Manhattan El Salvador Rudolfo Ruffati Batlle – The Batlle family in Santa Ana, El Salvador have a long and glorified history of coffee production. Rudolfo comes from generations of coffee farmers, and the Red Bourbon trees this coffee was picked from have been on the farm for almost 60 years. This lot is a clean, washed Red Bourbon grown at 1650 MASL. The cherries underwent a 48 hour fermentation, then washed and pulped before drying. The light touch of the process allows the flavors of these old trees to showcase the terroir of the farm. In the cup I taste Marshmallow, Cherry, and Graham Cracker. It is extremely sessionable. I brewed this with a 16.5:1 ratio, and ground it two clicks finer than my average starting grind setting. I poured four pulses spaced out by 30 seconds, finishing my last pour at 2:30 for a 3:05 final brew time.
Manhattan Nicaragua La Escondida – This funky lil coffee is a masterpiece. It comes from La Escondida farm in the Jinotega region of Nicaragua, grown at 950-1250 MASL. Inside of La Escondia is a smaller coffee garden where experimental varietals are planted. This varietal is an Ethiosar. Ethiosar does not occur in nature, and is a hybrid between the Ethiopian varietal Sudan Rume and Sarchimor. Sarchimor being a hybrid between Villa Sarchi and Timor. So while technically being a single varietal coffee, its genetics are… complex. This coffee is honey-processed to add a little extra funk to the profile. I taste Belgian Beer yeast and fermented raspberry. Those two flavor notes contain dozens of other natural occurring flavors as well but that is what jumped out at me. I brewed this with a 16:0 ratio and ground it three clicks finer than my typical starting grind setting. I poured three pulses spaced out by 35 seconds, finishing my third pour at 2:10 for a 2:55 final brew time.
Manhattan Colombia Hector Hernandez – This is the coffee of the month it seems. After I decided on buying this from Manhattan, two more roasters advertised they had it. GOOD roasters too. Hector Hernandez is the operator of the modest Finca La Cumbre located in Huila, Colombia. La Cumbre is located at 1850 MASL and contains Caturra, Castillo, and Gesha trees. Hector is a first generation coffee farmer, and was formerly a cattle farmer. In 2011, Hector bought the farm and started planting specialty coffee. The first gesha trees weren’t planted until 2021, and this is likely the first harvest from the farm. La Cumbre has become well known for thoughtful micro-lots being auctioned to some of the best specialty roasters in the world. This is a cup of absolute peach. Fresh peach AND candy peach rings. The cup then lends to classic Gesha flavors like jasmine and lavender. I brewed this with a 15.5:1 ratio and ground it one click coarser than my typical starting point. I poured three pulses spaced out by 40 seconds, finishing my last pour at 2:15 for a 3:20 final brew time.
A Matter Of Concrete Colombia Julian Calderon – Julian Calderon comes from the Los Citres farm in the town of Palestina in Huila, Colombia. This is a standard washed process, grown at 1800 MASL. However, this IS a Pink Bourbon (Rosado). I don’t have much information on Calderon unfortunately other than that they are a newer producer. This is an interesting profile. There is much less fruit in it than I had expected or hoped for. There is like a chicory or hazelnut flavor along with some pomegranate. It is very sessionable though. I brewed this with a 15.5:1 ratio, and ground it two clicks finer than my typical starting point. I poured four pulses spaced out by 30 seconds, finishing my last pour at 2:30 for a 3:20 final brew time.
A Matter Of Concrete Indonesia Reza Nurullah Liberica – I ordered this coffee in December as part of my samples, as I have been growing more excited about the insurgence of Liberica/Robusta coffees coming from Asian countries. This is the first one I’ve tried that I have enjoyed. It comes from the state of Java, from Reza Nurullah’s farm where Arabica, Robusta, and Liberica are grown. This is a super experimental process. The cherries are sealed in plastic tanks and left to ferment, and then lightly pulped to leave some mucilage on making this a honey process. The honeyed cherries are brought into sealed tanks with a special yeast variety that Reza has developed at the farm to ferment anaerobically. This process applied to the Liberica profile has created the first non-Arabica coffee I have enjoyed. This coffee is crazy. It is funky, but in a dignified way. The profile is like a passionfruit custard/cab franc vibe. Aromas be intoxicating. I brewed this with a 17:0 ratio and ground it three clicks finer than my typical starting point. I poured four pulses spaced out by 30 seconds, finishing my fourth pour at 2:40 for a 3:40 brew time. This works really well in a larger format setting as well, so get those 25 gram brews going for your friends!
Stimulus Coffee Club 