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abandoncoffee · 10 years ago

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Compelling & Rich - Ethiopia Kochere

If you read my recap of coffees in 2014, you may have seen the name Compelling & Rich a time or several. The Los Angeles based roaster is making more than a name for himself, he is laying down some excellent standards for micro roasters in general, pushing the envelop of development through the roasting process instead of playing it safe. Not to say there is a right or wrong way to roast, but Kian is definitely doing things right. Aside from really delicious coffees, I’ve been most impressed by Compelling & Rich’s ability to make coffees accessible, especially when it comes to natural processed and semi-natural processed coffees. However, today we aren’t looking at either of those, but a washed process coffee that hails from the Yirgacheffe region of Ethiopia, and boy is it a doozy.

Kochere is a tiny area within Yirgacheffe with a washing station where local farmers can bring their coffee harvest for processing. The farms themselves are generally very small. The washing station, which acts as something of a community center, is well run. The manager takes pride in running a tight ship and insuring that the cherry coming in for processing is exceptional and sorted appropriately. A great deal of time is spent hand sorting pergamino (dried coffee in husk) for defects during its drying period on raised African beds.

Details:

Roaster: Compelling & Rich Coffee

Region: Kochere district, Gedeo zone, Yirgacheffe, Ethiopia

Farm: Kochere Catchment Station

Process: Washed process, Sun-dried on raised beds

Varietal: Wolisho, Kudhume, Dega

Elevation: 1,750 – 2,050m

Brew Method:

Man, Kian really nailed that aroma. The bean does carry a perfumed herbal note, but above that is this enticing and sweetly vanilla cream that softly draws you in.

First sips immediately post brew, I honestly don’t know what to say about it. It’s an incredibly unique experience, complex might not accurately describe it as there it is less about commotion and more about layering. It’s an incredibly layered intro to the cup, with the highs being honeysuckle, rose, nectarine, cherry blossom, the mids being old fashion pharmacy style cream soda, and the finish be where you notice herbals, caramel, raspberry, strawberry, and watermelon candy, lime, and a touch of dark chocolate, just a touch.

Cooling a bit you find this really interesting clarity. The body is creamy, honied almost yet you still find a candied grape sweetness not unlike the Green-Tip gesha but without that pomelo citrus. Citrus isn’t exactly highlighted in this cup, which I noted in some previous Kocheres, but you do find a very vivid orange peel note. It’s fragrant in the mouth, it’s lingering with a slight dry sweetness, peach, juicy honeydew, and slightly tea’d in the finish.

This Kochere, read washed Ethiopian, has such an interesting development to it from others I’ve had. It’s very easy to get lost, but final sips do have a balanced floral atop a delicious and plump vanilla and caramel with lingering sugar and black raspberry, and surprisingly seems to pull that citrus note out in the super long finish. Quite an outstanding brew.

Brew Method:

Kalita Wave | 34g (c) to 552g (w) | 4:00 total time | 205 degrees

I wish I knew the extraction on this. The first sips are a biiiiiit extreme, so I’ll let it set in.

After a few minutes the cup is, again, intricately layered. You seem to notice white peach almost immediately in this make, with a plush and pillowy lingering. Cooling further it seems to be a bit more dense than the Chemex, which makes sense. Honeysuckle and lemongrass emphasize more, with a bit of vanilla black tea finishing.

That honeysuckle specifically is noted in this method. In fact, you find honeycomb, honeysuckle, and a really nice, slow saturation of sweetness. Apricot present, and a bit of an orange skin dry lingering in the long finish. It, for some reason, doesn’t seem as alluring as the Chemex. It does, however, have a syrupy sweet tea body, which is very interesting.

Brew Method:

This cup is on the cusp of being hands down the best ever, I think it might just be a hair more extracted than the sweet spot.

There’s no sense beating around the bush, the aromas of this cup are out of this world. Through the entire bloom, brewing process, and nose the cup radiates with florals, herbals, and soft crisp citrus. Immediately diving in you greet those florals head on, then a bit more concentrated of a sweet tea note than you have found previously, but then it goes right into this buoyant honied and syrupy body.

Peach, mango, apricot and lychee reside most in this cup, with lemongrass and honeysuckle following after, and that pomelo citrus is inches away from being there. You have a lovely candy sweetness, but again the sweet tea is a bit more focused here.

I’m fairly certain I’ve said it before, but gosh damn if this doesn’t have one of the most complex lingerings. As it cools it grows sweeter, more developed. Honeysuckle, cream, watermelon, white tea„ grape, peach, nectarine, cool water women’s perfume, lime, dried lemon with a quick zing of orange before a saturating honey sweetness and long finish with notable baked green apple skin. The finish is a bit dusty, reminds me a bit of pollen. I find that impressive, it at least very interesting.

Brew Method:

This was my favorite espresso parameter, even after some more restricted and more lungo varieties. (although I did also like 20.5 in, 28 out, 33 seconds)

Regardless of how you pull, you come to find this espresso sings of lychee (a bit more if more restricted, a bit more raspberry and peach if longer). The florals are immaculate, clean, complex and haunting. Citrus isn’t radical immediately, but as it opens you get lemon and lime added to the cup, which I found mostly pleasing cutting through in the middle of a cappuccino, still beautifully creamy with florals added and a tropical linger. What is great about the espresso and espresso/milk is that you don’t get the saturated sweet tea note, which wasn’t bad to begin with but this just highlights all the sexy.

Brew Method:

I have reached brewing Zen right here. The coffee is perfectly aligned. You dive in and immediately notice layer upon layer of sweetness- floral led, tropical tickled, and berry laden alike. The sweetness, while not the Green-Tip grape fullness, is very very close. What excites me the most, is the acidity here. The acidity has reached its perfection, and the sweetness still complex and candy-like.

This is the most harmonious brew I have had so far, as it lusciously moves effortlessly in the highs before finding a more creamy than syrupy saturation on the palate that almost squeezes out all possible sweetness, yet steers clear of that very concentrated sweet tea-like saturation. I will say, the herbals are a tad more in focus here which is a great nod to all the other Kochere I’ve had in the past, yet this roast still stands immaculately on its own.

While peach and vanilla seem to stand out mid-cup, fading to that grape and melon candy sweetness as it lingers, fully surrounded and supported by floral. The acidity most closely reminds me of pomelo, with pineapple and jasmine following immediately behind.

I still think it will be noticeable to some that the development of this coffee seems to stand out among other washed Ethiopians. That being said, it still remains clean, bright, and endlessly nuanced.

Final sips are the epitome of effervescent, white tea-like lined with lychee, honey, nectarine, candied lemon, honeysuckle, peach, cantaloupe, and cream with lingering orange, pomelo, and rose. What a dream.

If you read the blog, or follow me on social media, you know I’ve had a lot of washed Ethiopians in the last year. I became a bit fascinated with them, and how various regions and washing stations seemed to articulate various flavors- their similarities and differences alike. I’ve had several coffees from the Kochere region, most notably probably being The Barn’s ultimo-floral led towards the end of the year. However, I am here to say that Compelling and Rich’s roast of this coffee has set a new standard.

From my first cup I noticed what I can only describe as a more developed Kochere than previously. That shouldn’t be read as more-roasted necessarily, but more developed. It is still a light roasted coffee, but instead of simple bright citrus and soft florals this coffee is layered with flavor, saturated with sweetness, and nuanced in a way that most closely reminds me of my top coffee of last year - Verve’s Green-Tip gesha from Panama. Now, there are clear differences between them, but this isn’t really the place to flesh that out. I did, however, want to state that just so you can see the impression this coffee has left on me and we are still very, very early in the year.

Be it filter, espresso, or with milk, this coffee has performed wonderfully. It aged close to a month while still articulating wonderfully, and I think fully showed it’s dynamic profile best in Chemex or Bonmac and also straight espresso. I can’t say enough good things about this coffee. Absolutely dynamite, beautifully layered, and intricately woven.

#Compelling & Rich #Compelling and Rich #Ethiopia #Kochere #Yirgacheffe

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abandoncoffee · 11 years ago

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2014 - Year in Review

Hello! I’ve decided to recap the year 2014 of coffee a bit. Join me, if you would like.

For starters, I had over 275 coffees this year. I say over because it doesn’t take into account coffees I consumed in shop, or maybe had very little samples of. Also, there were a lot of Mistobox offerings I simply didn’t get enough time with, so some of those didn’t go into my list I keep of brew notes. In those coffees, there were at least 106 individual roasters, you can view them all on this 2014 Roaster’s Map here.

While a large portion of those were US roasted, I did manage to try 4 roasters in Norway, 3 roasters in Australia, 2 from Sweden and Canada, and 1 each from Denmark, England, and Germany, 20 different coffees in total. I’d love for that number to go up in 2015.

The roasters I had the most coffees from were Madcap and Ruby Roasters with 12, but that’s also sort of cheating on Madcap’s part because I had the Varietal Series that was most of that. Other than that I had 11 from Populace Coffee, 8 from Counter Culture, and 7 from Compelling & Rich, PERC Coffee, and Kuma Coffee.

Out of 276 coffees, 27 of them were natural processed, only 27. I did a poor job documenting which were and were not semi-processed coffees, but I think 5-8 would be a close approximation.

I had made a Top 50 list, and I’ll still include that towards the end, but I kind of wanted to break down region and washed process of favorites.

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In terms of gesha varietal, I had a lot of various ones this year, one being the Cafe Inmaculada maragesha, two natural Panama, one honey-processed Panama, Compelling and Rich’s blend of a natural and washed Panama AND his blend of a washed Ethiopia and a geisha, and 15 others from Guatemala, Costa Rica, Colombia, and many from Panama.

My favorite gesha was Verve’s Green Tip from Elida Estate in Panama. To me, it stood out among the other geshas for it’s unique fruit sweetness and that pomelo citrus. It had a dissolving candy sweetness that I just couldn’t get over. Suprisingly, I think Compelling & Rich’s Holiday Blend of Los Lajones Natural and La Esmeralda Special was second in line, quickly climbing my list of favorite coffees the more I drank it. Third, I couldn’t get over Kuma Coffee’s Panama Carmen and how explosively raspberry sweet it was. I don’t feel super comfortable breaking them down more than that, as it is easy to say this is better than that or more floral or balanced, but without getting into terroir of Colombia Cerro Azul vs a Mario plot of Esmeralda I think it would be mostly uninformed, so those would be my favorite three and we will leave it there.

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As for washed Ethiopians, I had I believe 42 different ones this year. I initially attributed a washed Ethiopian coffee with the Yirgacheffe region. My general thoughts were, “lemon, playful sweetness, a bit floral.” Once I started seeing there were more regions, more washing stations, more ways the coffees articulated I was really intrigued. Most of my top list of coffees were washed Ethiopian coffees. While I do love that profile, it wasn’t for any reason other than the fact that so many of them were good, and too close to really say this was better or this was better. However, three in particular jumped out to me.

The most interesting thing I discovered while trying so many is learning the nuances of various coffees. I found some that were heavily floral, and others very herbal. Some of them were loaded with citrus, and others more balanced with dominant tropical juices. From Aramo to Kochere to Ididio to Konga to Chelelektu, I really do encourage others to try and note the differences, there really is much more than “a washed Ethiopian profile.” One goal is to find a different region and attempt the same in 2015.

The first and foremost being the washing station/region of Chelelektu. I had this coffee from about 6 different roasters this year, and it was hands down my favorite. Ruby Coffee first introduced the profile earlier on in the year, then passing to PERC, Bean Fruit, Supersonic. Each one was delicious, different in their own way yet similar as well. I believe for awhile my preference was for the Supersonic, herbal and sweet and just perfect. Toward the end of the year I had Small Batch’s roast of it, from Australia, and it then took the crown. It took characteristics from all the previous iterations I’d had of it, and refined into one masterfully enjoyable offering.

The second of those washed Ethiopian coffees is Counter Culture’s Olke Birre, the single farm from the Haru cooperative. This coffee was absolutely amazing, and at times I thought IT would be my favorite coffee of the year. It reminded me of Chelelektu, it reminded me of Kuma’s Panama Carmen, and it reminded me of Idido or Kochere. Essentially, it had elements that reminded me of just about every good quality from every washed Ethiopian coffee I’d had all year. It survived for a long time as well, I believe at one point brewing 42 days off roast and still being as enjoyable as the George Howell San Jose gesha.

The third washed Ethiopian I loved this year was Idido. I had it from both Kickapoo and Counter Culture, but it was Kickapoo’s Good Food Awards winner that really left me impressed. Sweet, balanced, silky and complex.

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Out of those natural coffees, three were really stand out. Those three in order would be Spotted Cow’s Wanago, OC Coffee’s Nigusie Lemma Estate, and Indaba’s Aricha. The reason these three stood out to me is not necessarily because they carried more characteristics to the washed Ethiopians as much as the didn’t leave me with the “strawberry/blueberry/chocolate/done” progression that I feel so many naturals from Ethiopia have left me with. There was tropical fruit sweetness, juicy decadence, vibrancy, and overall delicious saturation from all of them.

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Kenya was an interesting region this year. It was one I wasn’t all too familiar with, but I remember the tail end of 2013 going into 2014 finding some profiles that really resonated with me. I think of all regions, Kenya has some of the best coffees offered. It definitely seemed true when I first encountered Tim Wendelboe’s Kapsokisio. For most of this year, that coffee was the one. It was sweet and for some reason reminded me of gesha- floral, fruitied, tingly, articulate and complex beyond I could comprehend at the time. While I’d say this was my favorite washed Kenya of the year, I’d be lying if I didn’t mention how difficult it was to dial in at times.

For that reason, my second favorite washed Kenyan was Black Oak Coffee Roasters’ Kabatha AB. While it wasn’t exactly like the Kapsokisio, it deliciously reminded me time and time again what I loved about that coffee, while being much more consistent in giving me the desired results.

While several Kenyan coffees come immediately close following, I think I have to give it to Compelling & Rich’s Karatina Peaberry for the third place. Like I mentioned in the review though, It’s hard to nail down exactly what was exceptional about the cup without going back through its entire profile.

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I was only able to try a handful of other coffees, be it Peru, Bolivia, Ecuador even Colombia. I think I had more coffees from Rwanda and Burundi than any of those regions, and I still didn’t absolutely fall in love with a Costa Rica this year, which I was really hoping to.

As far as surprises go, I really found myself loving coffee from the region of Sulawesi and from Congo this year. Ruby’s Sulawesi Peaberry in the beginning of the year was really eye opening, and I could say the same for some of Kickapoo’s Congolese offerings.

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Now, for a few various moments in coffee this year that were particularly nice.

First off, I would probably say the blend of Ruby Coffee’s first two offerings, the Sulawesi Peaberry and Colombia Aguacate. You can find the write-up about it in my Aguacate review, but it was quite an enjoyable cup, a blend that I’d probably still say I could drink every day.

Towards the beginning of 2014 I not only had in shop but bought some bags of Carabello Coffee’s Java Sundra and Yemen Mocha. In shop they were doing Clever Dripper pour overs blended 50/50. The cup experience is something I really can’t explain in words, rustic, warming, really an incredible cup of coffee, and it was one of the best coffee memories of 2014.

Thirdly would be taking in some of Tim Wendelboe’s Kapsokisio to local Cheapside Cafe and having them brew it up for us. Quite possibly the best cup of coffee I had all year, but it’s really really hard to narrow it down to best cup when I brewed all of these coffees so many different ways.

The best cappuccino I had all year was also at Cheapside Cafe, and it happened to be with the first iteration of Supersonic’s Concorde Espresso.

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Okay, so, I don’t really know what else to say, so if I needed to order the top 18ish% of coffees I had this year, it would probably look something like this. Thanks for a great year all, and a special thank you to Craft Coffee and Mistobox, as several of the selections on the list below were in their sample sets. Some reviews haven’t been posted yet, and I completely apologize for that. Hopefully those links will trickle in soon and at some point in the future (past) it will have a completed link list. Also a special thank you to many of the roasters who sent me coffees this year, be it for review or otherwise. It was quite an unexpected year in coffee as I grew in my preparation and knowledge, and I hope to only grow and refine further in 2015. Also keep in mind, the order to this is strictly coffees that I had and under my preparations, it isn’t intended to be anything but a subjective look at those coffees.

50. PERC Coffee - Costa Rica Flor de Cafe

49. Roseline Coffee - Amaro Ethiopia

48. The Barn Berlin - Kochere, Ethiopia

47. Ruby Coffee - Kochere, Ethiopia

46. Novel Coffee Roasters - Gedeo Konga, Ethiopia

45. Indaba Coffee - Aricha, Ethiopia Natural

44. Ceremony Coffee - Borboya, Ethiopia

43. Kuma Coffee - Aramo Woreda, Ethiopia

42. Herkimer Coffee - Kochere, Ethiopia

41. Kuma Coffee - Borboya Ethiopia

40. Temple Coffee - Yirgacheffe ECX Lot, Ethiopia

39. Tanager Coffee - Kiang’ombe, Kenya

38. Kuma Coffee - Gaturiri, Kenya

37. Panther Coffee - Kapac, Bolivia

36. Spyhouse Coffee - Santiago Joven, Colombia

35. Spotted Cow - Panajachel, Guatemala

34. OC Coffee Co -Nigusie Lemma Estate, Ethiopia Natural

33. Spotted Cow - Wanago, Ethiopia Natural

32. Mountain Air - Sidama, Ethiopia

31. Temple Coffee - Gachika, Kenya

30. Supersonic Coffee - Kirangano, Kenya

29. Kickapoo Coffee Roasters - Muungano, Congo

28. Onyx Coffee Lab - Msawa, Rwanda

27. Seven Seeds - Hacienda La Esmeralda, Panama

26. Stone Creek Coffee - Hacienda La Esmeralda, Panama

25. Blue Bottle Coffee - Cerro Azul, Colombia

24. The Coffee Collective - Hacienda La Esmeralda Special (Lino lot), Panama

23. George Howell - La Esmeralda Mario San Jose, Panama

22. Ruby Roasters - Cheers Blend

21. Slate Coffee Roasters - Lycello, Panama

20. Kuma Coffee - Carmen Gesha, Panama

19. PT’s Coffee - Sihereni, Papua New Guinea

18. Ruby Coffee Roasters - Kamwangi Peaberry, Kenya

17. Ruby Roasters - Rukira, Kenya

16. Olympia Coffee - Holiday Blend

15. Counter Culture - Aida’s Grand Reserve, El Salvador

14. Supersonic Coffee - Ndumberi, Kenya

13. Compelling & Rich - Karatina Peaberry, Kenya

12. Stone Creek Coffee - Kayanza, Burundi

11. Black Oak Coffee - Kabatha AB, Kenya

10. Populace - Aricha, Ethiopia

9. Ruby Coffee Roasters - Toarco Peaberry, Sulawesi

8. Kickapoo Coffee - Idido, Ethiopia

7. Workshop Coffee - Mahembe, Rwanda

6. Counter Culture - Olke Birre, Ethiopia

5. Compelling & Rich - Yirgacheffe Koke Coop, Ethiopia Honey Processed

4. Tim Wendelboe - Kapsokisio, Kenya

3. Small Batch - Chelelektu Ethiopia (Also Ruby Coffee, PERC, Bean Fruit, Supersonic)

2. Compelling & Rich - Holiday Blend

1. Verve Coffee - Green Tip Gesha, Panama

#highlight

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abandoncoffee · 11 years ago

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A Coffee Geeks' Christmas Guide - 2014

Shopping for that coffee lover in your life doesn't have to be difficult. Keep in mind, not all things are for everyone, so if you really want to find something just right for that person in your life, check out some of these items, and maybe you’ll find something that stands out for that special someone.

Not everyone is an uber coffee nerd, and that is completely okay. One of the best things you can get someone you know would be a gift card to their local coffee shop or coffee place. It could be anywhere from Dunkin Donuts to Tim Hortons to Onyx Coffee Lab. It promotes local, and allows them to get what they want, and what they will drink. One word of caution, try and make sure it is a shop they have or would visit, as no one wants to admit it when they see wasted money to a shop they’d never frequent.

If you want to step it up a bit, again don’t feel like you need to get them some crazy chemistry set. For the coffee drinker on the go, I’d suggest the Keep Cup Brew ($24 - 8oz, $26 - 12oz), or even a Klean Kanteen ($~25). Various roasters even brand their own, like the pictured Stumptown one, so feel free to explore.

If you want something a bit more homey but still think drinkware is the way to go, I can think of no better than a set of mugs from Acme and Co ($30 for a pair of cappuccino sized). In my experience, these have been some of the most comfortable mugs to drink out of, however I know sometimes finding a distributor of them can be a bit problematic. Second in line would be a set of Not Neutral mugs ($36 for a pair of cappuccino sized), and conveniently they are sold in sets.

Want to go even more handmade than that? A Ben Medansky hand thrown handleless mug ($50) is sure to catch their eye. A few other designs can even be found at Go Get Em Tiger in LA.

For the exploring coffee drinker, I may even suggest an inexpensive 33 Cups of Coffee journal ($5). They can keep track of what they are drinking and brewing, and start picking out trends of what it is they enjoy in various coffees.

If your coffee drinking friend or family member definitely is a home brewer, figure out what device or devices they have, and grab a new set of filters. Filters are the one thing a home brewer never gets tired of having, especially if they run into one of those moments when they have their heart set on a V60 to find out they are out of filters. (check out prima-coffee.com)

If you want to surprise your loved one with a new brewer, it could be best to gauge what level of coffee geekery they are.

For someone just getting into coffee, I’d suggest the Clever Coffee Dripper ($19). You can pick up filters at any store, it takes no special kettle to prep, and is incredibly simple to use.

For someone who is into pourover, I’d suggest the NotNeutral Gino Dripper ($24). Continuously brewing with this guy through the year, I’ve loved it’s consistent results from cup to cup (both measured and tasted) and it also has a great tolerance for user error.

If you really want to step up the cost, you could go with the new Wilfa Precision Coffee Maker ($250-330), something I was wanting to pick up for the guys at my office. This would be a good “pot” brewer for someone who wants a better machine to brew better coffee for a Keurig, but isn’t really looking to dive into manual brewing.

For someone head over into manual brewing, I’m fairly certain you’d shock them if they opened up The Dragon Brewer from La Colombe ($395). It’s a manual siphon, something incredibly unique albeit a bit like drug paraphernalia, yet produces some of the best cups I’ve ever made. This does come with a travel case, Hario Scale, Filters, and sleeves of La Colombe coffee as well.

So let’s say your coffee drinking friend is definitely in this whole world of science coffee. What then? Well, if they are the artsy type, you might settle for one of these prints by Department of Brewology (~$35). Several different brews beautiful described and designed, one sure to suit that special coffee guru.

To take their geekery to the next level, I might suggest a Thermapen ($96). The pro to this is it isn’t just for coffee. I initially bought one to easily take the temperature when brewing a siphon, but it’s quick response has been just as handy for kettle temp checks to checking the chicken while I’m grilling.

For a lower cost option, the ThemoPop ($29) would also do the trick, but with the display not forming a right angle like the Thermapen, some uses are a little less than ideal, but it’s 1/3 the cost, so there’s that.

If your coffee drinking friend is in need of a scale for proper dosing and brewing, I have absolutely loved the minimal design of the Acaia Pearl Coffee Scale ($129).

On a budget, I’d look no further than the AWS SC-2KG ($15). Small, portable, quick reading. I use both of these scales every single day.

If your coffee drinking friend brews on a pourover device like a melitta, bonmac, hario V60, or kalita wave, you can go no wrong with this beautiful Hario Olive Wood Server ($50). It’s an attractive range server, but the lid also sits recessed a bit, allowing less heat to escape.

If your coffee drinker does regularly use a Chemex, think about one of these inexpensive Heat Lids from Able Brewing ($10).

For the coffee drinker that uses an Aeropress, also look to Able Brewing for a Travel Cap ($10) to contain filters and such inside while transporting.

There are is whole slew of coffee and roaster related clothing to choose from, so it’s hard for me specifically to select, especially if your coffee drinker has never heard of the company. Regardless, I figured I’d plug some of my favorites for this particular season:

Able Brewing

Tanager Coffee

Novel Coffee Roasters

Finally, I want to say that buying coffee beans is a double edge sword. On one hand it’s awesome to surprise someone with a set of beans, the downside is a lot of coffee nerds might get hung up on roast date. Solution? Well, depending on how much you want to spend you could consider starting a subscription for someone.

Some quick names that easily come to mind would be Counter Culture, Mistobox, Ruby Roasters, Heart Roasters here in the US. Want to give your coffee nerd a real treat? Kaffebox or Budin NYC give you access to Nordic/Scandinavian style of roasting, something not as easily accessed here in the States. If you aren’t from the States, Kaffebox is still probably my top favorite right now.

So, maybe this helps or maybe this doesn’t help, and I’d love to discuss more of anything in detail if anyone else wants help deciding for a particular person, but in my realm of coffee consumption any of these suggestions would be welcomed and enjoyed.

Cheers.

#Holiday #Christmas Guide #Holiday Guide #2014 #Christmas #highlight

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abandoncoffee · 11 years ago

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Topeca Coffee - Chania Natural, Kenya

We visited Topeca Coffee Roasters previously on the blog with a delicious El Salvador offering. If you remember, Topeca has the fully vertically integrated Seed to Cup model, with family farms in El Salvador from which their offerings come from, but they do much more than that. Aside from sourcing other selections from around the world, they wanted a way to highlight some stand out selections.

The offering we are getting ready to look at is the first of the Topeca Limited Edition Series coffees. Limited Edition coffees are coffees that go above and beyond our normal expectation of specialty coffee. The series is reserved for coffees that exhibit the rarest, most unique and highest qualities produced in the world. What a way to kick off the series than with an offering that you don't see very often - a natural Kenyan.

(this excerpt was taken from the offering by Velton's Coffee)

What's interesting is that it is very rare to see a natural, or dry processed coffee come out of Kenya. The natural processing gives what is already a fruit-forward coffee an even "fruitier-yet" overall taste profile. As if the interesting nature of the processing wasn't enough, the uniqueness of this particular varietal itself lends more to the story.

This unique varietal is a look back into the past. French Mission is an original Bourbon varietal that was introduced by French Missionaries in the late 1800's. Over 76 centimeters of rain a year, combined with the deep red volcanic soil and temperatures of 22 to 28 degrees Celsius, come together to provide the perfect conditions for this coffee to express its genetic treasures.

The Harries family has been growing coffee for almost a century. The family has donated more than 50 acres of land to the Thika Municipal Council and co-founded the Wabeni Technical Institute. This institute seeks to teach underprivileged children practical skills that can help them make a living; e.g. dress making, motor mechanics, and carpentry.

Details:

Roaster: Topeca Coffee Roasters

Region: Central Province, Thika, Kenya

Farm: Chania Estate

Process: Natural

Varietal: French Mission

Elevation: 1525m

I’m going to preface this by saying I don’t know how much weight to put into the extractions of this cup. When talking with Mitchell at Topeca, I’m fairly certain he mentioned readings tend to be wonky. Let us continue.

To be quite honest, the first sips are almost offensive on the palate. You have to take a step back and start to digest everything that is being thrown at you, because there is a ton.

On one side, you have a cup layered with rich and winey characteristics- blackberry compote, strawberry preserves, huckleberry, sour cherry, dark honey and dark chocolate. Then, the Hyde to your Jekyll, on the other you have this green apple acidity lighting the cup on fire with dense grape jam sweetness. To be honest, it sort of reminds me of hot pepper jelly, giving both radically savory and slightly vegetal moments and brief, brief moments of sanity.

This can be said- it is immensely clean, lively, round, and voluptuous. It dances on elements of earthiness, woodiness, tartness and sweetness. The cooler moments, while brandy-soaked fruits still come to mind, it begins to leave syrupy caramel notes on the tongue.

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Brew Method:

Gosh, what a crazy, crazy coffee. It arrives with one of the brightest green apple notes I've ever come across- like a green apple loaded with warheads, and almost a pungent and complex following that is hard to distinguish but is winey, slightly juicy, and a bit drying on the finish. To break that down a bit more specifically, it is intensely sweet on the front, a palpable sweetness reminiscent of cotton candy, with blackberry wine, dense strawberry reduction, and a slightly drying mouthfeel that is both characteristic of that wine note but also exists more specifically like grape skin.

The body is interesting. It seems to arrive a bit juicy, thinner than you would think for a natural, but then it just slathers it on and creates this blanket of soft syrupy goodness across the palate.

It still seems to carry vegetal characteristics underneath, this time I seem to pick up fire roasted corn most prominently. It's such an interesting cup. If you drink this one too fast, or too quickly between sips, you'll easily gloss over its most interesting notes and only get those most forward. Leaving the sips to linger on the palate, at least for me mid-cup, is giving these interesting drifts of vanilla bean, cedar, and hops. Later those notes also give up molasses, juicy ribeye steak, and caramel malt.

The notes slightly release in their intensity and create a really captivating and syrupy finish in the end of the cup, drenched in flavor, effortlessly soaking the palate and sweetly lingering. Final sips are grape jelly, strawberry, and molasses.

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Brew Method:

Initial sips are hot, hot, hot on the palate. They are lightly syrupy, really comfortable really, with caramel sweetness and green apple brightness, and dense blackberry jam as well as other dark fruit sweetness lingering. It is really sweet, not too much to handle sweet, but intense would definitely describe it. As it cools more of a lightly sour grape candy sweetness comes out that is equally intriguing, saturating, and pleasing.

The body is similar to the previous make, juicy as the fruit sweetness arrives then layered with syrupiness as it lingers on the palate. The TDS readings don't seem to make a difference in this cup in terms of over extraction qualities, but it is an intense cup. In fact, the cup remains really clean, as it seems to bring out the flavors of green apple, cherry, grape, raspberry, and watermelon jolly ranchers all at once. Cooling more the ending is plush, like a soft chocolate mousse.

Layers of strawberry jelly come out more as it cools, rich and suave as it slides around the mouth, but underlying there is always a tart, slightly souring cherry note that seems slightly distracting initially but then meshes with the profile through the sip.

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Brew Method:

A lot different of a cup than the previous makes, and I assume that is because of the age.

This one is juicy with green apple, but more reserved that the previous makes. That being said, it still tingles and dances on the tongue with each sip. With that, there is also sweet grape sweetness and a creamy berry (strawberry and blueberry) lingering. I would have assumed that this would carry notes of age, but it still just stays flavorful, sweet, and plump.

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The coffee was ridiculous, as was prefaced to me before I ordered it. It is offensive on the palate, yet something about it is so intriguing that you want to keep sipping to see what you might find.

While this is a crazy coffee, there isn't a whole lot that, on a cupping table, would most likely set it apart from a natural Ethiopian except for its unusually bright profile that I haven't really noticed in a lot of other naturals. While the profile doesn't do a ton of changing, what keeps me interested in a coffee like this is how dense and syrupy the mouthfeel is, yet how clean and flavorful the mouthfeel is.

All that being said, it was cool to try a natural Kenya. I'm not sure I'd be terribly anxious to immediately jump on another (for the sake of it being a natural Kenya), but I'm glad I got to experience it and would drink it again.

#Topeca Coffee Roasters #Chania #Kenya #Central Province #Thika #Review #Natural

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abandoncoffee · 11 years ago

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Slate Coffee Roasters - Lycello W2 Gesha

When David (The Purista Blog/Terminus Coffee) tweeted out during SCAA in April that if he were reviewing this Lycello W2, a Ninety Plus Gesha Estates coffee, that it would have received a 10/10, I knew I had to hunt down where I could find some. It landed me at Slate Coffee Roasters. I won’t get into the story about complications and misunderstandings with the order, but just know I was holding on to this review for quite a long time hoping that I’d be trying the newer crop of Lycello from this year, but seeing as it won’t come to fruition I decided to go ahead and post, as at the time it was quite a profound coffee to uncover. Let us investigate Lycello W2.

Planted only five years prior, the Gesha trees from Ninety Plus have produced their first mature harvest this year. Lot 10, tucked away off the eastern coast of Panama, is grown on forested volcanic soil, providing temperature stability and plentiful nutrition, resulting in an astoundingly complex coffee.

Details:

Roaster: Slate Coffee Roasters

Producer: Ninety Plus Gesha Estates

Region: Silla Del Pando, Volcan, Panama

Estate: Lycello, Lot 10

Process: Washed

Varietal: Gesha

Elevation: 1,250 - 1,600m

Brew Method:

This is a really interesting coffee. Sweet and crisp, but very soft. (lower extraction and TDS most likely)

Lychee and other tropical notes seem to exist, as well as grape and melon notes. Floral weaves through everything with a honey sweetness, but it isn’t a syrupy body. It has a darker cocoa note than I’m used to in the finish, but not quite dark chocolate. With that in the finish there are slight nutty tones. Very pleasing, well balanced.

Lemon and tangerine-like citrusy acidity as well as some citrus squeezes too of lime and grapefruit juice. Very long finish.

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Brew Method:

Crisp off the bat reminiscent of raspberries. Sweeter and a little more vivacious than previous make. A lime-like acidity with citrusy squeezes still, and a soft light body.

Still has a honey-like sweetness but also has a bit of tea in the finish, otherwise cocoa notes as indicated before.

Cooling, a nice juiciness begins to develop with flavors of mint and sage showing up, a powdery floral lychee sweetness and a complex array of sweet and slightly tangy tropical fruits flesh out underneath. Still carries sweet nutty tones in the long finish, creamy and soft.

Coming back to the cup, more sweetness comes out but so do the tangy fruit notes and the finish ever so lingering. It has juiced quite significantly, with cranberry and tangerine seeming to take the lead, with honey and floral infused tea finishing.

The final stage of the cup are the most impressive: with raspberry, peach, apple and lemon pops tickling the first thoughts, changing to a cherry-like sweetness and strands of caramel, finishing with the slight hints of thyme and milk chocolate.

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Brew Method:

Gorgeous aroma. Cinnamon and rose, cherry and honeysuckle.

Delicate profile with the initial sips taste of lychee, caramel, and chocolate mousse. Soft and silky, with whispery finish. Not as tart or crisp, definitely carries more sweetness and mousse.

More melon pops seem to come out in this method - juicy and sweet. Really great clarity, a lot clearer than other gesha offerings I’ve had - reminds me if jello in that regard (fruit flavors but still a nice refreshing clarity). Quite surprised the flavor isn’t jumping out at me with this being a higher extraction.

Cooling more is quite alive, quite complex, it’s just so incredibly soft in that. I honestly wish I could speak just everything that I taste, I just can’t. The aroma is as mesmerizing as the flavors- flavors of lemon and peach, apple and honeysuckle, rose water and honey. Lightly syrupy, with smaller notes of cranberry than the previous make but I still find that slight tartness in the finish right before notes of cocoa, hops, and sandalwood come in. (It makes me think that this is what John Varvatos drank as inspiration for his cologne line)

It still has a sweet, long finish complemented with honeydew, lemongrass, mint and honey, with the last drops leaving notes of tea leaves as well. It’s hard to exactly pinpoint a flavor, as the highlighted notes shift the more it cools. Fascinating.

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Brew Method:

Oh yea… This is it. Light to medium bodied, really great syrupiness, incredibly aromatics (seriously, it fills the entire room with notes of lime and honeysuckle), a delicately effervescent acidity and lingering finish. And these are only the first sips!

There are delightful herbal hints at play underneath a honey-sweet bed with notes of basil, bergamot, rose water, jasmine and an incredibly dense complexity of other fruit notes, specifically finding stone fruits like cherry and peach and apricot but also tropical notes of mango, lychee, and passion fruit.

Cooling further lightly crisp notes of various berries appear, as well as this soft chocolate mousse finish. Final sips still sing of floral and honey infused tea notes, still with a delicate density and complexity lingering on.

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Brew Method:

Aroma of fruit loops and orange creamsicle - so tantalizing. Basil, jasmine and honeysuckle too come out. Honestly; this is probably the most aromatic cup of coffee I’ve ever had - herbaceous yet fruited and immensely floral. Beautiful.

Immensely crisp off the bat with long, long notes of honey, melon, passion fruit, honeysuckle, wild berry…. it’s quite ridiculous. Tea-like in flavor but a little more body to it. It’s so tasty - there’s pineapple and mango tropical fruits greeting the cup, transitioning you to a cherry-limeade flavor and acidity, closing out with basil and tea. Raspberry, peach, apple, cantaloupe and honeydew, it’s nearly intoxicating, all wrapped up with floral notes of jasmine, lavender, honeysuckle, and rose water galore.

The floral-infused tea notes only grow sweeter and more lingering the further you dive in the cup. Cooling, the notes soften up but are still a bit more intense than the previous makes.

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Brew Method:

Honey tea notes. Really lacking the sparkle of other brew methods. A bit of raspberry and apple seems to arrive with hints of mint I’m pretty sure we’re found in a previous method too.

Floral notes are found, but not as lingering, sweeping, or pleasant. Still completely a gesha, but there isn’t the same clarity and beauty of flavors as in other makes.

The cooler it got, the more flavor came up from the cup and it ended more similarly to other makes: fruitied, floral, hints of lime, and a lingering sweet and tea-like finish.

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Brew Method:

Shaken Iced V60 | 28g (c) to 280g (w) | 140g ice | 2:10 total time | 198 degrees

Tea leaf, lychee, grapple, mango, honey. Incredibly soft and airy - mousse-like. Tangibly tastes of taking honeysuckle as a kid off the plant, pulling out the stem, and giving it a lick. Juicy and delectable. Sweet, floral, and fruited, but I’d be lying if I didn’t say that it was a lot more reserved than say an iced Yirgacheffe. It is more like a porcelain doll in comparison, not as fun and playful. It’s more than enjoyable, don’t get me wrong, just something I wanted to mention.

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At the time of drinking this coffee, it was all I could think about. I had the Ruby Chelelektu come in shortly after that time, and two things were constantly on my mind. The first being, this is the best coffee I’ve ever had. Before the Chemex and Woodneck make, my summary looked something like this:

It’s quite simple really - no frills, no over the top fragrances or flavors…it’s just immensely dense in the softest way, with an ever changing flavor profile to constantly tease your brain while you attempt to find the root of your palate’s curiosity. If I had to put it into one word, I’d say dazzling. However, I will say it was a difficult coffee for me to sit with, as I still found myself (even in a ‘strong’ cup) wanting more from it. A little more oomph.

Once the other methods gave up that oomph, I knew this coffee was very special. It was simple, but it was incredibly complex and always left you thinking about what you were experiencing. The second thing I kept thinking about, and I’m pretty sure I’ve brought it up in previous write-ups, is that now I look at washed Ethiopians in comparison to this coffee. The processing of washed Ethiopians has been so good this year, that when considering amount and cost of the coffee, that as amazing as this coffee was, and I did side-by-side comparisons and agreed this one definitely stood out above, but given the cost and amount I have found some stand-out Ethiopian offerings as well that remind me of the experience I had with this coffee.

This still might be the best geisha I’ve had this year, even in light of new grinders, brewing parameters, devices, and a slew of other geshas I’ve had in. However, we’ll have to wait for those write-ups to be certain.

Like I alluded to earlier, Slate didn’t source this coffee for the new crop, but I did notice it is roasted by Barrington’s this year. Will I pick up their roast to find out? Not sure, so stay tuned.

#Slate Coffee Roasters #Review #Lycello #Ninety Plus #Gesha #Panama

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abandoncoffee · 11 years ago

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Compelling & Rich - Ethiopia Yirgacheffe Koke Coop Honey

While natural processed coffees are what first led me down the rabbit hole of specialty coffee, most of last year and into this year I have stayed away from them. Honey processed coffees followed a similar line, while I seemed to prefer them a bit more in most cases with offerings from El Salvador or Panama. Kian from Compelling & Rich is one who not only appreciates natural processed coffees but finds them misunderstood by a lot of people. In my attempt to reclaim an appreciation for them I had somehow lost, I knew it would be at his hands that I’d come to see them for what they can be. Let’s get into the honey-processed Yirgacheffe from the Koke Cooperative.

Koke is a small district in the northeastern part of the Yirgacheffe region, and one of the most mountainous areas of the region as well, with heights reach up to 6,000 feet. It joined the cooperatives in 2002. Currently, it has 828 Members. Indigenous coffee varietals, elevation and soil composition contribute to the sweetness, acidity and complex flavors found in Koke coffee. After picking at the perfect stage of ripeness, the cherries are milled at the Koke washing station owned by the YCFCU.

Details:

Roaster: Compelling & Rich

Region: Yirgacheffe, Ethiopia

Farm: Koke Cooperative

Process: Honey Process, Sorted for defects to ECX Grade-1 standards

Varietal: Heirloom

Elevation: 1,700 - 2,000m

Brew Method:

This is quite a robust intro the the cup. It carries the floral characteristics of the washed Ethiopians we’ve had this year, but then also several other distinct aspects: crisp yet light sprays of tangerine citrus in the highs, palpable honey sweetness coating the tongue, pear, huckleberry, blueberry, and guava coulis drizzled over a moist chocolate cake, and an incredibly long, creamy finish splashing into an ending that bounced between dulche de leche and tea.

The mouthfeel is the highlight of the cup. Through most of the various sweetness you find, be it berry or caramel or cookies and cream, you always come back to this sensation of melting over the tongue and saturating with flavor, with a lingering that seems to never stop.

I think what you gain from the washed is slight delicacy, balance, florals, and lingering finish and the natural some berry, denseness, and a plush lower end. The sum of these parts will absolutely take your breath away.

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Really light impressions off the bat. It carries that nice strawberry jam flavor on the front, with floral notes seeming to come after and then wham. Mango. Really nice, vivid note yet delicate and soft in the cup, with more of a grape juice and clover honey finishing, and as it cools some tickling blackberry notes as well. Short notes as I had company over, and may prepare a bit tighter on the grind.

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Brew Method:

Despite the lower readings, but as can be expected with a v60, this method really pulls out that jammy sweetness and juicy body more than the other methods. It does maintain a slight amount of florals in the tail ends, but mainly sits on strawberry, guava, passionfruit, and huckleberry.

The finish is a bit more tropical, but not as luscious as the clever was. It starts growing more tea-like, still splashing with star fruit, mango, and that dulche de leche note coming back.

Cooling further you have these smooth strawberry syrup notes just slowly dripping down the tongue. All the while this is this tickling like blackberry that is always lightly dancing on the center of the tongue, and traces of orange citrus lying in the long finish.

The final sips in this cup though are quite interesting. It reminds me most of Applejacks cereal, and while I have used that before, this cup definitely carries an apple/mango sweetness with a confectioners sugar element, perfectly combined with a creaminess that all I can think of is sitting down with a bowl of Applejacks.

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Brew Method:

A banana and winey aroma float through the preparation and brewing, and make a landing in the cup. I’m not sure if it is age off roast, or this just being slightly light, but I feel like I’m chasing after that delicious cup I first had.

Soft but dense strawberry, blueberry, and light tickling of blackberry and cranberry dancing around the tongue and walls of the mouth. It is lightly syrupy, luscious in sweetness, and the more it cools the more it reminds me of pink- raspberry and strawberry and cream candies, clean, and slightly floral like a washed may be. The interesting thing about this versus the clever make is the clever seemed washed transitioning to natural, and this method seems to articulate reversed to some degree.

I guess all this to say the cup shifts a lot. It remains sweet but flows from dense to wispy, syrupy to dainty. Blueberry remains the main focus on the cup, with a bottom of soft mango light florals, guava and ripe tomato. It melts over the palate lighter than previously and instead stays a bit more tingly.

Final sips are still soft blueberry syrup, white chocolate macadamia nut cookies, slightly drying grape and apple skin, pear, and tickling blackberry.

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Brew Method:

So luscious. While it reminds me first off of pink and red fruits, it carries soft florals and light but exotic citrus acidity leading the cup. While it keeps that natural processed density and weight, it isn’t berry forward. In fact, the that comes to mind is gushy. It’s poetic and lightly juicy, complex with light and fresh fruits including raspberry, kiwi, lychee, strawberry, blackberry, blueberry, watermelon, honeydew and mango finishing.

A slightly more tickling sweetness grows in the cup, and it also grows a bit more strawberry jammy on the tongue, with a smooth, plump mouthfeel. A bit more blueberry and blackberry starts to come out too, still more silky and sweet than a typical natural with a mousse-like texture and florals, sweet stone fruit, and tropicals around the edges.

The final sips are most similar to blueberry rooibos tea, soft and lightly lingering.

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This coffee did more than exceed my expectations, it took me by surprise and swept me off my feet. This coffee is absolutely gorgeous, with a more balanced approach than a lot of straight up natural processed coffees (which makes sense as it isn’t a straight up natural.) However, I’d still probably say this was my favorite honey-processed coffee I’ve had, and one of the best coffees I’ve had all year. It melts over the palate, impresses and alerts every tastebud, and gives you so much experience from cup to cup. I think I said it properly back in the first make of this: what you gain from the washed is slight delicacy, balance, florals, and lingering finish and the natural some berry, denseness, and a plush lower end. The sum of these parts will absolutely take your breath away.

Definitely, definitely a must try.

#Compelling & Rich #Compelling & Rich Coffee #Ethiopia #Yirgacheffe #Koke #Honey Processed #highlight

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abandoncoffee · 11 years ago

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Forty Ninth Parallel - Costa Rica San Martin

I haven’t had much experience with Costa Rica. I’ve said that in recent write-ups as I’ve been able to try a few more lately, but I was excited to dig into some new crop Costa Rican offerings. I have several cohorts that rave wondrous things about the region, a region that previously in my coffee drinking I wasn’t as exposed to. I started to surf the web and landed on the home page of famed Canadian roaster 49th Parallel. I was sold upon reading the descriptors “Pineapple jam sweetness, marshmallow texture.” I'd been wanting to try 49th for awhile, so I decided to pull the trigger. Let's dig into Costa Rica San Martin.

In the cool misty mountains neighbouring the Dota valley in famed Tarrazu, the San Martín community mainly farms coffee of the Caturra cultivar. Up until the last 20 years or so, residents had to reach their town by horseback. Our San Martín lot consists of 25 smallholder families, each delivering cherry to a central mill, where ripe coffee fruit is milled, more specifically, aquapulped with a Colombian PANAGOS machine, a good machine to use when fresh clean water is scarce. Then, the parchment is left overnight with the fruit and pulp removed, and sundried on raised african beds for 10 days or so prior to being delivered to the dry mill at Rio Jorco.

Due to a perfect storm of a particular micro climate and altitude, the process of ripening takes quite a bit of time. So much time in fact, that prior to this wet mill project, farmers from this area were forced by neighbouring mills to either deliver underripe cherry to fulfill the schedules of the lower grown farms, or sell to the local market. The fact that this mill exists means these families can achieve much higher prices paid to them, and can fulfill the very high potential to produce what we have tasted as the sweetest specialty coffee coming out of this region.

Details:

Roaster: Forty Ninth Parallel

Region: San Martín de León Cortés, Tarrazu

Farm: 25 Smallholder farms

Process: Aquapulped and Sun Dried

Varietal: Caturra

Elevation: 1,700 -1,950m

Brew Method:

Brewing aroma of chocolate and spice, with the cup giving up aromas of vanilla and cherry.

The cup starts sweet and syrupy, but comfortably so. Vanilla cream notes are fronted, with nods to dried fruits and honey, maybe a bit of caramel. The acidity isn't too intense, think apple or cherry, but it is refreshing given the body of the cup. It sits a bit more on the medium side, smooth in body and carrying toasted nuts into the finish.

Cooling, the sweetness condense a bit and notes of apple, pomegranate, blackberry, pear, and black cherry begin to emerge. It's a relatively clear cup, but still carries a bit of a smoky finish. As it opens, floral notes seem to flutter around, but they aren't the most highlighted element.

It's an incredibly balanced cup, with the sweetness saturating without becoming overly sweet, the nuttiness staying prevalent but losing it's smoky front, and the acidity becoming a bit more brisk with notes of orange sticking around into the long finish. In the later stages pineapple seems to be showcased clearly, which adds to the natural sweetness. Praline and caramel seem to cover the tongue in the later moments, leaving a a smooth and sweet finish.

A refined and solid offering.

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Brew Method:

The initial sips carry a clean juiciness on the top end, moving into a dense berry sweetness and then transitioning into a more savory, nutty finish. The aftertaste gives more nods to dried fruits like raisin and date and even tropical fruit sweetness.

As it begins to open you notice just how clean this coffee is, and you get more caramel and toffee sweetness starting to emerge in it's smooth body. It seems to have qualities of raspberry, blackberry, apple, pear, and black cherry, with a bright but not very intense apple meets tangerine acidity.

Once the cup cools (110) you find a more delicate cup, more a sugary fruits in to the cup like dried pineapple, apricot, and grape, with some moments reminiscent of flan. It's balanced, still very clean, and really enjoyable in the cooler moments with drips of caramel, vanilla, and a lingering sweetness with pops of floral.

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Brew Method:

Brewing aroma of brown sugar, spice, and orange.

Nose sweet bowl of cherries and floral.

The initial sips are comfortably rich with a deep flavor that reminds me a bit of french toast. It remains dense for the first few minutes, and is a bit syrupy with notes like brown sugar and molasses in an otherwise creamy body with a nutty finish.

Diving further it begins to grow more sweetness, both dried fruits and also in a more caramel smooth body, cleaning up along the way. There is a nice brightness on the front, balanced and lifting from the more dense beginning.

The aromas in the cup also open to caramel, vanilla, and brown sugar.

Cherry, blackberry, apple, currant, date, and raisin grow in the cup, a bit more sugary in sweetness with vanilla and a little maple syrup too, still ending with a nutty finish.

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Brew Method:

Oh yea- this is the cup I've been missing.

Right off the bat has a buttery and syrupy body with dense apricot and pineapple sweetness. It carries a creamy and clean finish with a nice sweet lemon leaning toward orange acidity and linger notes of spice and tea-leaves.

Opening up is like and onslaught of sweetness, the likes of which we didn't find in the previous makes. Sugary sweet notes of peach, apricot, cherry, mango and pineapple stir around with vanilla

cream and palpable drips of caramel down the sides of my tongue. The finish carries some prickly notes of blackberry along with grapes dipped in a marshmallow cream fruit dip, tea spice and floral notes too detected again in the lingering sweetness. Still clean, sweet, and wonderfully presented.

This was a great cup.

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It is a bit sad it took me until the end of the bag to find “the cup,” but I’m glad I found it at all. The other makes weren’t bad by any means, but they didn’t offer up everything they could have, and were a little less than what I was hoping for. This was a really good Costa Rica, and if I had every cup turn out like the V60 it would have been an amazing Costa Rica. It was approachable, sweet and flavorful, and definitely held up to the presentation of Costa Rica that I had gone into buying this bag for, I just wished I could have had those repeatable, sweet, syrupy, and clean cups each time.

#Forty Ninth Parallel #San Martin #Costa Rica #Tarrazu #Review

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abandoncoffee · 11 years ago

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Forty Ninth Parallel - Ethiopia Dumerso

I’d heard and seen good things about our neighbors to the North, the Canadian dynamo that is Forty Ninth Parallel Roasters. From their gorgeous packaging to whispers of their heavenly sourcing, I knew it was time that I check them out. I first was deciding on a new crop Costa Rica when my eyes noticed something you’d think I wouldn’t be tempted by more this year - another washed Ethiopian offering. Today, we are unpacking the Dumerso, Ethiopia from 49th Parallel Roasters.

This coffee is produced by around 700 smallholder farmers, delivering coffee cherry to the owner of the Kebel Dumerso Cheleba coffee mill, Surafel Birhanu Coffee Supplier.

Known as the birthplace of coffee, Ethiopia is provided with coffee for export from around 1.1 million farmers. Most are smallholders, growing varieties known as indigenous Ethiopian heirloom: a myriad of Typica hybrids, and some newer varieties based on old Typica strains. Farmers deliver coffee cherry to the coffee mill, where they are hand sorted before undergoing the meticulous process of producing clean coffee for sale.

Ripe cherry is processed using depulpers to remove some of the outer layers of the cherry (skin and some of the fruit). It is then fermented in clean water overnight before the remaining mucilage is washed off and the coffee is dried on raised beds - tables with a mesh bottom to allow for air circulation during drying process.

Details:

Roaster: Forty Ninth Parallel

Region: Gedeo, Yirgacheffe

Farm: Around 700 smallholder farmers

Process: Washed

Varietal: Ethiopian Heirloom

Elevation: 1,800 - 2,000m

Brew Method:

Sweet aroma, floral throughout the brewing process, honey and floral in the cup.

Diving in is wonderfully floral, carrying a buttery mouthfeel with great density. It has a really defined sugarcane sweetness to the finish, with lime, lemon and bergamot filling the acidity space, and growing a complexity of dried, stone, and tropical fruits. Date, raisin, peach, apricot, mango, passion fruit and lychee fruits dance in a complex and plush body, a bit juicy but always ending buttery. It remains clean and incredibly sweet in the lingering finish, floral notes of jasmine, hibiscus, and rose surrounding every sip.

As it settles in, boy does it remain saturated with flavor - buttery, tea-like, floral and citrus. A vanilla-peach-tropical combination singing in the lingering and oh, so delicious finish. Those tea notes also dissect a bit further, with hints of spices and these herbal elements that seem to be noticed here and there through the cup. Notes of lemongrass, mint, basil, and lemon verbena may play off the floral or fruited notes, and also seem more detected in the cooler stages of the cup.

Overall, a really delightful cup, a great amount of floral, densely sweet body with good complexity and lingering finish. While not the most showy Yirgacheffe we've visited, it was completely solid and completely enjoyable.

(Very similar to Aricha, looks in location and in flavor)

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Brew Method:

This cup is a grower. It begins very quiet, and over time begins to piece itself together. A growing juiciness and butteriness to the body. Hints of tea and whiffs of fruit.

It's a clean cup, with sugary sweetness, lingering candied notes, delicate fruits, a creaminess like nutter butters, and lemon verbena in the finish. It is crisp, refreshing, bright and light in presentation.

It does continue to open up with more saturated sweetness, delicately complex peach and apricot entangle with mango and date as vanilla, tropical nectar and floral infused honey linger, while other herbal elements teasing the palate as well.

(Doesn't offer that same experience as the first cup did.)

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Brew Method:

Really floral aromas through the brewing and into the cup, along with sour patch kids sweetness.

Immediately diving offers you a nice sugary sweetness, a full spread of tantalizing floral notes, and a complexity of herbal-tea notes off the bat. It has a comfortable weight, lightly syrupy but otherwise buttery leaning towards velvety. Lingering sweetness and citrus as well in the finish.

Man, it really condenses here. It still has that syrupy/buttery mouthfeel, but such a condensed and complex ball of fruit notes, it seems like a gusher just waiting to be bitten into and have that flavor explode.

Clean and aromatic, with sweet peach, cantaloupe, sweet honeydew, mango, grape, grapefruit, and lychee notes surrounded by jasmine and rose with a citrus and herbal lingering. Balanced and endlessly enjoyable. The more it cools the more dreamy it grows. So good.

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Brew Method:

Really floral aromatics.

Similar to the Woodneck cup. A buttery body with intense apricot sweetness and florals through to the finish, dense and immersed with flavor. Very clean, very vibrant.

You'll find nods to apricot, peach, currant, pear, passion fruit, and raspberry most forward here, oozing out into the palate and saturating every taste bud. It carries a cocktail of lemon, lime, and berry filling the acidity space. Herbal notes are at play as mentioned in previous methods, complex, condensed, and sugary sweetness lingering into finish with tea-spice and whiffs of cocoa remaining.

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Brew Method:

Intense aromas, like a good Yirgacheffe would- bergamot, vanilla, florals, honey butter, caramel.

First sips of this cup are out of this world. An intense tropical sweetness with lemon and orange candy acidity quickly moving into a creamy and sugary sweet body, perfumed and tickling with pops of fruit before a silky floral finish. Wowza.

It's hard to describe exactly how candy-like the flavor is, intense sweetness yet buttery and complex, rich on the tongue but like a bottle rocket of fruit notes exploding on the palate- apricot, strawberries and cream, peach, caramel apple cider, mango, lychee, cantaloupe covered in fruit dip, kiwi, grape soda, lemon and raspberry cotton candy, all ending in lingering floral and tea-like finish.

Caramel aroma remains in the cup, as it stays rich but grows more delicate in it's sweetness, blanketing the tongue and settling in sweet flavors, dense and sugary. It finishes with those herbal tea notes we've noticed previously, a good mark that says, "good job, bud. We made it through another delicious cup. Hope to see you 'round these parts again."

And he rides off into the sun.

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Brew Method:

Iced Chemex | 40g (c) to 350g (w) | 300g ice | 3:15 total time | 200 degrees

Mmm. Honey body really sticks out here. Feels a bit buttery but carries some nice lemon, orange, raspberry, and peach candy-like sweetness and ends with vanilla cream and tea.

After sitting a bit the floral notes jump out and really mingle with that honey. Sweet, sexy, and welcomed with the stone fruit and icing sweetness that follows. Creamy, buttery, clean and a bit sparklingly lemon and bergamot on the front, and birthday cake in the finish.

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Highlights: clean, aromatic, buttery body.

Several makes reminded me of the Aricha and Chelelektu, so this was a good one.

I liked the lower extraction. I like a quiet cup that slowly builds intensity, but I also really enjoy a flavorful cup from the beginning, and the other two cups provided that. I did prefer the chemex a bit more, I think the Woodneck was a little too extracted for this brew, even though it settled out into a delicious cup.

That Aeropress though- man that was banging. It’s hard to say things different about these coffees that give up similar profiles since I’ve had so many washed Ethiopians, but just know that this was up there with the best, of the best, of the best, sir. If I had to note one particular thing, I'd say more than other offerings this one had a particularly round buttery body, something the others didn't really demonstrate.

This was a good start to 49th Parallel, I’ll definitely want to follow what they are up to from now on.

#Forty Ninth Parallel #Ethiopia #Dumerso #Yirgacheffe #Review

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abandoncoffee · 11 years ago

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Huckleberry Roasters - Gondo Kenya

This bag was my first purchase from Huckleberry Roasters. They caught my eye flashing around social media, and from a few coffee friends of mine. Their branding and packaging is top notch- 10oz packages in the Scandinavian style rezip bags, big bold logo, and great texturized graphics drawing your attention. On top of that, their shop looks incredibly sexy for those who are in and around the Denver area. As tempted as I was with their espresso, I decided to pick up what they claimed to be their most complex coffee to date. Let’s take a look at the Gondo Coop in Kenya.

This coffee is grown by the 3,000 member Gondo Farmers Cooperative Society, based in Murang'a County, north of Nairobi. The cooperative grows SL-28, Kenya's most prized coffee variety, which, combined with the cooperatives high base altitude of 1500 meters above sea level, contributes to the coffee's bright complexity. The cooperative also carries out traditional Kenyan washed processing with painstaking attention to detail. While most Latin American producers wash their coffee, then dry it immediately, Gondo and other Kenyan producers soak the coffee for an additional 24 hours before drying, a step that helps the coffee build amino acids and develop savory flavors and creamy complexity.

Beyond Gondo's general excellence, Huckleberry is excited to work with Elephant Coffee Importers, another Denver-based coffee business founded by Jackson Kanampiu. Jackson is a native Kenya, with extensive experience working in the Kenyan exporting industry and greater East African specialty coffee community, and is focused on working with grower-owned cooperatives. He and Elephant have been able to source some amazing cooperative-grown coffees, and it's been wonderful for them to work with an importer this knowledgable, transparent, and close to home.

Details:

Roaster: Huckleberry Roasters

Region: Murang’a County, Kenya

Farm: Gondo Farmer’s Cooperative Society

Process: Washed

Varietal: SL-28

Elevation: 1,500m

Brew Method:

Mmm. Moderately syrupy off the bat. Cranberry, orange, and grapefruit initially, but balanced by a nice sweetness and trails of cinnamon spice. The acidity enters as cranberry most specifically, and the lingering citrus hits grapefruit as it trails.

Aside from the acidity, what is most impressive in the cup are these toasted coconut notes right on the front of each sip, and the end of each sip is plush, leaving a creamy finish. The whole experience is reminiscent of coconut cream pie, but even further in the complexity you find flavors that recall french toast, fresh cherry tomatoes, and brown sugar glazed steak gristle.

Brown sugar, vanilla, and honey continue to grow as the cup settles, dense, sweet, savory and a bit spiced. Nicely balanced and easy to drink. Kiwi, honeydew, currant, raisin, cranberry, and apricot grow sweeter. Aromas of raspberry and grapefruit still fill the cup, while the cup slides effortless over the palate, silky, sweet, and ending with just the right about of spice, lingering citrus, dried fruits, and honey butter in a slowly drying finish.

This one seems better to finish before it gets too cold, as coldest moments leave a lingering flavor of latex balloon.

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Brew Method:

First sips are lightly tingly but juicy, syrupy, and ending a bit spiced with a really plush creamy sweet ending.

Currant, blackberry, cranberry, pomegranate, apple, caramel, pumpkin pie all come to mind, with a syrupy, sweet, and saturating finish with slightly savory elements like pepperoni stick spiciness. That being said, the final thoughts always come back to creamy, and plush cream. Tea-like spices grow in the cup, with a brown sugar-like sweetness. Sadly, I didn't find the toasted coconut at all, when it was very prominent in the front of the previous make.

I lied, it just seems to have come a bit further in the cup this time. The cup grows very creamy, and the fruits are portrayed again like a lovely slice of coconut cream pie (but not for long), heavy on the cream and a lingering yet balanced note of tangerine in the cup. Still, there is just enough savory spice to keep this cup pretty interesting. Cinnamon, cranberry, and raisin all seem to dance around in various spots.

The cup is rather dense and complex, syrupy and saturated as it bounces among sweet, spice, and savory like a game of Pong.

The final sips begin to introduce such sweet fruits like peach and raspberry into the mix- creamy, smooth, and sweet like icing.

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Brew Method:

Nice balance to the cup. Sweetness underlying like a glazed donut, but really lets the citrus stand out a bit in this method on top. Rounded brightness, lemon and grapefruit, and less tingling cranberry than previous makes with a bit of a salty finishing. Nice round body, just a bit of syrupiness, and a sweet and savory finish. Will let this open up.

Lingering on the palate you notice brown sugar sweetness growing, and in that, too, something that reminds me of eating coconut shrimp (the breaking and dip moreso than the shrimp), possibly with a nice cherry tomato side salad and a light balsamic vinaigrette. Opening more you still have an elegantly weighted body, now a little more coating like honey with raw sweetness saturating the entire mouth.

Cooling further the fruit develops into what I think is grilled peach, either that or peach with a bit of salt sprinkled on. It really bounces you around that sweet and savory line- creamy and plush, or saucy, reduced, and dense. It continues like that into the end of the cup, always dancing on sweet, salty, citrusy, savory and fruity with berries and stone fruit, even adding lighter floral notes in the finish and a lower, lingering grapefruit note.

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Brew Method:

Oh my. First sips of this coffee are so silky, so creamy sweet. This is so delicious. Quickly you can tell it is a complex and juicy cup- lemongrass, toasted coconut shavings, red raspberry, cantaloupe, strawberry, brown sugar, and toast coat the palate initially, then more tingly notes of cranberry and lime snowcone arrive with savory elements of cherry tomato, pasta sauce, and grilled grapefruit finish the cup. AND THESE ARE JUST THE FIRST SIPS.

Continuing to drink, the cup remains clean, juicy and splashy on the intake and syrupy as it swishes around the mouth. It fills with notes of cream, cranberry, and a not-so-sharp but bright and sparkling floral and tangerine spray that drifts through to the finish. On it's way it rides on a lightly tea-spiced, slightly sizzling syrupy stream into the end.

Sparkling sweet black raspberry, cranberry, bergamot and other tea-spices silkily drift, slightly candy-like in sweetness but still kept in check by a slightly savory finish.

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Brew Method:

Explosive off the front like the usual cups. Instead of an attacking acidity it feels more effervescent on the front with blood orange and nectarine softly in the cup, with a deeply creamy and lightly fruit juicy lingering.

Light tingly juiciness like cranberry meets a more plump cherry and peach sweetness, still carrying lightly savory notes of spice that feels more like pie crust than anything. The acidity rides in like a wave, more candied lime, pineapple, and grapefruit.

Caramelized brown sugar, black raspberry, and toasted coconut fill the final sips, almost like honey on the tongue but particular nuances take my taste buds towards the coconut flavor, with comfortably bright grapefruit lingering on.

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Rare do I come across a coffee as dynamic and explosive as this. While it wasn’t my favorite coffee in terms of overall flavor, it really stretches your palate, and really achieves an elevated level of experience in terms of execution in the cup. The end of the cup, for me, is much more enjoyable than the more savory intro. Looking back over all of my notes from various cups, it’s odd that I say it wasn’t a favorite of mine, as it seemed to really be one of the more complex offerings I’ve visited.

(That second sentence being the take away from this cup, that it creates an elevated experience unlike any coffee I've had before)

That being said it was classic Kenya yet unique, and maybe it was just too much of a coffee for me to fully appreciate. Please don't read that as not liking the coffee, I did, I just feel like someone with a more refined palate or brewing methodology would have a higher appreciation. I'd like to try other Huckleberry Coffees at some point, so I'll have to keep them on my radar.

#Huckleberry Roasters #Gondo #Kenya

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abandoncoffee · 11 years ago

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Kuma Coffee - Carmen Geisha - Boquete, Panama

It is still pretty embarrassing to me that I've only shared in four Kuma Coffee offerings this year aside from the holiday wash process packages. It has even been a few months since I made remarks very similar to this when talking about the Aramo Woreda Ethiopia. I've been learning about so many new roasters, new regions, and it has caused me to be led astray from one of my absolute favorite roasters, which is funny because I am sitting on several of their offerings I am really dying to pull the trigger on as we speak. That being said, there is one offering I knew I simply could not miss buying- a Kuma geisha roast. While last year we had a delightful offering from La Esmeralda, this year we have an exciting and rather new lot to geisha production. Let's get into Kuma's Carmen Geisha Panama.

Today, most people associate the Geisha cultivar with Panama, and over the last 10 years the most exquisite examples of this coffee have indeed come from there. The Geisha varietal was actually discovered in Ethiopia in the 1930s, in the mountains around the town of Geisha. Between 1930-1950, the Geisha tree was experimentally planted in Kenya, Uganda, and Tanzania. It wasn’t until after 1950 that this unique tree made its way across the Atlantic to Costa Rica’s CATIE coffee research center. About 10 years later, these high elevation loving, sparsely foliated trees found their way to the Boquete region of Panama.

From the 1960s to 2004, this tree languished in relative obscurity. Efforts to grow the cultivar at lower elevations produced a terrible tasting coffee. Some trees survived on farms in Costa Rica and Panama, but the cherries were picked and the seeds mixed into the rest of the harvest, so the distinctive Geisha profile was lost.

In 2004, a little known farm in Panama isolated their Geisha production and entered the resulting coffee in the Best of Panama competition. The farm, Hacienda La Esmeralda, won the competition handily. The judges were blown away by the complex yet subtle coffee, and the Geisha varietal became set to take the coffee world by storm.

Since 2004, the winning Geishas in this competition have commanded steep prices. In 2004, the winning lot of Hacienda La Esmeralda Jaramillo Especial auctioned for about $20/lb (for the green, or unroasted, beans!!). In 2010, the winning bid for the first place Esmeralda Especial was $170/lb (again, this if for the unroasted coffee!!) The price has fluctuated some in the last few years, but $50-$80 is about the average, making the Geisha varietal one of the most expensive coffees in the world.

Carlos Aguilera planted Geisha coffee on his farm over 5-6 years ago. This is the first year that the Geisha trees were able to produce enough cherries to mill and make a small 500-600lb lot. Kuma was able to grab 100lbs of this stellar lot that placed 4th best Geisha out of the entire "Best of Panama 2014" competition.

Roaster: Kuma Coffee

Region: Boquete, Panama

Farmer: Carlos Aguilera

Process: Washed

Varietal: Geisha

Elevation: 1,800m

Brew Method:

The nose is a thing of beauty. Raspberry, melon, sugar, florals.

The cup is wonderfully articulate- soft, sweet, and intricately layered. It certainly is lively, the first flavors you come to are the complex citrus layers, a combination of lemon, tangerine, and candied lime. In that, you find lingering florals- lavender and jasmine that linger on atop a bed lightly sweetened with honey. The finish is a bit dry, but also a bit effervescent.

The cup, while delicate, gives up some raspberry/strawberry reduction that gives depth, but isn't quite syrupy or dense in body (which is good). As it opens further, you find a similar raspberry note as you would in the Idido or Kochere we've visited, with confectioner's sugar like Frosted Flakes. The difference with those other offerings, is this cup gives so much balance between the citrus notes, plush creaminess, fruits, and lingering florals. With that, there is just so much more complexity going on- butteriness, creaminess, honey-coating.

The cup, as it cools, is such a lovely presentation. Bright and lively citrus acidity, raspberry, kiwi, and succulent watermelon sweetness, tangled floral and herbal notes, and a finish that mingles creaminess, hints of dark chocolate, and grapefruit.

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Brew Method:

Mmm. This cup no doubt is geisha, but it begins a little lighter than I'd prefer.

The cup is soft, sugary, bright, and sweet. It is poetic how it enters with candy-like orange citrus notes, then switches over to raspberry, watermelon, kiwi, and other fruit plump full of sweet juiciness, in the end, you have light cocoa notes at play with pleasant florals and a slightly drying tea-like finish, with lingering sweetness and a resurgence of citrus.

The cup grows brighter, sharp tangerine on the front (so sharp that it almost comes across salty) and then a saturated berry center. The finish starts ending more syrupy, palpable, and melting with sweetness over the tongue- slightly wine-soaked and still as bright lingering as the front.

Complex, sweet, tangerine brightness, lovely florals.

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Brew Method:

Man, what a balanced cup. There are bright citrus notes on the front, but they aren't as attacking as have felt in some other makes. Delicious, succulent, dense raspberry and melon sweetness all but drips out of the mouth, plush, poetic, with sweet lemon carrying to the finish and ending with trails of florals swirling around.

It grows such a dense sweetness in the end, like nougat and caramel- chewy and lightly weight, really impressive in mouthfeel. In the middle of the cup, if it weren't for the more prominent raspberry note, I'd almost think I was eating vanilla or banana pudding, that's the mouthfeel and sweetness you find.

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Incredible aromatics.

Whoa. What a cup. Where the geishas normally come across to me as floral forward and fruit underneath, the dragon really brings forward the fruits- probably the first and most noticeable aspect of the cup. Crisp off the front, insanely silky, possibly one of the cleanest cups I've ever had, but still carries rich raspberry sweetness, wholesome and juicy bites of honeydew and watermelon, and then the florals coming after, long and lingering. The tangerine is present in the cup, but immaculately portrayed as far as balance in the cup, really, really attractive.

While the cup is almost so silky that it feels like nothing in the mouth, it carries a delicous richness, both to the fruits and these creamy and lightly cocoa notes in the finish that remind me if a soft cookies and cream ice cream. More berry sweetness seems to draw out as it cools, at times more similar to a natural processed coffee, with this beautiful, sweet lemon note lingering on past the florals. This really is an excellent portrait of this coffee.

Continuing sips are balanced, luscious- a perfect marriage of tropical punch sweetness (now with mango, peach, lychee) and elegant florals, all with a maple syrup finish down the center of the tongue.

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Brew Method:

(I actually tried preparing this via Aeropress twice before, and still with no good results. I decided instead of continuing to waste beans I'd leave it here and move on to better performing methods)

Tastes like a watered down version of the real thing. Crisp tangerine, lingering fruit sweetness, jasmine and tea-like ending. Enough that I'd remember the profile if I never got another good make of it, but sad that it misses that body and saturation of flavor.

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Brew Method:

So, it isn't the coffee. Here it still sings and in fact, might be one of the more flavorful makes. That tangerine is bright on the front but perfectly comfortable, smashing head-first into that raspberry sweetness, splashing every inch of the mouth with fruit juiciness and a slick, candy-like lingering.

It is clean, brimming with orange and lemon citrus notes, berry density, and a floral and herbal tea-like ending and lasts forever. Without lessening in flavor, this coffee grows a bit more settled in, a bit more balanced in the cup, and remains immensely enjoyable. I understand this is a poor description of the coffee, but this is so insanely good.

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I think it is hard to accurately describe a cup like this. To be completely honest, I run into this issue quite often with the coffees that I’ve found the most enjoyable. It is hard enough for me to pull away from the cup to jot down a note or two, let alone put that experience into words, even more how to describe the summation of the coffee. Every single moment of this cup is an absolutely exhilaration of flavor. This was one of the most flavorful geishas (also read coffees) I’ve had- vivid and balanced, nuanced in its aroma and complex in its flavors. Jasmine and tangerine create such a lovely backdrop for the dense sweetness to melt over the palate and the body presents itself in several forms that will comfort and please- it really is one of the most exceptional coffees I've had the pleasure of enjoying.

This selection from Kuma adds to their ever growing list of offerings that have left me beyond satisfied, still holding tight to my position in the Top 3 Roasters. My only regret is I didn’t order more.

#Kuma Coffee #Carmen Geisha #Panama #Boquete #Gesha #Geisha

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abandoncoffee · 11 years ago

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Compelling & Rich - Kenya Nyeri Karatina Peaberry

I have absolutely loved being a part of Compelling & Rich's journey as much as they have been a part of mine. If you aren't connected with Kian on social media, you are missing out on a guy who is passionate about the coffee community, and about the Los Angeles coffee scene he is a part of. Not only is he a class A dude, nailing the roasts and selecting some really great limited lots, but he is not shy about popping into shops around the area and drinking from the other roasters both LA and afar. Kian has done a lot of leg work to get to where he is, and it is finally starting to pay off as the word is getting out and demand is growing and growing. Towards the end of August, around my birthday, he was raving about this Peaberry lot he had in from his favorite region- Nyeri, Kenya. Not too long after that did I receive a package from him- coffee and birthday card included. Seriously, this guy is stand-up, and only growing more and more desirable as a roaster to always keep on your radar. Let's dive into this bag of Karatina Peaberry and see what all the commotion was about.

The Karatina factory sits in east Nyeri county, named after the surrounding Karatina town. It's another member of the Barichu Farmer's Cooperative Society ("FCS"), where we've purchased many lots in the past - Gatomboya, Gaturiri, etc - whose name to us is synonymous with quality and consistency. The society has topped 1000 members, all of whom grow varietals SL-28, SL-34, and Ruiri-11. These individual factories are responsible for wet milling - pulping, fermenting, washing, and raised bed drying. Sorting through cherry first, as well as sorting measures throughout the washing, drying, and dry-milling phases of processing, equates to a clarity in the cup rarely rivaled. The PB outturn from Karatina cupped with exceptional sweetness, and with fruit flavors equally sweet andclean.

Details:

Roaster: Compelling & Rich

Region: Kenya, Nyeri - Karatina Mill

Farm: Barichu Farmers Cooperative Society

Process: Washed process

Varietal: SL-28, SL-34, Ruiru 11

Elevation: 1,700 - 1,850m

Brew Method:

The cup carries a soft intro, but in that it is cleanly syrupy. The finish leaves trails of spice, and even lingering citrus notes that creep in brighter than how you meet them during the sips.

Most notably you find apricot, still clean almost sparkling on the front of each sip, the middle carries a raw honey body, with a drying finish that enters a but citrusy, grows a bit dusty and dense like cocoa, and the finishes with faint trails of florals.

The sips grow a bit more juicy, with guava also seeming to enter, dried kiwi, dried papaya, lemon, and finishing with hints of spice, orange, and currant. The finish dances on this line of cherry tomato, and then caramelized brown sugar and cranberry. Those sensations go back and forth.

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Brew Method:

Really nice start to the cup. Sweetness underneath, almost a candy or glazed donut-like, with a really bright grapefruit and orange citrus note on the front with tea-leaf spice cleaning up in the finish. Lightly syrupy, lightly juicy, creamy and delicate icing-esque rich body.

The cup continues to grow more juicy, more sweet, with those creamy notes melting silkily into brown sugar and butter in the finish, with the tails of every single note giving up floral touches on the very tips, still ending with nips of cinnamon and tea-spice in the rear of the mouth. Fruit flavors of pear, pomegranate, apricot, peach jam, with tacky date sweetness growing through the finish continue to tickle, tease, and delicate and densely tease.

Further cooling gives up crisp, clean notes of baked apples, cream, and caramel- sweet, spiced, comfortably bright, with a really creamy and juicy body.

Citrus, cream, stone fruit, spice.

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Whoa. There is a LOT going on in this cup. First, there is a spiced juiciness to the cup that is really welcomed, and that spice carries into a more creamy finish. Peachy sweetness comes out in a cobbler-like fashion, with honey and dried fruits dancing in the finish. Again, florals dance in the tail of every sip, sips that leave the mouth with thoughts of fresh caramels and peanut butter fudge.

The finish just carries this most unique honey/caramel syrupiness. It could be the way it interacts with the stone fruits, but is just a really big highlight of the cup. As it cools, the citrus notes are clean, crisp, and balanced in brightness. While the mouthfeel grows drying, there is a English Toffee sweetness that lingers on. Final sips are peach syrup, floral and honey, with spiced, dry orange and berry preserve saturation lingering.

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Brew Method:

Mmmm. This cup has a really interesting acidity. It seems like cooked pear at first, just quick but balanced in the cup with apricot, plum, and raisin growing afterwards- spiced, juicy, and then ending with a creamy sweet finish.

It carries some neat complexity to it. As it cools it remains juicy, creamy, and sweet, with pops of interesting flavors: olive, peach cobbler, malt, and cinnamon raisin bread most notably. Still spiced, still crisp and clean, dessert-like with it's pie-like and brown sugar sweetness.

The latter half of the cup grows even sweeter. Brown sugar caramelized like honey dripping down your throat, with such a clean profile, delicate saturation of fruits, vanilla, and those florals come back out, a bit more prominent than other makes and more like spring flowers than your usual Yirgacheffe florals.

The final sips lose most the spice and leave you with notes of peaches and cream candies and butter pecan ice cream- clean, sweet, lingering notes of soft orange, delicious.

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Brew Method:

Mmmm. Some days I really love cups like this. This is probably the most delicate make of the coffee. Really, really clean cup. Lightly syrupy cup, gently spiced, gently sweetened, and perfectly acidic. Just sprinkled with brown sugar and cream, with soft apricot sweetness leading baked gala apple slices and delicately smoothed with pistachio in the finish. Light hints of clove, cinnamon, and orange peel exist, with the acidity joining in a brisk caramel strand akin to caramel apple cider down the center of the tongue. While not as floral as other makes, deep slurps reveal complex herbals and spring florals on the fringes of each one, buried among the lightly caramel body.

The cooling isn't my absolute favorite in this method, but continues to remain a bit lower in sweetness, with lightly spiced apple skin being the most detectible note.

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Gah, Kian was absolutely right. Every single preparation of this coffee gave up the goods...and the goods were heavenly. It’s hard to nail down exactly what was exceptional about the cup without going back through its entire profile. It was clean, filled with stone fruit juiciness, incredibly sweet, carried just the right amount of spice to dance each and every taste, and it was densely pleasing as it continued to unfold sip after sip. While the second half of the cup in some makes just let out this enormous creaminess, others would find subtle complexities that only further add to the entire picture that this coffee is able paint. On top of that, the acidity continued to line the cup ever so beautifully through the end of the cup, never forsaking that “Kenya” profile.

This offering was sexy as hell- pretty much the staple reaction to a Compelling & Rich coffee.

#Compelling & Rich #Compelling and Rich #Kenya #Nyeri #Karatina #Peaberry

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abandoncoffee · 11 years ago

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Kickapoo Coffee Roasters - Kabingara AA Kenya

I'm starting to believe Wisconsin is home to some of the greatest coffee roasters in the US. It has been a great, great ride with these last several Kickapoo Coffee offerings. I’ve loved getting a closer look at the company I was so fond of earlier in the year from their Congolese offerings, and quickly learned that saturating the palate with flavor wasn’t a fluke only found in those early offerings. Kickapoo has quickly become one of my favorite roasters I’ve been able to experience, as I know any offering I select is not only going to be linked to great sustainability, but I know the profile I find will always be worth the price of admission. They say their fanaticism pays off in some of the best coffees available on the market today, and I’d have to agree with that. As you read this, five new offerings exist on their site from the ones we visited as well as four of the ones we’ve seen already, including this Kabingara AA Kenya we’ll be diving into today. Check out the site, and keep up to date with these guys as they do great things in specialty coffee. Thanks Kickapoo for sending out these 5 offerings for me to sit down with.

This coffee comes to Kickapoo from the lush rolling hills of the Kirinyaga region near the Mount Kenya native forest of Central Kenya. About 700 small holder farmers bring their coffee cherries to the Kabingara washing station for processing. The co-op was established in 1988 on a seven-acre plot of land near the small town of Kerugoya. Their relatively small production volume allows for an increased focused on quality compared to many other factory-style stations in the area.

This lot is particularly interesting because it is entirely comprised of the SL-34 varietal. Oftentimes in Kenya we see lots that are a mix of SL-28 and SL-34, weighted more towards SL-28, but now we see how delicious SL-34 can be when it stands alone. A pretty rare treat in the Kenyan coffee world.

Details:

Roaster: Kickapoo Coffee Roasters

Region: Kirinyaga, Central Kenya

Farm: Karithathi Cooperative

Process: Dry Fermentation, Washed, Overnight Soak, Raised Bed Drying

Varietal: SL-34

Elevation: 1,700 - 1,800m

Brew Method:

Dry aroma of lemon, Frosted Flakes, and candy.

The brewing aroma gives nods to passion fruit, florals, cherry, chocolate covered banana, wood, and herbal notes that linger in the air.

The nose is very aromatic, sweet, creamy.

The initial sips are a bit intense as indicated by TDS, but enjoyable.

It is moderately viscous with bright but approachable citrus on the front and sweetness emanating from the cup most quickly arriving at toasted marshmallow followed by passion fruit, and ending on a creamy apricot and cherry coulis spread across the palate to saturate with flavor, but also slightly drying the mouthfeel in a lingering finish.

As it sits in the mouth, and continuing sip, that sugary sweetness still seems to coat those sips, sips that now reveal blackberry, peach, tomato, green apple, pomegranate, lime, floral, and honey, with the long finish bringing in elements of spice, dark chocolate, and cream.

The cooler it grows the more soft and settled it becomes, grapefruit still keeping the cup bright, but it is very comfortable, non-attacking on the palate, moving into a lavender soda sweetness on the front, a buttery and shortbread-like middle, and finishing with really pleasing chocolate notes. All the while, candy-sweet floral and fruit notes dance all around those flavors and grapefruit lingering long after your sips are done.

The final sips are just a more cohesive saturation of the above progression.

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Brew Method:

One of those samples where the beans themselves smell gorgeous. Honey and sweet.

Brewing aroma is almost candy-like, caramel, apple, and spice.

The nose is dense, sweet, spiced, and citrusy.

The first sips are really something. Syrupy, sweet, really clean and clear cranberry, spiced plum, cherry skin, candy apple sweetness with honey coating and trailing to a more grapefruit citrusy brightness, still coated in sweet, sweet honey.

Not too far after the initial sips grows vanilla wrapped apricot and passion fruit, still swimming in that saturated and syrupy body with a tart cherry finish. Those notes continue to grow more plump, more nectary, more voluptuous in the cup. Prickly blackberry, and pomegranate dance on those tomato notes, still sweetened in the end with peach and apricot.

It carries similarities here to the previous make: a growing grapefruit and lavender effervescence on the front like soda, a buttery and dense body full of sweetness and floral tickles, and a lingering honey finish with notes of spice and chocolate.

The final sips still sit in a sea of saturated syrupiness (say that 5 times fast), sweet, a bit splashy, bright and floral infused.

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Brew Method:

Nice Kenya aromas - cranberry, currant, honey, vanilla.

This cup carries a very bright intro. Tart cranberry notes mix with what seems like bright grapefruit, spice, and a nice honey thickness in the end.

It settles in quickly, carrying a passion fruit sparkling water beginning and saturating the palate with baked apple crisps, poached pears with honey and ginger, and cranberry and rhubarb torte. It is very coating in sweetness, but tingly tart and bright with spices abound, and finishing like grape Twizzlers pull-n-peels.

It cools further and remains dense- sweet, splashy, and a bit refreshing, adding some melon-like notes to the sparkling front that feels more like an Italian soda, still a bit tingly but more balanced. Notes of cranberry, raspberry, cherry, and cream finishing.

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This cup is classically Kenyan, yet an excellently executed one at that. If there is anything I’ve come to learn over the last several offerings from Kickapoo Coffee it is that they have found the sweet spot on each of their coffees to give up every last drop of flavor in every single sip, and that certainly can be said for Kabingara Kenya. It was clean, bright, sparkling and syrupy. It packed a punch and soothed the palate. It danced on the tongue and slowly slid away. If you are looking for a Keny

#Kickapoo Coffee #Kickapoo Coffee Roasters #Kenya #Kabingara #Kirinyaga #Karithathi Cooperative #Highlight

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abandoncoffee · 11 years ago

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Kickapoo Coffee Roasters - Sidama Ethiopia

If you’ve noticed by now, you may be thinking, “Man...those Kickapoo Coffee tins look really sharp.” If you have been, you’d be correct. Designed by Neal Olson, these tins are incredibly awesome, a welcomed change from the typical bags we see these days, and they do more than just promote a local graphics designer. Being from the Midwest (and owning it), Kickapoo loves keeping with the Midwest aesthetics and the rural feel. These tins are one way they can not only be sustainable (read 100% recyclable and easily reused), but also gives a throwback to the Midwest.

Plastic packaging is one of the major environmental costs of the coffee industry. At Kickapoo Coffee, they strive to eliminate plastic from their operations. All of their prepackaged coffee is sold in reusable, recyclable steel cans containing 80 percent post-consumer recycled steel. Their one-pound bags feature a biodegradable glycine liner, and they package the majority of their bulk five-pound bags in biodegradable kraft bags.

Let's open our can of Ethiopia Sidama Fero and see what's inside.

Ethiopia is the birthplace of coffee and the Sidama Union of Growers, comprising of 80,000 individual farmers, put the region's traditional knowledge into practice through nearly 50 regional base co-ops.

Kickapoo has tasted coffee from many of these groups, but over time have zeroed in on the Fero Cooperative. Their coffee shines due to their particular locale, which is vaulted high in the mountains above the Rift Valley at nearly 2,000 meters. This impressive elevation causes the coffee cherries to mature slowly, developing a physically dense bean, filled with nuanced and complex flavors.

Kickapoo also loves the fact that Fero uses washed processing: immediately after harvest, the pulp of the coffee cherry fruit is removed by milling. After that, the bean is fermented, washed and then dried on raised beds. Washed processing results in a cleaner, brighter, more consistent coffee.

In a business that spans oceans and continents, relationships are important. This is their fourth year in a row working with the Fero Cooperative, and they couldn't be more excited by the commitment to quality they’ve seen with this group of dedicated farmers.

Details:

Roaster: Kickapoo Coffee Roasters

Region: Sidama, Southern Ethiopia

Farm: Fero Cooperative

Process: Washed

Varietal: Heirloom Varieties

Elevation: 1,900 - 2,010m

Brew Method:

It carries a juicy intro. A bit drying in mouthfeel with notes of raspberry, cherry, and a smooth, slightly nutty (almond or pistachio) finish.

Splashy pops of sweet fruits jump on the tongue with each sip, lightly saturating, with apple, pear, peach, and strawberry and carrying sweet vanilla and a dash of honey in the trails.

Oh wow, not a few minutes later those notes get even sweeter, more candy-like in the cup, with citrus notes of lemon and orange adding some brightness before a flavor filled finish with slight tea-like tendencies.

While it carries a layered sweetness (grape, raspberry, and strawberry most note able) growing a bit buttery through cooling, it still always keeps tickles of those tea-like spices (and nods to dried fruits) and always ends the lingering almond-like but carrying shifty drifts of fruits that go on and on.

Gosh, it just keeps changing and changing. Creamy body and the fruits grow sweeter again. Berries and more of a lemon and lime citrus note like a more classic Yirgacheffe profile.

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Brew Method:

Really nice brewing aroma.

Lighter presentation than previous make. Soft and sweet berry fruits on the front with soft cream, caramel, apple, and chocolate notes in the finish. Elements of it remind me of green apple jolly ranchers, ultimately ending with a slightly drying finish.

It is soft, but feels a bit dense as well. Candy-sweet fruit notes begin to radiate as it cools- raspberry, cherry, apple, dried kiwi, and strawberry. If you were to Inception it even deeper you may find notes of red currant, orange creamsicle, and peaches and cream. Still, it sits lightly splashy and plush in the mouth, and ends with a slightly almond finish and even nips of tea-like tendencies and drifts of dried fruits arriving in the long finish.

Brightness is a lot more reserved in this method. Candied lemon and lime may be present, but more highlighting of those sweet candy-like fruits. It grows more and more creamy- touched with peach, apricot, honey, vanilla, and raspberry, and stays like that for the remainder of the cup.

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Brew Method:

Mmm. This coffee. At it's hottest moments it does have a bit of a nutty drying to it, and cherry liqueur may come to mind, but it is also too hot for me to give accurate description.

Cooling a bit, you find lovely floral notes, similarly to the Idido in fact. There are raspberry and strawberry notes there, not too sweet yet, still met with some cream in the finish leaving a slightly almond drying.

Further, you find a subtle, sweet, and juicy cup. There is a nice brightness on the front, more lime than lemon but balanced in the cup, with more dense fruits softly saturating and a crisp but slowly juicy finish.

Cherry, apple, raspberry, swirl in the middle, with softer orange notes lingering in the finish, slightly drying but sweetly carrying on. The more it opens the more vibrant the front is, like a honey crisp apple, with a balanced body and slight syrupiness growing in the finish.

Clean raspberry and chess pie are reminiscent in the final sips, smooth drying with cherry, juicy saturation, light chocolate notes and slight malting.

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Brew Method:

This method, while floral forward, seems to allow a sparkling lemon acidity intro the cup with notes of cherry and raspberry sweetening the cup before a smooth, slightly nutty finish.

As it opens it remains crisp and vibrant, floral led with hints of bergamot joining with the lemon acidity to brighten the juicy body that now tastes a bit more similar to Juicy Fruit chewing gum, saturated with flavor: peach, cantaloupe, apricot, raspberry, apple, and cherry with tea-like characteristics developing. It's silky as it glides across the mouth, luscious and beautiful.

It grows more creamy and lingering, but stays on those floral notes with complex and lightly sugary fruits melting into the background as it finishes with a honey coated, tea-like dream.

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What a flavorful cup of coffee. Compared to the Idido, this offering gives up more juiciness, more saturation to the palate, with a bit more noticeable citrus as well. Also, there was a lot of shifting flavors through the cooling process, with a lot of sweetness to be had. If you are anything like me, profiles like that are always fun cups to have around when you are sipping, be it while you work, listen to music, read, or catch up with a friend over a good cup. It also seems that this was a contender for Good Food Awards last year as well, and I can definitely see why. While the Idido might have carried more subtlety, more delicacy or elegance, the Sidama (while equally enjoyable) splashes on the palate and gives you layer upon layer to unravel.

#Kickapoo Coffee #Kickapoo Coffee Roasters #Ethiopia #Sidama #Faro Cooperative

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abandoncoffee · 11 years ago

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Kickapoo Coffee Roasters - Yirgacheffe Idido Ethiopia

Today is an absolute treat for me. The next two reviews we visit are going to be two new washed Ethiopian offerings from Kickapoo Coffee. If you know anything about me, you know I’ve been tracking washed Ethiopians pretty closely this year, so I’m really excited to see what Kickapoo offers up, and something tells me we will be impressed.

Kickapoo begins each roast with an open mind. They consider the micro-region, processing methods, and growing conditions that influenced the harvest. Then they roast in small batches, cupping as they go, in an ongoing search for the perfect expression of the bean's natural characteristics. By focusing on the best flavor profile for each variety, they end up with a rainbow of subtly distinctive roasts, each beautifully expressive of the inherent qualities of the beans.

Roasting fresh, high-quality green coffee is vitally important. To this end, they designed and built a custom green storage room that is temperature and humidity controlled. Because each origin has essentially only one harvest per year, properly storing raw coffee is crucial. They roast their coffees weekly, to order, in small handcrafted batches in our refurbished German-made Probat roaster from the 1930s. In refurbishing it, they used all original parts, while adding customized elements to increase their control. These modifications include a frequency control drive to control the speed of the drum, special adaptations to maximize cool times, and probes to measure bean and environment conditions with digital precision. What better way to experience that precision through roasting, and sourcing we read about last write-up than visiting a bean that shows a prime example of that- one of last year’s Good Food Award winners, the Ethiopia Yirgacheffe Idido.

Idido is famous in the world of Ethiopian Coffee. Named for the village located just a few kilometers from the cooperative and mill that were among the first in the world to craft meticulously prepared natural processed coffees under the name 'Idido Misty Valley'. Like many cooperatives in Ethiopia, Idido has all of the right ingredients for turning out some of the best coffees in the world: high altitude, sound processing techniques, fertile soils, and heirloom varietals.

Idido was established in the late 1970's and joined the ranks of Yirgacheffe Farmer's Union in 2002. The cooperative has roughly 1000 active members who cultivate farms averaging 1.5 hectares. Kickapoo visited this cooperative in November of 2011 and were very pleased with the level of interest and engagement from members of the cooperative.

Our roast of last season's crop was named one of the top 15 coffees of the year by Coffee Review and was recognized nationally by the Good Food Awards this past January in San Francisco.

They've been working with Idido for the past four years and each lot has been better than the last. After tasting the first batch, they now know that this lot is no different. Enjoy.

Details:

Roaster: Kickapoo Coffee Roasters

Region: Yirgacheffe, Ethiopia

Farm: Idido Cooperative

Process: Wet Fermentation, Soak, 14 Day Raised Bed Drying

Varietal: Ethiopian Heirloom

Elevation: 1900-2100 meters

Brew Method:

Lovely brewing aroma perfumed with florals, lime, and berry.

Nose of honey, strawberry candies, florals.

Whoa, really rich initial sips, comes out of the gun smoking. It carries strawberry candy on the front, zested a bit with lemon peel, tangerine, and a bit of saturated juiciness like biting into a really flavorful cantaloupe, with vanilla, lime, cherry, honey, and almond but still those delicate florals you find in washed Yirgs. If it is this sweet right away, I am greatly anticipating it's cooling phases, as still not but a few minutes in this vanilla cream note seems to almost jump out in the end of the sips.

Cooling a bit, it slowly and silkily covers the walls of the entire mouth. You get some slightly sour cherry notes come out mixing (like the midway point of eating an warhead) with these really perfumed florals, adding all kinds of complexity to the cup. It's clean, but syrupy. Delicate, but saturated. Honey lined, citrus kissed, sweet like melon with raspberry, strawberry, plum, peach and vanilla, refined and directed. In the end there is a bit of a savory element that hides in the florals, I can't tell if it is molasses or what it is. Lingering on gives quiet notes of orange peel as well in a slightly drying finish.

The last 1/3 of the cup is so luscious, so lingering and sweet. I'm so surprised how this satisfies the urge of everything I like about washed Ethiopians. The florals and herbals are perfectly at balance with the sweetness, nothing steps on any toes, the body is silky but still seems a tad richer, not coming off 'light" like some others can. It's saturated, comfortable acidity, fruit notes that aren't too sweet. It is a perfect cup.

In the end it carries a growing acidity, still harmonious in the cup.

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Brew Method:

A bit on the stronger side. Really clear and sweet aromatics, berries, cream, floral.

First sips are very detailed: apricot, peach, mango, and strawberry candies. Lemon and lime sort of dance on the top, with a nice plush raspberry note in the center sweetening the entire cup til it's creamy sweet, floral-infused lingering finish.

Really similar to the Ruby Kochere here, balanced, delicate, silky, complex, and lovely... so lovely, in fact, that I am leaving my notes here to enjoy.

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Brew Method:

The aromas brewing and in cup are still astounding.

More herbal/floral entangling in the beginning of this method than some others, still with that candy-like raspberry note. Soft, not quite silky, lemon brightness and slightly tea-like in the finish.

Opening further, notes of apricot, strawberry, and cantaloupe seem to meet in a more honied body, delicately palpable and finishing cleanly and a bit more effervescent, while the lingering finish mid-cup seems to bring out cherry and even grape-candy sweetness a bit more.

The mouthfeel is so delicious. It slides in silky, brings that sugary sweetness, and then melts into a buttery trail of absolute bliss.

The finish balanced out nice. Plush, sugary, nice fruit juiciness, candied lime, and a flavor-filled lingering full of lovely florals.

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Brew Method:

Really prominent floral and lime off the front- beautiful and sweet. Raspberry growing, and these are just the hottest sips.

Coming back the cup most similarly reminds me of Aricha on the aeropress- clean, saturated but lower lying lemon and citrus, and spread on a bouquet of florals and herbals, complex and sweetened. I might sip this one slower than the other methods, as i'm still waiting for that sweet raspberry note to pop in the cup.

Ah, not two minutes later does it arrive. Buttery, sweet, kiwi, melon, and raspberry. Plump, dense, and balanced. It grows so creamy and sweet, with lemon underlying the whole cup, structured wonderfully, comfortably saturated with delicious fruits and layered sweetness that continues to unravel as it cools.

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You know, I’m not sure if I’d had coffee from Idido before this offering. Quite possibly I had Counter Culture’s Idido last year while road tripping back from South Carolina, but I wouldn’t remember if I had. Either way, I had no idea until recently what a gem this was in the specialty coffee world. It wasn’t until Jonathan Bonchak of Counter Culture commented on the picture of this coffee I posted to Instagram that I learned about #TeamIdido and, in turn, realized that this coffee fared so well in competition and also in Good Food Awards.

I’m going to sound like a broken record here, but I can’t help it. I feel like Ethiopian season is this ongoing, gradual, ramping up of flavor and enjoyment, or at least that has been my experience with them. I thought I found “the one” but that only lasted until the next “one” came along. While drinking this coffee, I was so pleased with how it presented a similar raspberry sweetness to the Ruby Kochere (review not yet posted) that I had finished previously, but it didn’t jump out of the cup like the Kochere seemed to at times. It also kept the herbal/floral clarity that I found in the Chelectu. It was articulated, it was delicate and poised, it saturated with flavor yet always remained in balance. Plus, it had this absolutely jaw dropping mouthfeel. It was, simply but, a perfect washed Ethiopian offering. If I had to drink but one coffee for the rest of my life, I think I’d be happy sipping on Kickapoo Coffee’s Idido.

#Kickapoo Coffee #Kickapoo Coffee Roasters #Yirgacheffe #Ethiopia #Idido

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