We have been playing around with the Guama as an espresso and have had some excellent results over the weekend. After some tweaking and seeing the potential in the coffee, we got a really nice roast that popped. We expect a few people to be serving it up in the next week or two. We are also testing a batch of Soma that will be a Guama edition!
Showing posts with label Kenya. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Kenya. Show all posts
Wednesday, November 17, 2010
Brew specs for the Kenyas
In shop, they have been playing with the brewing parameters a little for our Kenyan coffees. The Kianjogu can range from the specs on the bag to a higher temp/lower dose and still have a very unique cup. This coffee has such a range and is quite tasty.
Sunday, November 14, 2010
Kenyas!
On the shelf right now are a few Kenyan coffees to look at. The Guama and our Kianjogu are both available. The Guama is a solid and interesting coffee, soon to be offered as an espresso as well.
The Kianjogu has really started to shine and it's probably my personal favorite right now. That coffee bursts with layers, complexity, and juicy sugary fruit. If you are at the shop and have the chance to get a one cup Woodneck brew, you are lucky. Few things can stick in your memory as much as a descriptive flavor experience like that.
The Finca Bu is coming out extremely well. Really floral and sweet. Another favorite to try but this one is going fast. We thought we had enough supply to last us a while but we have been moving this coffee quickly and it looks like we have another month at most to offer it.
For espresso, the Zone 10, our Guatemala/Guatemala pairing has been exceptional. It is currently our most popular espresso offering. To trump that, we are going to up the stakes on the Soma and put a dash of Kenya into it. Should really up the ante a bit.
The coffee is good, see you in shop!
The Kianjogu has really started to shine and it's probably my personal favorite right now. That coffee bursts with layers, complexity, and juicy sugary fruit. If you are at the shop and have the chance to get a one cup Woodneck brew, you are lucky. Few things can stick in your memory as much as a descriptive flavor experience like that.
The Finca Bu is coming out extremely well. Really floral and sweet. Another favorite to try but this one is going fast. We thought we had enough supply to last us a while but we have been moving this coffee quickly and it looks like we have another month at most to offer it.
For espresso, the Zone 10, our Guatemala/Guatemala pairing has been exceptional. It is currently our most popular espresso offering. To trump that, we are going to up the stakes on the Soma and put a dash of Kenya into it. Should really up the ante a bit.
The coffee is good, see you in shop!
Sunday, October 05, 2008
New crops arriving...
It's been a busy week. Last week and it looks like next week also.
This week, our new premium Kenya arrived in beautiful boxes sealed in shiny bags that popped open with the smell of fresh coffee. We profiled it and I think the final production profile was laid out Saturday morning. There will be more tweaks but I think we found the sweet spot. From that Saturday morning berried vanilla result came a much sweeter and more powerful cup. A tiny adjustment in a variable most have no control over put this coffee on the top shelf for me. I'll talk more about that soon as I have more fresh new coffees coming. Some more vacuum packaged stuff like the Kiandu was and a lot more work to do.
We debuted the newest Kenya, the Kiandu Microlot 9686, in an open house event this Saturday. We received a lot of positive response from the visitors who tried it. It went over great in Syphon but I noticed something odd. A lot of people in this area seem to cringe about Kenyan coffees. It's the acidity issue which I think is a touchy topic. Our fruit in the Kenya is juicy but not the tannin tart acidity you very often taste. To which, the response I have formulated is that drying astringency is not necessarily the terroir of the coffee, quite often it is a byproduct of the roast applied to it. Don't throw out the whole origin based on a few bad experiences. It's hard to get people to try something when previous experiences have been unpleasant. The feedback on this Kiandu was that it was really sweet, really juicy, and we won over more than a few converts to what Kenyan coffees are like in our profile.
Today was also another chance for us to debut our Kiandu at an event hosted by the coffee club at Olin College. We went out and did a talk on everything from processing methods to grinders and brewing. It was a good turnout (by one observer's note, almost 10% of enrollment showed for the event ;)) and we were appreciative of the interest. We kept it free flowing and informal but the audience was great and it was a lot of fun. The Kiandu in Syphon really was the highlight of the tasting though only a few days earlier, I was really sweating bullets over that coffee's roast profile.
That's generally how the business has been as we have fought so much to get up and running. A lot of ups and so many downs but we keep pushing forward. There are moments of doubt, self reflection, and then I just push forward. For that, there is nothing else I can say.
Next week, it will take a few roasts to get the Guatemalan coffees profiled to my overly critical group's liking but the lessons learned from this week will surely be essential to getting those Guatemalan coffees nailed quickly. Keep an eye out for them, we'll be busy working them over.
This week, our new premium Kenya arrived in beautiful boxes sealed in shiny bags that popped open with the smell of fresh coffee. We profiled it and I think the final production profile was laid out Saturday morning. There will be more tweaks but I think we found the sweet spot. From that Saturday morning berried vanilla result came a much sweeter and more powerful cup. A tiny adjustment in a variable most have no control over put this coffee on the top shelf for me. I'll talk more about that soon as I have more fresh new coffees coming. Some more vacuum packaged stuff like the Kiandu was and a lot more work to do.
We debuted the newest Kenya, the Kiandu Microlot 9686, in an open house event this Saturday. We received a lot of positive response from the visitors who tried it. It went over great in Syphon but I noticed something odd. A lot of people in this area seem to cringe about Kenyan coffees. It's the acidity issue which I think is a touchy topic. Our fruit in the Kenya is juicy but not the tannin tart acidity you very often taste. To which, the response I have formulated is that drying astringency is not necessarily the terroir of the coffee, quite often it is a byproduct of the roast applied to it. Don't throw out the whole origin based on a few bad experiences. It's hard to get people to try something when previous experiences have been unpleasant. The feedback on this Kiandu was that it was really sweet, really juicy, and we won over more than a few converts to what Kenyan coffees are like in our profile.
Today was also another chance for us to debut our Kiandu at an event hosted by the coffee club at Olin College. We went out and did a talk on everything from processing methods to grinders and brewing. It was a good turnout (by one observer's note, almost 10% of enrollment showed for the event ;)) and we were appreciative of the interest. We kept it free flowing and informal but the audience was great and it was a lot of fun. The Kiandu in Syphon really was the highlight of the tasting though only a few days earlier, I was really sweating bullets over that coffee's roast profile.
That's generally how the business has been as we have fought so much to get up and running. A lot of ups and so many downs but we keep pushing forward. There are moments of doubt, self reflection, and then I just push forward. For that, there is nothing else I can say.
Next week, it will take a few roasts to get the Guatemalan coffees profiled to my overly critical group's liking but the lessons learned from this week will surely be essential to getting those Guatemalan coffees nailed quickly. Keep an eye out for them, we'll be busy working them over.
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