Coffee

What’s Brewing #12 – Colombia Hato Viejo

/ Pete Denison / 1 Comment

I was particularly excited to roast a batch of this Colombian, given the same coffee had recently been used in the QLD Aeropress Championships and I had also tried some of the filter roast at Strauss, in Brisbane’s CBD. My initial batch was roasted a couple of weeks ago, and did not go as smoothly as I would have liked, hence this post being delayed until I had the chance to try another batch. Let’s see how things went on the second attempt.

Coffee

Nariño is located in the south of Colombia, right in the border with Ecuador, this farm is located in a village called La Pradera, one of the best producing regions in Colombia and where most of the best Cup of Excellence coffees come from.

Information courtesy Ministry Grounds

Brew Types

Hario V60 Filter, Aeropress, Espresso

Impressions

This coffee was highly enjoyable when consumed with milk as a latte or piccolo, having a nice buttery mouthfeel, and notes of dark chocolate, berry and a little honey. There was enough body to carry these milk-based drinks well, and it certainly did the job as a morning starter. When consumed black, my pick was the V60, particularly once cooled, as the flavours really developed well, including some citrus and a little berry complementing the base chocolate flavours, with a nice clean finish.

As espresso, it made a great filter! No doubt a feature of my roast more than the coffee itself. Served short, the sweetness was certainly evident, however the acidity quite intense and overpowering. I intend to roast the remaining green beans I have just a little darker and assess things again. The Aeropress was probably somewhere in the middle, again the flavours increasing proportionally to the temperature cooling in the cup. Here I would mostly tend to brew and let rest a good few minutes before polishing off the cup fairly quickly while it was in this “sweet spot”.

Final Thoughts

On occasion I order in some green beans to roast and probably don’t quite hit the target with the roast profile – I think this is one of those times. There is probably something else at play here too, that being my expectations. Having consumed this coffee elsewhere prior to my roasting and brewing attempts, I had certain pre-conceived notions about the taste and flavour.

The difference? More than likely professional roasters and high quality baristas being far more adept at the entire roasting and brewing process than myself, producing superior results in the cup. Had I not tasted this first, perhaps I may have rated the Hato Viejo a little more highly. It is probably worth reminding anyone reading, the results of these What’s Brewing posts are influenced just as much (if not more so) by my roasting and brewing techniques, as they are the merits of the coffees themselves, and should be viewed accordingly.

Don’t get me wrong, I was certainly not disappointed and this is a highly enjoyable coffee, though (I) probably missed the mark slightly this time.

Rating: 3.5/5

Wiser Web Wednesday

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Wiser Web Wednesday – a weekly link to posts which piqued my interest from around the web:

JimSeven
James Hoffmann’s thoughts on creating a new occasional coffee magazine:

…most publications were more focused on the trade side of things rather than trying to tell the stories we have to the interested members of the coffee drinking public.

Though the print copy looks fantastic, I ordered the eBook version and believe me, this publication is a great read (independent writing; no ads). Check out more details and links to ordering options here:
Introducing Longberry Magazine

The Cramped
Continuing a recent stream of thought on penmanship, might I say ease up on the grip and pressure people! Your stone paper notebook in particular will thank you:
Penmanship for the Heavy Handed

Pens! Paper! Pencils!
If you are looking to get some reasonably priced vintage fountain pens, Parker is a decent place to start. A great review from Ian and some really impressive photos as well:
Parker 45 fountain pen review

Inktronics
Speaking of reasonably priced pens, a new best entry-level pen? Now available in an F as well as M nib, the Pilot Metropolitan makes a play for this title. A well-balanced , well written review:
Pilot Metropolitan Fountain Pen Review

The Well-Appointed Desk
If you need any more convincing, another favourable review of the Metropolitan:
Pilot Metropolitan Fountain Pen Review

Quotebook
Originally I’d planned to give the final word to The Cramped (who you should really follow on Twitter), for one of my favourite quotes of recent times:

Should I lose all my important writing, I’d prefer being able to say it died in the flames of an unquenchable fire, or the merciless gusts of a tornado, or rapids of river water beating down the front door during a flash flood. If the writing matters at all to me, it deserves something a little better than, “I forgot to press Ctrl-S.”

However in saving the above to my Quotebook (a fantastic app for doing just that – saving quotes), I noticed some exciting news – Quotebook 3 is on the way, which is a complete redesign by developer Lickability for iOS7 (iPhone and iPad). You can sign up to be notified, however I will most likely write-up my impressions here once it is released. In the meantime, the current version has been pulled from the App Store:
Quotebook 3: Coming Soon

Wiser Web Wednesday

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Wiser Web Wednesday – a weekly link post of articles or sites of interest to me from around the web:

Jim Seven
A view from James Hoffmann, well qualified to comment on what it takes to progress within the coffee industry. Arguably these principles are not unique to coffee:
How To Progress in the Coffee Industry

Dymaxion
A response to the above post with some equally well qualified additional thoughts:
A Response and a Contribution to James’ Post on How to Progress in Coffee

Pens! Paper! Pencils!
Ian Hedley reviews the darkest of the Blackwing pencil trilogy, and demonstrates a pretty fine sketching hand in the process:
Palomino Blackwing pencil review

The Cramped
If you are at all interested in the analogue writing world, Patrick Rhone’s latest venture is the site for you. This particular post by Harry Marks I can relate to. Given my keen interest pens, I often feel an unruly scrawl does not do them justice:
My Journey to Better Penmanship

Ed Jelley
As noted in this post, although designed to assist with the age-old flash card method of learning, there are many more possibilities for these cards, not the least of which to create a written index of fountain pen ink. An idea originally pilfered from The Pen Addict, (link within the review):
Maruman Mnemosyne Word Cards Review

Apple Talk
Benny Ling, a guest on this weeks Reckoner podcast, outlined his new project – a site for all things Apple, to include opinion pieces, forums, reviews and how to’s; here it is, and it looks pretty slick (and, like Reckoner, is a local Aussie site to boot):
Welcome to Apple Talk

Coffee Cupping – a new experience

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As someone with a keen interest in coffee not working in the industry, it can be difficult at times to know exactly what information to seek out and where to find it, when looking to further develop my knowledge and understanding of methods and techniques to obtain the best results from my home roasting and brewing. Passionate baristas and café owners are always willing to chat, however understandably only have limited time when working in busy establishments.

Coffee Cupping at Strauss

Oliver Strauss (L) and Josh Russell

Oliver Strauss (L) and Josh Russell

Although learning the coffee “cupping” process has been on my to-do list for some time, to date it hadn’t been ticked off. So when my ‘local’ cafe/bar, Strauss launched their consumer nights recently, I jumped at the chance to put my name down for the coffee cupping. Not experienced in the intricate nature of such techniques, I was hoping for a little assistance in this regard.

There was certainly no need for concern, with the evening expertly run by Josh Russell, of local Brisbane speciality roaster Cup Coffee, who supply the Strauss House Blend along with an ongoing rotation of featured single origin coffees served through the espresso machine or by filter, with roast profiles to match.

Tools and techniques

We were given an introduction into cupping techniques and tools (cupping bowls for the coffee; spoons for the slurp; take away cups for the spit). Firstly, the dry aroma, then breaking the crust and taking in the wet aroma, and finally onto the tasting. On offer were five different single origin coffees from South America, Central America and Africa, showcasing a diverse range of flavour profiles, which no doubt assisted our amateur palates in detecting some of the differences between each. Three of the five were familiar to me, having been served at Strauss in the recent past, however of particular interest was the difference between the flavour profiles when cupped, compared with brewing through filter or espresso based techniques. Some being similar, another very, very different. A final couple of runs along the cupping table to sample the changing flavour profiles as the brews cooled rounded off a very enjoyable evening.

What did I learn?

With an educational component to the evening, and participants recording tasting notes and encouraged to discuss our (somewhat limited) findings, this initial foray into the cupping process proved a valuable one. It has given me a better understanding of flavours, profiles (well-balanced vs higher acidity; different finishes), and how various descriptors apply to what I am tasting. The techniques? Well that will take further practice, however let us just say for this first event, I was pleased all the slurping and spitting didn’t simply coat me in what I was trying to taste, which going into this was a very real possibility.

The most important things I took away? Probably the confirmation (which was expected) that despite continuing to learn more and more about this coffee caper, there is still far more I do not know, which only makes the process that much more enjoyable. Secondly, events like this, while a little daunting at first, when run well by those passionate about their craft, pique my interest even more, pretty much guaranteeing my attendance at similar events in the future – this was one such occasion.

Information and links

A highly informative and enjoyable evening, and if you get the chance to attend one of these events, I highly recommend it. For information on any upcoming events, keep an eye out on the Strauss Twitter and Instagram feeds.

Finally, as coffee cupping is a standardised process, the links below explain the specifics in more detail (a quick Google search will provide many more):

What’s Brewing #11 – Costa Rica Terra Bella

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Terra Bella LatteIt has been a little while since the last What’s Brewing post, however back we are today, having roasted another batch of Costa Rica Terra Bella (Honey) last weekend. Having picked up a kilo of this coffee from Ministry Grounds a few weeks ago, this was my second roast batch, which seemed to do a better job at bringing out the flavours than the first attempt.

On with the review:

What
– Costa Rica Terra Bella Villa Sarchi
– Altitude: 1450–1500m
– Crop Year: 2013
– Varietal: Villa Sarchi
– Processing: Honey

 Terra Bella Estate is located in the West Valley region of Costa Rica, about 35km west of the capital city of San Jose. This is one of the most classic coffee regions of Costa Rica and the one with the highest coffee production in the country nowadays. The reason for this is the excellent conditions to produce coffee that are prevalent here: deep, rich volcanic soils, high altitudes, moderate and well-distributed rainfall, cool temperatures, etc.

Information courtesy Ministry Grounds via The MTC Group

A little more on the Honey processing method, courtesy of The Coffee Review:

“Honey” is a relatively new term describing coffee that has been dried with all or some of the sticky fruit pulp or “honey” (miel in Spanish) still adhering to the bean. Those familiar with coffee processing methods will, of course, recognize this practice as a kind of compromise between two more familiar processing methods: the dry or “natural” method, in which the beans are dried while entirely encased inside the fruit, and the wet or “washed” method, in which all of the soft fruit residue, both skin and pulp, are scrubbed off before the coffee is dried.

How
Latte, V60 Filter, Aeropress, Espresso

Assessment
Through milk in a latte or flat white, this coffee performed extremely well and resulted in a creamy, sweet brew with subtle apple and caramel flavours. When brewed as an espresso, I couldn’t help but think perhaps I should have let the roast run a little darker, as the acidity overpowered things a little. Not undrinkable by any stretch, however not quite as pleasant as some of the other varieties I’ve roasted and tried recently.

Which brings us to the V60 filter and Aeropress methods, which seemed well suited to both the coffee and the roast profile, producing a very well-balanced cup from either method. The V60 probably outshines the Aeropress slightly, with a cleaner, brighter cup, again containing sweet apple and a caramelly, honey like layer, with a nice long finish.

Conclusion; Know This
I really enjoyed the Costa Rica Terra Bella, with my preference being either as a milk drink, or on its own through the V60. As I mentioned above, this was my second roast batch, and definitely an improvement on the first. Looking back through my notes, the second time around was a slightly larger batch (450g vs 300g), which probably slowed the roast down a little, although I used the same heat ramp profile. In any event, if you get the chance to try this coffee, you certainly won’t be disappointed.

Rating: 3.75/5