Sey Ethiopia Banko Gotiti – Banko Gotiti is a famous washing station in the Gedeo region of the Kochere department. This washing station pools lots from around 2,000 smallholding farmers, each with an average of 2.5 acres of coffee gardening space. These lots are grown at around 2100-2200 MASL and are typical heirloom varietals grown from wild coffee cultivation. The cherries are harvested and brought to Banko Gotiti for processing. This lot was depulped and washed, and wet fermented for 24-38 hours. The resulting coffee gives an intoxicating fragrance coming from the ground coffee like wildflowers and honey. The cup tasted like dry riesling, almond, wild strawberries, and green apple. I brewed this with a 16.3:1 ratio and ground it seven clicks coarser than my typical starting point. I poured two pulses spaced out by 45 seconds, finishing my second pour at 2:00 for a 2:50 final brew time.
Sey Kenya Muhito – This is a cool coffee. It is part of a program that SEY started called Retro 1984, a project shared with SEY and prominent Kenyan farmers. The goal is varietal separation at co-ops and more intensive quality checks on the cherries when harvested. The reason behind Retro 1984, is that 1984 is the year that Ruiru 11 was introduced to Kenya to combat disease. I don’t know if I totally am down with eradicating Ruiru 11 quite yet, but I do appreciate that SEY is working on returning to pure SL varieties that Kenya became famous for. I think we can probably get behind the idea that a pure SL28 or SL34 tends to be higher quality but I believe that has to do more with lot separation and a more intense focus on the sorting and processing than just a pure binary yes/no on Ruiru 11 addition. This lot is an SL28 and SL34, harvested and floated, then double soaked with a 24 hour fermentation. A classic Kenya process that allows for the natural flavors to shine on their own in a clean washed profile. Muhito washing station is located in Nyeri at 1,760 MASL. The cup tastes like Grapefruit, blackberry, and bubblegum. Super clean and juicy, just like we all want it to. I brewed this with a 15.8:1 ratio and ground it four clicks coarser than my typical starting point. I poured two pulses spaced out by 45 seconds, finishing my second pour at 2:00 for a 2:55 final brew time.
Manhattan Brazil Gisele – “Gisele” is a Yellow Catuai from Gisele Almeida’s farm in Mata de Minas in southeast Brazil. Gisele has worked in coffee from a young age, picking cherries on her parent’s farm. She has continuously worked to maintain different plantations, and then move up in the community to a point where she was able to buy some land and plant around 8,000 coffee trees. This is yet another super low elevation Brazilian coffee, marked at 600 MASL. This is a typical pulped natural process that we see from Brazil, and a Yellow Catuai which is super common in Brazil specialty coffee. I would say over half of the good Brazilian coffees I have had are Yellow Catuai – It must grow well at low elevations? I don’t understand how Manhattan keeps sourcing these Brazilian coffees that taste like a 90+ Colombia! This is a super sweet cup. I tasted sweet corn, whole wheat roll, and orange rind. I brewed this with a 16.2:1 ratio, and ground it two clicks finer than my typical starting point. I poured three pulses spaced out by 35 seconds, finishing my third pour at 2:25 for a 3:15 final brew time.
Manhattan Colombia Rainbow – Rainbow comes from the El Vergel estate (1500 MASL) in Tolima, a farm that has been popping up on offer lists of the nicest roasters in the world. El Vergel has always been a farm, but was previously much more diverse in the harvest than just coffee. In the early 2000s, fruit prices and avocado prices dropped and the family behind El Vergel decided to open up to more coffee. At first, the two main brothers behind the farm went after certifications like organic and rainforest alliance. As most of us know, these certifications are mainly checkboxes and don’t correlate to quality at all. The brothers were introduced to Miguel Jimenez in 2017 and were influenced to plant much more intensely specialty varietals like Gesha, Java, and so on. With the more specialty trees growing, the brothers went on to focus on processing. Stainless steel anaerobic tanks, dryers, yeast strains, and different processes were introduced. Now we get to where we are now, this coffee. A Pink Bourbon, washed, and fermented in anaerobic tanks. I had been giddy on my toes waiting for this shipment to show up. I swear I could smell it through the box, even with the Gisele alongside it. I don’t even know what to say. Every possible tropical fruit. Cantaloupes, papayas, mangos, whichever one you choose. What a ridiculous cup of coffee, makes you wonder how this can even exist. I brewed it with a 15.5:1 ratio, and ground it two clicks finer than my typical starting point. I poured three pulses spaced out by 30 seconds, finishing my third pour at 2:00. My final brew time was 2:45.
Stimulus Coffee Club 