Little Wolf Ethiopia Benti Nenka – Benti Nenka is a co-op in Guji, Ethiopia that sources cherries from around 400 local smallholding family farms. The coffee trees are all grown at 2000-2300 MASL and all hand-picked. Benti Nenka provides financial support and resources to the farmers to ensure the highest quality cherries are brought in. Once the cherries are delivered, the staff at the washing station sorts through everything to spot defects or over/under ripe cherries. For this lot, the cherries are sealed in a pressurized, Anaerobic environment in a cold facility to provide meticulous observation of tank temperature, pH, and pressure. Once the fermentation is over, the cherries are dried on raised beds over the course of 15-20 days. This is a shaded environment to prevent over fermenting the coffee. The moisture levels are monitored over this time, and once they reach 11%, the dry milling begins. I taste exotic fruits right off the bat. Papaya, lychee, with rounded sweetness. I brewed this with a 15.7:1 ratio and ground it four clicks coarser than my typical starting grind setting. This would also be two clicks finer than a typical Ethiopia grind setting for me. I poured three pulses spaced out by 30 seconds, finishing my last pour at 2:20 for a 2:50 final brew time.
Little Wolf Colombia Las Perlitas – Back again with the beautiful Las Perlitas. This coffee is always so freaking solid and I could drink it every day. Las Perlitas is a farmer’s co-op in Huila, made up of many micro-lots and small-holding farmer lots. The smaller lots are brought here as they would not be able to be exported on their own due to lot size, so Las Perlitas buys high quality cherries from the region and then mills, depulps, washes, and ferments on site. These coffees are grown between 1600-2000 MASL, are all washed, and are a blend of Caturra, Pink Bourbon, and Gesha. This trio of varietals makes a crazy bright and delicious cup. I tasted raspberry, caramel apple, and sugar cane. I brewed this with a 16.5:1 ratio, and ground it three clicks finer than my typical grind setting. I poured four pulses spaced out by 30 seconds, pouring wider circles to slow this brew down. I finished my fourth pour at 2:50 for a 3:30 brew time.
Clever Honduras Hernandez Pacas – This clean honey-processed Pacas comes from the farmer Hidardo Hernandez, located in Ocotepeque, Honduras. This is a lesser known region of Honduras than the giantly famous Santa Barbara region and at a lower elevation of 1300 MASL. Hernandez has worked with Clever for awhile now, but this is the first time we are trying his coffee in the subscription. Hernandez owns the co-op “Cafesmo”, with many neighboring farms supplying their cherries for processing. The region has many coffee varieties such as Obata, Pacas, and Parainema. This is a delicious cup that I could drink every day. I tasted Pumpkin Pie, some mild tree fruits like apple or pear, lavender, and pastry dough. This is a fairly simple but crazy consistent profile. I don’t taste any changes from start to finish which is pretty rare. All of the sugary sweet flavors come at you right away and linger to the finish. I brewed this with a 16.3:1 ratio, and ground it two clicks finer than my typical starting grind. I poured four pulses following a 45 second bloom, spaced out by 30 seconds. I finished my last pour at 2:35 for a 3:25 final brew time.
Clever Colombia Misiones Java – Last go around with Clever we tried the Castillo from Misiones, which is generally a simple coffee species. It was the best coffee that month. I knew that a natural Java from the same producer had the potential to be a killer, and that is what it is. This farm is Clever’s very first direct trade farm, located in the Cundinamarca department of Colombia. The farm sits at 1500-1700 MASL. This coffee is a natural Java, which underwent 160 hours of natural fermentation. The cool climates in the region allowed this to develop intense flavors without over-fermenting. This coffee is absolute flavor insanity. Ripe strawberry, cherries, and then as it sits on the palate it transitions to a sour-packed candy. I brewed this with a 15.8:1 ratio, and ground it 3 clicks finer than my typical starting point. I poured four wide pulses after a 35 second bloom, spaced out by 30 seconds. I finished my fourth pour at 2:25 for a 3:00 total brew time.
Clever Costa Rica El Mango – This fun sounding coffee comes from the farm ‘Cafe Rivense del Chirripo, located in Chirripo, Costa Rica. The farm was established in the ’40s by the current farm owner/operator Ricardo’s great-grandparents. As the decades passed, Costa Rican coffee became more and more renowned for the expected quality you could find. At a certain point in history, Costa Rican law forbid anything but 100% Arabica coffee, instilling a sense of high quality only in the farmers. Now this farm operates at only high-levels, producing interesting and focused coffees from the innovative processing techniques found at the farm. This lot was grown at 1500 MASL and is a honey-processed Red Catuai. This coffee is a bit on the savory side. There is some sweet pepper notes right at the front, along with jackfruit. It reminds of a beer I had recently, but it is tough to pinpoint the exact flavor I am thinking of. This coffee is kind of a black sheep of the three Clever coffees I brought on this month, with the Honduras being a crowd pleaser, the Colombia being off the wall LIT AF, and this one just being kinda strange? I am enjoying it though, just super unique. I brewed this with a 16.5:1 ratio, and ground it 3 clicks finer than my typical starting grind size. i poured three pulses spaced out by 40 seconds, following my 40 second bloom. My last pour ended at 2:20 for a 3:10 total brew time.
Stimulus Coffee Club 