1. Vivid Colombia Blanca Marina – Our keynote of specialty coffee in 2022 is this Washed Castillo grown in the town of Pasto in Narino, Colombia. Blanca Marina is a newer producer for Vivid, but by no means new to the game. She has been producing coffee for decades, and now looks to her daughters, granddaughters, and great-granddaughters for help on the farm – called “El Aguacate”. While a simple Narino Castillo, this set of trees was put aside to let the cherries go past the red color which is normally considered to be ripe, which allowed them to turn purple. This was confirmed to not be considered “overripe”, however as it allows for the seed to take in that extra sugar from the cherry before being picked for processing. The fermentation was a standard 24 hours in tanks, then dried for two weeks on raised beds. This means the extra fruit flavor in this coffee comes directly from the cherry ripening which I find fascinating and the reason I say this is what specialty coffee is coming to. Experimentation, learning, growth. The flavors in the cup were vibrant. Cotton candy on the nose, and in the cup I tasted rhubarb, macadamia nut, and sauvignon blanc. The flavor and body in the finish was all Maple syrup. I brewed this with a 15.5:1 ratio, any higher and it gets cardboardy. I ground this one right at my standard Colombia grind setting and let the bloom go pretty long on this one to 55 seconds, but Vivid coffees tend to degas quickly so I bet this time will go down with age. I poured three pulses spaced out by 35 seconds for a 3:10 drop time.
2. Vivid Honduras Evin Gomez – This has to be the coffee I was most excited about this month. Evin Gomez is a super young producer in Santa Barbara and from the beginning he has been growing Parainema, the varietal from Santa Barbara that has been winning countless awards and a couple Cup of Excellence awards. This lot is fully Natural-processed 100% Parainema, grown at 1450 MASL. This one can be tricky to brew, and I myself will be letting it rest a couple more days as it needs some time to de-gas. The cup is pretty intense with flavor as well as body. I tasted a heavy dark chocolate with dried papaya, and those classic strawberry wafer cookies. I brewed this with a 16.7:1 water to coffee ratio, and ground it two clicks finer than my usual starting point. I poured four pulses spaced out by 30 seconds, ending my last pour at 2:40 for a 3:10 drop time.
3. The Barn Ethiopia Gedeb Chelchele – Gedeb is a micro-region in the greater Yirgacheffe region of Ethiopia, and I am sure all of us have had a coffee grown in Gedeb before. Chelchele Estate is essentially a processing station for the local smallholders; however, coffee is grown at the estate. We can not be certain if this particular lot is grown at the estate or by local smallholders, as it is most likely all blended before processing the cherries. The Chelchele owner is named Metad, who is considered a great philanthropist in the area. Metad funds schools, coffee growing education, and scholarships for the locals. Metad is working toward coffee traceability as they realize that the modern coffee drinker cares about things like varietal and seed development. I nailed this brew on the first try, and was blown away by the flavors. The cup is all tropicals and berries. Strawberry to the face, mango, just so super sweet. On a second brew in a larger format it was slightly simpler but was like drinking Hibiscus tea. I brewed this with a 16.3:1 water to coffee ratio, and ground it six clicks coarser than my typical starting point. I poured two pulses spaced out by 45 seconds, for a drop time of 3 minutes flat.
4. The Barn Burundi Bumba Hill – Now time for the winner of the four coffees… Bumba Hill. This lot comes out of the Longmiles Burundi project, where washing stations are built to assist local farmers with access to water and electricity to produce some of the best coffee in the world. This is especially important for the Bumba Hill farmers. The coffee farm was incredibly difficult to reach, and left the farmers forced to walk three hours with the sacks of cherries to the nearest washing station. Thankfully, Longmiles project completed a new washing station last year called Ninga Hill that is much closer to Bumba and allows easier processing with less transportation required on foot from the Bumba Hill farmers. As is standard for coffees grown in the Kayanza region, this is a 100% Bourbon lot that is depulped, then fully washed. I have even heard that a team of people at the station lay out the cherries, then run and dance all over them to loosen the mucilage before washing. This cup is the Kenyaiest Burundi ever. I tasted blackberries, grapefruit, rock candy, and it has a lovely, silky body. It brews much more like a Washed Ethiopia though, because of the small, dense beans. I brewed this with a 16:1 water to coffee ratio, and poured two slow pulses spaced out by 40 seconds. My last pour finished at 2:20 for a 3:20 drop time.
Stimulus Coffee Club 