Vivid Ethiopia Layo Teraga – A coffee from Layo Teraga should never be missed. The coffees from this washing station are always outstanding and big time showstoppers. This is a day lot, separated from other cherries at the station because the quality was noticed. The Layo Teraga co-op consists of 1,841 members, many of these members have been with the group a long time. Layo Teraga is known to re-invest in the community for education in advance coffee production. Most of the coffees here are grown around 2300-2400 MASL in the Uraga department of Guji, Ethiopia. This cup is incredibly bright and fruity with notes of papaya and dry white wine or vermouth. I brewed this with a 15.5:1 ratio and ground it eight clicks coarser than my typical starting point. I poured two pulses spaced out by 45 seconds, finishing my second pour at 1:50 for a 2:40 final brew time.
Vivid Mexico Francisca Francisco – I have absolutely no information on this coffee unfortunately. This is a small farm located in Sierra Norte, Oaxaca. This region is heavily wooded with rolling hills, located near central Oaxaca. Vivid has worked with Francisca for a couple years now, but this is the first time we have placed an order and tried her coffee. This is a Typica/Mundo Novo blend, Typica being very common in the Americas, but Mundo Novo being less common, and very susceptible to leaf rust and disease. The cup was simple but interesting, tasting like mulling spices with clean sweetness. This is a coffee I want a big cup of. Minimal fruit notes on this one. I brewed this with a 16.2:1 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 3:15 final brew time.
Clever Papua New Guinea Kindeng – Papua New Guinea is a super interesting and storied coffee producing region of the world. Neighboring Indonesia was colonized by the Dutch, while Papua New Guinea was split into two north/south regions colonized by the Germans and the British, respectively. Under colonial rule, Papua New Guinea became a massive coffee exporter, and not till 1975 did they gain independence and control of their own labor and product. During my first couple years working in coffee, I saw a ton of Papua New Guinea when roasters were not buying as many small lots and the coffees from here were never super exciting. This is because it is relatively new to the specialty scene and is seen a lot more in blends for commodity coffee. I am super happy to see more of these and especially such a funky one! Kindeng is the name of the washing station in the Western Highlands of Papua New Guinea, receiving cherries from around 1,500 local smallholding farmers with small gardens. The farmers do individual sorting, and then the cherries are floated at Kindeng. This is a full natural, with the cherries are dried for 3-4 weeks, and constantly turned and rotated on the raised drying beds to ensure they ferment evenly. I tasted Creme brulee’d caramel apple and Raspberry with dark chocolate. Big funky. I brewed this with a 15.5:1 ratio and ground it four clicks finer than my typical starting point. This one needs a shorter bloom, around 30-35 seconds. I poured three pulses spaced out by 35 seconds, finishing my third pour at 2:10 for a 2:50 final brew time.
Clever Costa Rica El Desafio – This is the second round of coffee from El Desafio, roasted by Clever. This coffee has always been super indicative of a Costa Rica natural, reminding me of early times when I first tried crazy naturals from the Las Lajas plantation. “El Desafio” is the name of this specific lot, from the farm ‘Cafe Rivense’ in Chirripo. They named their alternate processed coffees like honey or natural “El Desafio” or “The Challenge” because of the difficulty producers face trying to produce clean and delicious natural or alt-processed coffees. The Cafe Rivense farm is located at 1550 MASL and is operated by the Urena Rojas family. The family has put a high priority on specialty since around 2006, and have abandoned chemical fertilizers in order to increase quality. This coffee is a Villa Sarchi, which is most of the coffee produced at Cafe Rivense as well as greater Costa Rica. I tasted strawberry, dark chocolate blueberries, sweet cream, and amaretto when it cools. I brewed this with a 16:1 ratio and ground it two clicks finer than my typical starting point. I poured four pulses spaced out by 40 seconds, finishing my last pour at 2:40 for a 3:15 total brew time.
Stimulus Coffee Club 