Junto Guatemala Finca Medina – It was just one month ago, I was so excited that I was using an alternatively processed Guatemala because I hadn’t seen much progress from the Country. I am once again here to tell you I am feeling like the luckiest boy in the world because of this yellow honey from Antigua. Finca Medina is a Coffee Estate with two farms, this lot is from the farm that came first, which is why the lot is called Finca Medina. This is a Bourbon-Marsellesa (Marsellesa is a hybrid of Caturra and Sarchi) grown at 1700 MASL in the mile-high city of Antigua. I tasted cotton candy, butterscotch, and orange candy. Similar to the Guatemala last month, I had to grind this coffee surprisingly coarse. 4 clicks coarser than my usual starting point; I believe it has to do with how dense this bean is. I brewed this coffee with a 16.3:1 ratio and poured three pulses spaced out by 35 seconds for a 2:50 drop time.
Junto Colombia Santiago Caro Chiroso – So I almost passed on this absolute baddie due to the high price, but Junto is a wonderful business with great people and I was able to use it this month thanks to their generosity. This is grown at 1930 MASL at the Santiago farm “Finca La Falda” in the Antioquia region by producer Santiago Caro. Santiago comes from a long line of coffee producers. His father Jose is the pioneer of this varietal called “Chiroso” and the Caro’s have won many best of Antioquia competitions with this varietal. The actual Varietal has also won multiple Cup Of Excellence competitions by other producers. Chiroso is still a new varietal but is becoming recognized by producers as a possible Gesha of Colombia. I tasted lavender, elderberry, lemon, pastry dough, and this coffee had a sparkling acidic body. I ground this coffee a few clicks coarser than usual for a washed Colombia, and brewed it with a 16.5:1 ratio. I poured three pulses spaced out by 35 seconds and my drop time was 3:00.
April Kenya Kainamui PB – The April roasted Kenyan coffee is generally what I would refer to as a delicacy. When April-founder Patrik Rolf casually suggested this and mentioned it was a Peaberry, I knew it would be perfect. It is. This is from the Kainimui factory, grown at 1800-1900 MASL. This is only SL28 and SL34 and as Peaberry isn’t always a bountiful harvest, April had to purchase the entire lot to make this coffee work for their lineup. I tasted blackberry, grapefruit, lemon, and honey. I ground this coffee super coarse and poured several small pulses. While this brings the acidity down a bit, the berry fruit and sweetness in this bean is unreal. I brewed it with a 15.8:1 ratio with 6 pulses. Also, my bloom was only 20 seconds because it dried out so fast, there was hardly any gas activity in the bloom. My pours were spaced out by 30 seconds for a 3:10 drop time.
April Costa Rica Hacienda Colima – This is an exciting new coffee for me as it is from Alejo Castrok’s new farm. Castrok owns the famous Volcan Azul estate so I have high hopes for the new projects to come from this farm. This is a Natural processed 1500 MASL Caturra grown under Castrok’s intense quality practices. Right away this funky natural tasted like an intensely fruited Cabernet. I also tasted grape juice and cardamom. This is a super complex natural. The days of single note naturals are over! I brewed this with a 16.5:1 ratio and ground it slightly coarser than usual. Just one click coarser than my typical starting point. I poured three pulses spaced out by 35 seconds, and my drop time was 2:50.
Stimulus Coffee Club 