CleverCoffee Ethiopia Keramo – From the Bombe Mountains in the Sidama region of Ethiopia, we have coffee from the Keramo washing station. Keramo washing station buys cherries from around 380 smallholding farmers, or farm workers that pick wild coffee. Keramo is located at 2300-2400 MASL, which is one of the highest elevation coffees I have ever worked with. You can tell from opening the bag that something here is different. The beans are super small and smell like straight jasmine. This coffee was sorted from the rest of the crops to be a single varietal – JARC 74112. This is a native Ethiopian varietal and is known to be a high-yielding, disease resistant crop with intoxicating flavors. I was kind of trying to get away from washed Ethiopia for a couple months to make room for some more in season coffees, but the way Clever was talking about this one made it seem different. This truly is a different kind of washed Ethiopia. Strong aroma of lilac, flavors or orange sherbet, bubblegum, and peach nectar. So refreshing and a joy to drink. I brewed this coffee with a 15.2:1 ratio, and ground it six clicks coarser than my typical starting point. After a 35-40s bloom, I poured two pulses spaced out by 45 seconds for a 2:50 total brew time.
CleverCoffee Indonesia Wildan Mustofa – Wildan Mustofa comes from Sindangkerta, Indonesia, a beautiful part of West Java. Mustofa is bringing excellence in specialty coffee from Indonesia, a region most coffee snobs do not get too excited about due to the typical flavor profiles and high Robusta production. But we say to hell with this and give everything a chance! Mustofa owns the farm Frinsa Estate, growing many different local varietals at 1300-1500 MASL. As the bag states, this is a blend of many varietals. This is a pretty classic washed coffee, but on the farm Wildan is experimenting with different bacteria and lactose in the processing to push the flavor profile to the extremes. This cup has a super molasses/sorghum vibe. I expect more fruit notes to come out as it rests more, but so far the molasses sweetness with an oaky background is present. I am a huge fan of this profile as it is not only unique but absolutely crushable. I brewed this with a 16.3:1 ratio and ground it right at my typical starting point. I poured three pulses spaced out by 35 seconds, finishing my last pour at 2:15 for a 3:15 total brew time.
Little Wolf Colombia Sierra Morena – Another flawless washed Colombia from Little Wolf. This is a Pink Bourbon from Huila, grown and processed at Sierra Morena. Sierra Morena is a 25 acre farm operated by Wilson Alba located at 1750 MASL. Alba and his wife have lived at this farm for over 15 years, and spend their days carefully monitoring the production of their coffees. Most of the trees being Tabi, and a small section being Pink Bourbon. This is definitely a lovely Pink Bourbon, as they always are and processed under the typical washed process. Mellow lemon acidity, brown sugar, and something pink like starbursts or skittles. I brewed this one with a 15.5:1 ratio, and ground it right at my typical starting point. After a long 50 second bloom, I poured three pulses spaced out by 40 seconds. My last pour finished at around 2:30 for a 3:20 total brew time.
Little Wolf Honduras Secundino Sabillon Alfaro – I had the pleasure of visiting Little Wolf’s world class cafe in Ipswich last month and this is the coffee they had in the espresso hoppers. I knew it was going to be part of the November lineup right away. This is a lot of things, a lot of impressive things. The farm is called Finca Mi Mundo, located in Santa Barbara Honduras at 1400 MASL. This is a Parainema, the newish varietal we have been seeing come out of Honduras heavily the last few years. Paraienema is great because of the disease resistant properties and the flavor profiles have been wildly complex. This is also a honey-process, meaning some mucilage was left on the cherry during fermentation and yields a slightly sweeter cup profile usually. For this coffee, the honey allowed the fruit to punch through. At Finca Mi Mundo, they grow 100% parainema. I tasted tangerine, mango, with a high amount of acidity for a Honduras, and a honey-processed at that. The Parainema is truly an exceptional varietal. I brewed this with a 16.3:1 ratio, and ground it two clicks finer than my typical starting point. I poured four pulses spaced out by 30 seconds, finishing my final pour at 3:00 for a 3:35 total brew time.
Stimulus Coffee Club 