The Barn Costa Rica Santa Teresa – This coffee is from a new farmer for me and the subscription. Santa Teresa is the name of the new farm by Roger Urena, located in Tarrazu, Costa Rica. Roger comes from many generations of coffee farmers, and after leaving Costa Rica to work in the United States, he returned to the beautiful high elevation farm near the mountain peak of Santa Teresa, the namesake of the generational farm. Upon returning to the farm to take over operations, Roger noticed that rare and experimental varietals from other Costa Rican farmers sold for big dollars, and that Santa Teresa needed to be expanded beyond just Caturra and Catuai. The next year, Roger planted such as Pacamara, SL34, Geisha, and Sudan Rume. With all of these varietals Roger is learning how to dial in the pulping machine for each lot based on fermentation timing, flipping, and drying. With this particular lot, it is grown at elevations from 1600-2050 MASL and is full Catuai. This lot was processed as a yellow honey, which in this case means the whole cherries were rested in tanks overnight and in morning are passed through the pulping machine to remove most but not all of the pulp. Leaving some pulp on the seed is what creates the “honey” process. The seeds are then dried on raised beds with the remaining mucilage for around 12 days. The flavors from this coffee range from pleasant to exciting depending on the brewing method. The espresso was super intense and complex, while a batch brew I made was more mild and a cup I could just sip on all day. I tasted notes of honeydew, caramel, and papaya, with a lingering oolong tea mouthfeel. I brewed this coffee with a 16:1 water to coffee ratio and ground it right at my typical starting point. After a 45 second bloom, I poured three pulses spaced out by 35 seconds, ending my last pour at 2:25 for a 3:40 brew time.
The Barn Honduras Bomba de Fruta – I mean how could you not… what a freaking name. This coffee comes from the Caballero farm that the Barn has been buying from for years. The quality from here has always been at least good, but has been converging toward world class in recent years. Caballero family farm is located in the Marcala region of La Paz, Honduras, one of my favorite regions in Honduras. La Paz is emerging as one of the best climates for coffee growing in the world and is competing with substantially more famous and historic regions. Like the Santa Teresa, this coffee varietal is also Catuai. The process is a full natural, which can be super challenging in this region as the air is super humid and rain can come out of nowhere. This results in a drying period ranging from 20-40 days, depending on the harvest time and is important to keep the lots separated due to the varying fermentation times. It is clear this lot was an extended fermentation under low temperatures, as the flavor isn’t overly funky but insanely complex and tasty. I adore this cup in any brewing method or any pouring pattern. The cup is bursting with fruit. I am tasting fresh field strawberries, blueberry jam, and cajeta sweetness. I brewed this with a 15.8:1 ratio and ground it one click coarser than my usual starting point. After a 35 second bloom, I poured three pulses spaced out by 40 seconds, ending my last pour at 2:30. My final brew time was 3:40.
Little Wolf Nicaragua Regalo De Dios – The Regalo De Dios farm comes to us from the Balladerez family in Northen Nicaragua, a family I have been hearing more and more about over the last year or two. The farm sits at 1350-1700 MASL and has a total of 72 hectares where nearly every possible varietal/hybrid is grown. I actually got super excited about this one because I thought it was the same Nicaragua SL34 we had from Little Wolf last year, which actually was La Benidicion. This is even MORE exciting because this means multiple farmers in Nicaragua are doing experiments with varietals and processing. The clouded forest that Regalo De Dios sits in creates a unique micro-climate that keeps temperatures between 10 and 16 degrees Celcius year round, perfect for extended fermentations. In the cup I tasted lots of caramelized sweetness right at the front, then I got more chocolate covered raspberry, Would probably never have guessed natural on this one, maybe a lighter honey like a yellow or red. The cup was full of figgy sweetness any way I brewed it. I brewed this with a 16.3:1 ratio and ground it right at my typical starting point. After a 50 second bloom, I poured three pulses spaced out by 35 seconds. My last pour ended at 2:30 for a 3:30 brew time.
Little Wolf Ethiopia Laayyoo – When Little Wolf first sent the email notifying that this lot with coming up, I got a little confused because I’ve heard of plenty of Ethiopian coffees that say something like Layo Teraga or just Layo. It looks like Laayyoo is the full word to describe a specific type of tree that is indigenous to the region. The Laayyoo tree is used as a shade tree generally, and great for coffee gardens to shade the coffee trees from the intense Ethiopian Sun. Interestingly, the coffee we have here is grown by a group called Teraga. This brings the whole picture together for me as to why I thought of the name Layo Teraga. The Teraga group grows coffee at an elevation of 2100-2350 MASL brings the harvested cherries to Ture Waji and his washing station in Urage, Raro Nansebo. Waji is widely referred to as the “King of Guji”. Waji built his brand of Sookoo coffee (previously Dembi Uddo) in 2018 after Ethiopia coffee laws were revitalized to allow more trading done between the producers and international roasters. This cup has awesome jammy sweetness. I tasted rhubarb, cranberry, and kiwi. Very clean and elegant. I brewed this with a 15.7:1 water to coffee ratio and ground it 7-8 clicks coarser than my typical starting point. After a 30 second bloom, I poured two pulses spaced out by 45 seconds, ending my final pour at 2:00 for a 2:50 total brew time.
Stimulus Coffee Club 