and improvement of the quality of the product. And thus how this impact favourably for the end consumer.

The challenge, as manufacturer and provider, was not easy. Nonethelss we have committed to the quality threshold available to very few coffee companies in Spain, and we have achieved it. Besides, we comply with all the legal requirements of food products, unique and transparent rules that give an appropriate and concise response to the high expectations of our clients in security and quality matters.

It gives us great satisfaction and confidence to be able to count on this Certification, but also on the effort and work capacity of our team Camuy and on all parts involved in the supply chain, thoughtful to the daily operating process in order to achieve a continuous improvement.

Product traceability assures the control and follow-up of the product, from its purchase to its sale

All our products comply with the current legislation on health matters, production, packaging, labelling and storage.

Besides the internal production controls carried out by our technical personnel during the whole process of production on the selection, roast, packaging and as well as on the storage and distribution, Cafés Camuy carries out external quality controls through independent auditing firms.

Our coffee is subject to the strictest controls at its entry into our warehouse, and we check that the shipments are always the last crop.

ARÁBICA COFFEE

This variety is characterized by its soft flavour and aroma with a caffeine content between 1 and 1.5%. It is grown in the inter-tropical zone between 500 and 2,000 metres high. The bush can reach 5 metres high, but it is usually pruned so it is kept to 2-3 metres so it facilitates harvesting.

Leaves start with a yellowish colour, to become light green and finally dark green when they are completely developed. The flower is white, with five petals and very fragile. Once ripe, the berries are maroon and they are usually the size of a cherry, but more oval.

Coffees of these species are classified by the quality of their varieties and for the quality obtained when processed. This classification is done on three levels which are, from the highest to the lowest quality: "Soft Colombian" and other "softies" that are the so called cleanse (treated by the humid way) and the "Brazilian" and "other Arabicas", that are called not cleanse.

The Arabic species has numerous varieties, which includes amongst others:
TIPICA, COMMON, BOURBON, CARUTTA, COLOMBIA, MARAGOGIPE, NATIONAL, SUMATRA, MONDO NOVO (a blend between SUMATRA and BOURBON), MOKA, ABISSINICA, CULTA, (also called JAVA) SAN RAMON, COLUMNARIS, PURPURASCENS, BLUE MOUNTAIN, etc.

CANEPHORA COFFEE

This variety is characterized by its strong flavour with a caffeine content between 2 and 3.5%. It is grown between 300 and 1,000 metres high and comes from Africa.

The bush can reach 5 to 9 metres high. The flower is white or pinkish with eight petals. The leaves are light green, the berries reddish and the grains a bit smaller that those from the Arabica.

The most known and common variety is ROBUSTA, but there are other varieties less known such as: KOILLOU, UGANDA, GOSSWEILERI and the STUHLMANNI.

LIBÉRIACA COFFEE

This variety is less important than the two previous ones. It is grown at 500 metres above sea level. It is more resistant to heat and drought but its flavour is less appreciated.

The main varieties are: GRANDIFOLIA and WORENSIS.

The roast is an aspect of vital importance for the making of a good coffee, and when we are talking about SPECIAL ORIGIN COFFEE still more, because it is the key action that defines its flavour and aroma.

What is roasting the coffee?

It consists of subjecting the coffee to temperatures between 150º and 225º through a hot air current in a rotating drum. It is important that the time of roasting is at the minimum possible, for an optimal result.

In the roast process, the green coffee suffers physical and chemical transformations such as loss of humidity, weight loss, an increase in volume and change in colour.

How the coffee is roasted?

The roast has to be made separately depending on the type of coffee, according to its origin, selection or degree of humidity, and this way we will achieve more homogeneous roasts. If coffees are mixed before roasting them, there would be differences and some grains could turn up more roasted than others.

The roast degree of a coffee will determine its colour as well as its flavour, and it will depend fundamentally on the time employed and the temperature within the drum. It is necessary to analyse all roasts to guarantee a homogeneous roasting time.

This is determined in the lab through the colorimeter, an instrument that registers the colour of the sample. It is an imperative control in any roast.

If the roast is light, the colour of the coffee will be light brown, its flavour will be lighter, less sour and less bitter. It has to be taken into account that the sourness depends on the quality of the coffee and not only on the roast.

Does the kind of roasting influence the coffee?

It is important to know that to a same type of coffee, each degree of roast impresses a completely different flavour.

Depending on the degree of roast, the colour will get darker and the flavour less sour but increasingly bitter. However, if it is too roasted, the resulting flavour will not be as pleasant.

Once the roast is finished, the coffee has to be quickly removed and cooled so the flavour gets fixed and the fragance substances condense. After the cooling, a new selection takes place though the stoner machine that retains foreign materials at the bottom.

The process ends with a quick vacuum pack in a controlled atmosphere (nitrogen) to prevent the loss of flavour caused by the combustion gases and avoid the oxidation of the grains in contact with air. In the coffee grain this gas will be released during 1 to 2 weeks, whilst in ground coffee, the process will last no more than a day.

Types of coffee roast

Depending on the kind of roast, we can consider two sorts of coffee:

NATURAL COFFEE
It is the coffee that has been roasted with no other additives. The roast can go from light to strong, but the medium roast is the usual.

TORREFACTO COFFEE
It is a coffee that during the roast process has been added with sugar. The sugar is added when the coffee is changing colour, dissolved by the effect of the heat and creates a layer that covers the grain. Afterwards, it is left to roast until it is burnt. This gives the grain a bright and gloomy colour, and the drink a bitter flavour and a darker colour, leaving the flavour and aroma of the coffee distorted.

The origins of coffee dates back approximately 450 BC. It is surrounded by different mysterious legends from Eastern countries.

Let us start with some of these stories about the origins:
It is told that an Arab shepherd observed while he took care of his flock that his goats turned playful and happy after eating the berries from a bush. The shepherd, seeing so much joy, tried the berry and experienced a pleasant and euphoric sensation foreign to him.
Another awesome tale refers to the Prophet Muhammad. According to legend, the archangel Saint Gabriel sent by Allah appeared to Muhammad when he was very ill, and made him drink a dark coloured concoction that cured his illness, revitalising him and giving him strength and joy.
We could tell many other stories no less interesting, but legends aside, the truth is that since its discovery, coffee is linked to a certain spirituality, to ecstasy or, more pragmatically, to the battle with fatigue.

Although there are many versions about the time and origins of coffee, it can be assured that it was discovered in Africa.

In the 14th Century, the Arabs took the plant to Yemen, where the first and only plantations appear, and its commercialisation was controlled by the Sultanate.
Its consumption quickly spread throughout the regions with Islamic culture, due to the prohibition of consumption of alcoholic drinks, and due to its invigorating qualities.
During many years, exportation of this precious berry was banned by all Islamic countries.

At the end of the 16th Century, plantations spread first to Ceylon and then into India, where, according to legend, a Hindu pilgrim, native from the Mysore region, hid some grains of coffee in his clothing in order to cultivate them in his country.

At the end of the 17th Century, the Dutch took a coffee tree from Yemen and moved it to the botanical garden of Amsterdam. Once there, they had the great idea to move it and cultivate it in the Island of Java. The fertility of the soil and the weather of the area allowed the coffee to adapt perfectly. Moreover, it grew stronger and much more productive than in Abyssinia. These events placed Holland as the world power in coffee.

Its introduction in Europe dates back to the end of the 16th Century, beginning of the 17th Century. Coffee was recommended by the doctors at the time as a cordial drink and it was known as the "Arabian wine". The consumption of coffee was such that there were several attempts to acclimatise the coffee tree to the European Continent, without success.

In 1683, the Sultan Muhammad IV lays siege to Vienna. Thanks to the actions of a young Polish man, the Christian forces managed to beat the Turks and keep the generous loot. The young hero only claimed from the loot, 500 bags full of coffee for its preparation and trade. The modern roast was born there, the filtering and the habit to add milk cream to reduce the strong flavour of the Turkish coffee.

It was a Turkish ambassador who popularised coffee in France, offering this drink to Louis XIV. Later, coffee will be offered at lavish parties, and the guests had the chance to try the new infused brew, unknown until then in the halls of the capital of France.

However, Marseilles would be the first French city to open a public coffee house.

In England, Pasqua Rosée, a Jew originally from Greece would open the first coffee house. Despite what you might think, coffee was the British national drink, and they have the oldest coffee house in Western Europe.

The port city of Hamburg would be the access point for coffee in Germany, where an English merchant sets up the first public establishment in 1675.

Coffee reaches America at the beginning of the 18th Century. The European governments decide to follow the Dutch example and, France in particular, who in 1726 had already its first American coffee harvest. It is in America where the coffee tree has developed more and thrived.

Coffee was introduced in Spain by the Bourbons and the Italian merchants by approximately the middle of the 18th Century. The first coffee houses in Madrid were restaurants where you could taste the concoction. And so it remains to this day.