Extract Coffee Roasters
Inner Strength is a caffeinated fist bump to the inspiring local and national community projects supported by the team at Extract Coffee Roasters. £1 from every bag of Inner Strength Espresso supports these charities.
This community coffee started in 2011 as Strong Man. Since then, we have raised more than £27,000 for charities in the UK through our fundraising efforts and sales from our annual charity espresso.
Now, when you sip a cup of Inner Strength, you are helping ex-rough sleepers in London back into employment, supporting hospitality professionals struggling with their mental health and helping young people fight the impacts of deprivation.
Inner Strength 2024 is now available and this years it one not to be missed!
Inner Strength Espresso 2024 is produced by five farms within Cafe Tuxpal, a collection of farms that are thriving in a unique microclimate in the Apaneca Ilamatepec mountain range in El Salvador.
With the perfect triad of dry winters, warm summers and fertile volcanic soil, these farms can produce absolute standout coffee and this honey-processed espresso is a prime example of that.
Ripe cherries are picked by hand and taken to a family-owned mill for processing. The outer skin of the coffee cherry is removed, leaving the sticky mucilage of the fruit intact around the bean. During the drying process, this sticky mucilage begins to ferment, allowing the sugars and flavours to be reabsorbed into the bean. This results in a unique flavour profile and adds body and sweetness during roasting. Once dried, the beans undergo dry milling to remove any remaining fruit, are sorted, and graded before being sent to us for the final roasting stage.
Processing in this way infuses the coffee with an intense sweetness, resulting in rich flavours of sticky marmalade, butterscotch and pecan pie, making for an epic-tasting espresso.
For 2023 we raised over £2000 for community projects across the UK. This year's Inner Strength was an exclusive red honey micro-lot from Honduras. This coffee was produced for Extract Coffee Roasters by Carlos at Finca Valentina after we visited them in 2022.
FARM: Finca Valentina
PROCESS: RED HONEY PROCESS
IN THE CUP: BLACK CHERRY, ALMOND, HONEYCOMB
For 2022 we created a delicious espresso by blending two natural-process coffees from Tanzania and Brazil. This could be the best coffee we've roasted for Inner Strength yet! As always we're donating £1 per bag to our incredible community partners to help communities in need across the UK.
FARM: Mkulima Kwanza Coop, Mbeya, Tanzania & Sitio Arabela, Divinolandia, Brazil
PROCESS: NATURAL
IN THE CUP:
BLACK: YELLOW PLUM & MUSCOVADO SUGAR
WITH MILK: SULTANAS & CUSTARD CREAM BISCUITS
After a truly epic coffee last year, we returned to Virunga National Park for this year’s Inner Strength with a delicious washed and sun-dried coffee from the Kawa Amaha Women's Coffee Coopade.
As this was the 10th year of Inner Strength, we decided to step our fundraising ambitions up a notch and launched a charity raffle with La Marzocco UK. The response was incredible and we raised a whopping £12,000 for our Grounds Up community partners.
FARM: Kawa Amaha Women's Coffee Coopade. Virunga National Park
PROCESS: FULLY-WASHED AND SUN DRIED
IN THE CUP: AMARETTO & PRESERVED GINGER. WITH MILK? CHERRY BAKEWELL.
2020’s Inner Strength Espresso was from the Women’s Section of the Coopade cooperative Democratic Republic of Congo. Stone-fruit flavours and warming aromatic spices rolled into a mouthwatering sweetness.
In 2020 our Grounds Up charity collective helped even more community projects across the UK, raising more than £3000 for our five partners, Beyond Food, Hotel School, Empire Fighting Chance, So Let’s Talk and The Long Table.
FARM: KIRINDERA PEACE COFFEE, FROM THE WOMEN OF COOPADE
PROCESS: WASHED
IN THE CUP: PRUNES, CARDAMOM, KEY LIME PIE
For 2019’s Strong People coffee, we chose a cooperative pioneering gender equality in Rwanda and raised £2600 for our Grounds Up partners, Empire Fighting Chance & Hotel School, London.
FARM: KOPAKAKI DUTEGURE COOPERATIVE, KARONGI DISTRICT, WESTERN PROVINCE, RWANDA
PROCESS: DOUBLE FERMENTATION - WASHED
IN THE CUP: BLACKCURRANT JAM, DARK MINT CHOCOLATE, CABERNET SAUVIGNON
In 2018 Strong Man was joined by Strong Woman, together they raised £2000 for our Grounds Up partners, Empire Fighting Chance and Hotel School London. Blending the Costa Rican Hermosa with a fruity Ethiopian coffee let our roasters flex their muscles and show how unusual flavours can be balanced to a delicious coffee of epic proportions.
FARMS: HERMOSA, COSTA RICA & SASABA, ETHIOPIA
PROCESS: HONEY PROCESS & NATURAL PROCESS
IN THE CUP: BLUEBERRY MUFFIN & MARSHMALLOW
In 2017 we found our strong-but-sweet Strong Man Espresso on a trip to El Salvador. That year saw some impressive mo’s grown by the team, a cut-throat visit to the roastery from the local barber and £1000 raised for Movember UK.
FARM: LAS NUBES, SONSANATE, EL SALVADOR
PROCESS: HONEY PROCESS
IN THE CUP: BLACKBERRY JAM, PRALINE & HONEY
2016’s Strong Man launched with fanfare as we hosted a circus-themed party here at the Roastery! The coffee was a punchy yet sticky sweet espresso from Honduras with glorious custardy notes and raised an epic £1700 for Movember UK, raising awareness of male suicide.
FARM: FINCA EL OCOTAL, SOUTHERN HONDURAS
PROCESS: WASHED
IN THE CUP: STICKY SWEET VANILLA CUSTARD AND PECAN PIE
2015's Strong Man Espresso packed a punch with autumnal fruit notes of fig, plum and blackcurrant. Chocolatey in milk with notes of sticky toasted marshmallows.
FARM: FINCA LAS MERCEDES, ANTIOQUIA, COLOMBIA
PROCESS: WASHED
IN THE CUP: FIG, CASSIS & COCOA
In 2014, Strong Man coffee was from a speciality coffee farming community in Los Aguacates, Colombia. The espresso was loaded with fruit sweetness, had a mellow sugary finish and oaty-biscuit notes in milk. Think hobnobs or digestives. Dunk that.
FARM: LOS AGUACATES, SOUTH EAST ANTIOQUIA, COLOMBIA
PROCESS: WASHED
IN THE CUP: GRAPEFRUIT, PINEAPPLE & BROWN SUGAR
Strong Man Espresso returned in 2013 to inject some caffeine into the Movember Foundation’s campaign for men’s health raising over £600. Finca La Cascada's coffee with enzymatic fermentation gave Strong Man his floral, berry sweetness. Sweet as pie.
ARM: FINCA LA CASCADA, NICARAGUA
PROCESS: NATURAL
IN THE CUP: STRAWBERRY, CHERRY
2012’s Strong Man Espresso was a ‘spro designed to coat mo from El Paraiso in Nicaragua. We donated £1 from every kilo to Movember and grew our best moustaches to support Movember’s fan-tache-tic awareness campaign.
FARM: FINCA EL PARAISO, MATAGALPA, NICARAGUA
PROCESS: NATURAL
Our first ever Strong Man was built on a base of Ethiopian Harar and punched through milk for an all-round sock in the jaw! We designed this coffee as a full-bodied, flat-white espresso to coat your mo’ and support Movember UK's campaign for men’s health.
FARM: HARRAR, ETHIOPIA
Take a look at our latest coffees, freshly roasted and available to buy online now.