Those close to me have surely heard me rant about the phenomenon of small micro-roasters that have popped up across the lower Midwest and the southern United States in the last few years. They have outstanding packaging that makes me say, \”Well there is just no way that the coffee is NOT going to be good… I mean look at the subtle off-white lettering\” etc. and so on. Somewhat annoyingly, the owners of those tend to be people with little to no experience in specialty coffee, but do know that a beautiful bag of coffee sells itself. I am super upset about it obviously. Anyway, Little Wolf is not one of those companies, despite how adorable the packaging is. The owners Chris and Melissa are fantastic business owners and coffee experts. In my opinion, they are possibly one of the top 5 roasters in the U.S. The coffee they roast is clean, complex, and sourced with focus. Their dedication has earned them dozens of awards and on the shelves of the top multi-roaster cafes in the country. I am excited to share these coffees with you in this absolutely fucked yet hopeful month of January 2021. 

1. Ecuador Lugmapata

Finca Lugmapata is everything to me. This is a farm owned by Enrique Moreno, the producer that convinced me that the most excited coffee producing country in the world is Ecuador. Other countries use rare or transplanted varietals, however other countries do not have the terroir of Ecuador. This specific lot is 100% Bourbon Sidra, one of my favorite varietals of coffee grown in one of my favorite coffee producing nations. Normally Sidra is much more expensive, so it is a miracle I was able to bring it to everyone. This coffee was everything I wanted it to be. Clean, fruity, floral, perfect. I tasted honeysuckle, mango, kiwi, and dulce de leche on the finish. I\’m surely going to use the rest of this coffee as an espresso because of the complexity, and I recommend anyone with that option should take advantage of it. I brewed this coffee with a 16.5:1 ratio and a slightly coarser grind with two pulses. My second pulse finished around 1:45 for a 2:35 total brew time. 

2. Colombia Las Perlitas:

This Colombian coffee was grown in Huila, a region celebrated by specialty coffee for it\’s progress in creating clean coffees that do not need to be thrown in to a blend. Las Perlitas is a co-op, meaning local smallholder farmers bring leftover coffees on site to sell, that will be mixed. This one specifically, reminds of a classic coffee shop house blend (of  green coffee varietals, not roasted coffees from different countries). Caturra is the base making up the majority, Pink Bourbon for sparkling acidity, and lastly a small amount of Gesha to add a little… exotic. I tasted plum, raspberry, sparking lavender tea, and honey; one of the jammiest Colombian coffees. It was easy to brew and I am predicting a lot of different methods will make this coffee shine. Personally, I used a 16:1 ratio and used my go-to starting v60 grind setting with three total pulses. I finished my last pour at 1:55 with a 2:50 total brew time. I might try two pulses with a finer grind next time to get more brightness out of the cup. 

3. Ethiopia Demeka Becha

The Demeka Becha site is located in the Sidama region of Ethiopia, owned by a man named Ayela Tulu. This is a project created to modernize the way Ethiopia does coffee production. Tulu is said to be inspired by the global specialty coffee community, and the way it is able to connect throughout different cultures and nations. This coffee ended up being a tad more sweet than bright, which is unusual for Ethiopian coffees. However, it is honey processed, which leads me to expect a balance between sweetness and brightness. I tasted ripe peach, jasmine, and a nutty praline-like sweetness. I initially used a 15:1 ratio as it looked like a lighter than light Ethiopia but the cup was earthy and heavy, so I extended my next brew to 16.5:1. This brought out more fruit and cleaned the cup up. I ground this one a couple clicks coarser than usual and poured two pulses. I finished my second pulse at 1:45 for a total brew time of 2:30. 

4. Peru Oropel

At this point I\’m realizing I might as well have called January the Andes mountain edition (minus the Demeka Becha of course). I don\’t think I have ever had a Peruvian coffee that fits the words \”exotic\” or \”intricate\”, however they are so damn good. I actually wrote a super embarrassing blog post several years ago about my love for Peruvian coffees you can find HERE. Oropel is a 2190 MASL Typica/Pache varietal. The \”Oropel\” part of this comes from the Santiago de Oropel community this coffee belongs to. The farmer is Vilcopoma Camargo Hugo. Hugo  is one of those producers that inspires all of us to be better – better at what we do, and better for our communities. I even hear he is planting Gesha, unheard of in Peru. This coffee was amazingly sweet. It initially tasted like a warm caramelly hot chocolate. In the finish I tasted a dried fruit/raisin note that lingered long after the last sip. It also has the SILKIEST body of any coffee in recent memory. It is a fairly simple coffee but something I could drink every day, and will probably be the best coffee to brew in a larger format. I brewed this with a 16.2:1 ratio, and ground it slightly finer than usual starting grind setting. I poured three total pulses with my last pour finishing at 2:10 for a 3:00 total brew time. 

I hope everyone had a great holiday, and just wanted everyone to know how much I appreciate the support and wisdom received throughout the process of starting this group. Since I started the subscription in May, I have not yet repeated a roaster in the rotation. I will begin reusing the valued roaster partners I have grown to love and developed relationships with. I really feel it is important to maintain strong relationships with the roasting partners. The value of roasters knowing what I/you will like and knowing their skillsets benefit all parties. However, because the Coffee Club has grown so much, from now on I will be ditching the single roaster showcase model and everyone receiving more than one coffee per month should be expecting coffee from two different roasters.

I have actually known who would get the coveted \”December Coffee\” for months because of course, it had to be the roaster in the North Pole. This roaster holds off on releasing over half of their in-stock coffee until late November just to have the absolute best \”Julekaffe\” lineup in the game. The roaster being Langøra Kaffebrenneri from Stjordal, Norway. Mostly every roastery/brewery/distiller etc. in Scandinavia or even Northern Europe takes the Holiday special very seriously, but Langøra takes the cake for releasing the most outstanding products in the Julekaffe business. I was able to distribute four unique coffees that all were part of the holiday release. They also have the coolest front page video on their website. 

1. Honduras Capucas

Celaque National Park where Capucas Co-op is located

The first coffee comes to us from the Las Capucas region in the western corner of Honduras. This mix of Caturra and Catuai comes from various smallholder microlots and processed at the Capucas Co-op. It is processed as a Berry-dried Anaerobic, which from my previous post on advanced processing we now know means that the entire cherry was thrown in to sealed fermentation tanks. This fermentation lasted 72 hours. This is one of the more simple anaerobic coffees I have had, although it does pack some funky flavors. Which really just means I didn\’t get slapped in the face with tropical fruits and sweetness. However, the profile is lovely with flavors of Papaya, Cola, Clove, Strawberry. Embarrassingly, it took me almost three tries to brew this coffee right. Turns out I was grinding way too fine which was producing bitterness and I needed to use a lower ratio of water to coffee than anticipated.  I brewed this coffee with a 15.5:1 ratio with a coarser grind setting. I did a setting 2 clicks coarser than a standard setting and poured 3 pulses separate by 35 seconds. My third pour finished at 1:45 and my final brew time was 2:35. 

2. Ethiopia Gedeb Worka

I would not have guessed this coffee to be natural processed. It has such a clean profile with clarified fruit and delicate florals that played tricks on my brain. I have had many coffees in my life from the Worka Co-op in Yirgacheffe, so I initially shook this one off as maybe not being as interesting or traceable with a story as I like to share with everyone. However, delicious flavors will overcome any other selection criteria. I initially tasted a rush of honey, jasmine, and stone fruit. However, I did not receive enough coffee to dial this in. As a few of you know, I did not receive the entire order and I did not get my bag of this coffee and was not able to dial it in. Please check back in a few days for my brewing recommendations. To start I would recommend grinding 2-3 clicks coarser than normal starting point with a 16:1 coffee to water ratio.

3. Mexico Marisela Esperon

This super cool can of beans comes from producer Marisela Esperon from Oaxaca, Mexico. The Esperon family has been producing coffee in the region for decades. While many other neighboring farms and producers have abandoned coffee production due to low income, the Esperon family has invested in their craft and specialty production. They mostly grow Typica and Bourbon varietals like the one in this can, and generally use a controlled Natural Process to produce their award-winning coffee.When hot, I got a mouth full of caramel sweetness with exotic/tropical flavors to follow. Once cooled, it was less sweet but more tart. Everlasting Gobstopper tart. This is the best coffee I have had from Mexico. Strange that we are so close to Mexico yet this beautiful cup was sent to Northern Norway to be roasted and then shipped back here. I brewed this coffee with a 16:1 ratio and ground it a little bit coarser than usual. To offset the coarser grind I poured wider circles in order to push the super finely ground coffee to the bottom of the brewer and slow down the brew. I poured three pulses at 35 second increments with my last pour ending at 1:50. The drop time was 2:45. 

4. Guatemala La Libertad

This classic Guatemala profile comes from high in the mountains of Huehuetenango, the region in northwest Guatemala that seems to produce the best coffee year after year. La Libertad is the name of the town this coffee was processed in. This coffee was processed at a mill shared by many smallholder farmers that bring their highest quality ripe cherries to be blended with other farmers to create a sustainable life for their families. I refer to this coffee as a \”crowd-pleaser\” profile. Sweet and simple if you want it to be, however if you fancy to go digging there is much to discover. Notes of rich cacao, brulee, and wild cherry. I brewed this coffee with a 16:1 ratio using a slightly finer grind than usual. I followed a 30 second interval pulse schedule, pouring at 40 s, 70 s, and 100 s with a final brew time of 2:50. 

That wraps up the coffee selection this month. If you would like help brewing the two add-on April coffees this month, please reach out to me directly as I will not include the fancy stuff on my write-up for the main subscription. Have a great holiday everyone and see you when we get to say 2021! 

The words Anaerobic and Carbonic Maceration did not exist in the specialty coffee industry until about five years ago. In my world, they did not exist until this past year. My own \”pandemic special\” if you will. It took me a long time to understand the difference in processing of these coffees and what it means for flavor development. I am in no way teaching this information from personal experience. Rather, I am sharing what I\’ve learned based on educational materials provided by the very best green coffee importers and producers in hopes that this information can also be a helpful resource to understand the story behind each coffee we drink.

ANAEROBIC

I have tossed the term anaerobic around in a pretty nonchalant way in this subscription without really explaining the meaning and impact this has on the future of specialty coffee. Basically there is an added step to the typical Washed/Natural/Honey process to yield an Anaerobic process – sealing the coffee in a tank to cut off oxygen. 

In the \”Washed Anaerobic\” process, the coffee cherries are depulped of all cherry and mucilage in the normal washing process. The coffee would then be sent to fermentation tanks in an open environment for 18-36 hours (generally), and then \”washed\” with turbulent water to remove all mucilage. The difference in Anaerobic would be the post-depulp stage. Rather than having an open fermentation tank like with a normal washed processing, the tanks (plastic, stainless steel, etc.) are hermetically sealed to prevent air from coming in. Next is where it gets interesting – the depulped mucilage is gathered, packed together, and then spread across the coffee seeds till evenly coated. Once sealed, the oxygen in the tank is diminished by the Carbon Dioxide production. 

The time spent in sealed fermentation tanks is completely up to the producer and what they are trying to do. I have seen some for 18 hours and some for 400 hours at colder temperatures. The reason these coffees are so vibrant and delicious is from the flavors of the cherry being directly injected in the coffee seed due to cherry skin-contact during this oxygen-free environment. The control of pH, sugars, temperature, and yeast production is easily observed because of the smaller batch sizes. This extra effort is why we typically find these coffees to be a little more expensive. 

Alternatively, there is a \”honey style\” of anaerobic processing. The small difference here is that the coffee seeds are sent in to the tanks without depulping all of the mucilage. Since I brought it up, I figure I should explain why this is honey style, by giving a brief overview of honey processing. 

HONEY

Honey processing includes four different colors: White, Yellow, Red, and Black. Each color in this order corresponds to a different level of seed-in-cherry fermentation. These coffees when done correctly have an excellent marriage of sweetness, clarity, and fruit. 

The different colors mean something different as far as standards go in every country of origin. In general, white honey means mostly all mucilage is removed during depulping stage, yellow has slightly less mucilage removed, and so on. Additionally, black and red honeys have an extended fermentation time to create even more fruity flavors in the coffee. Black honeys are fermented the longest, and therefore require the most monitoring to prevent over-fermentation. 

To answer the obvious question; no. There is no actual honey involved. The use of the word honey refers to the stickiness of the seed following fermentation with the mucilage remaining on the seed. The stickiness level of the seed is developed through the most important stage of honey processing – the drying. If honey processed seeds are dried too quickly, the seed won\’t have enough time to absorb the mucilage flavors. If they are dried too slowly, the coffee bean risks over-fermentation. 

To find the balance in fermentation, the raking of the seeds on raised beds in the open air is extremely important. This control of the drying rate is what makes this an innovative process. The desirable flavors of natural process coffees are present, while minimizing the risks of over-fermentation. 

CARBONIC MACERATION (CM)

CM is a highly controlled, intricate version of Anaerobic processing. The process was developed by a famous coffee person named Sasa Sestic from Australia. Sestic worked closely with wine-makers who utilize this technique regularly, and particularly with a Colombian producer named Camilo Merizalde. 

When I first asked what this process meant, I thought it was just a pretentious way of saying it is Anaerobic. Turns out, it is in fact a nerdier version of Anaerobic. All the steps are followed after the depulping stage (or lack thereof in the case of a natural Anaerobic) and tank sealing. However, instead of the fermentation process letting the Carbon Dioxide consume the Oxygen in the tank, the tank is flushed with Carbon Dioxide at the very beginning, allowing the producer to completely control the amount of yeast, bacteria, fermentation, pressure, and temperature in the tank. 

The result is an intensely fruity yet clean brew. The coffee tastes pristine. However they are not cheap due to the cost of materials, labor, and the experience in coffee processing required for the proper fermentation. I hope to share a CM coffee with the subscription soon, as I would love for everyone to taste what I consider the most progressive processing technique the world has to offer right now. 

Thank you to everyone for reading/skimming this information. The test is next Tuesday. 

Just kidding, but I do hope if people were confused on what these processes mean, they can find clarity in my explanation. As mentioned above, this information is not entirely derived from my own personal knowledge, so here is a list of sources I used to gather this information:

https://blog.genuineorigin.com/2018/07/31/anaerobic-process-new-flavors-innovation/

https://projectorigin.com.au/cm-selections/

https://www.lacabra.dk/products/los-pirineos-semi-carbonic-maceration-petites

https://www.cafeimports.com/australia/blog/honey-process/

This month I bring back an old favorite; a roaster I sought out for years during college and finally was able to visit in 2016. My favorite part of the roaster was a memo sitting at the sugar/lids/straw station about their high quality sustainably-sourced raw cane sugar and how you should not use it because their coffee has natural sweet flavors that do need not be altered by additives. I was validated knowing that the pretentious coffee attitude I possessed was a global phenomena and I could find myself comforted halfway across the globe. That all being said, the roaster I am talking about is of course, The Barn! 

The Barn was the first international roaster brought to Chicago in 2017 and was greeted with open arms. On the order form, many of you stated they would love to see The Barn featured in the subscription. With the current coffee lineup The Barn is working with, I felt it was a great time to showcase the coffee they are capable of producing. 

1. Costa Rica Juanachute

Juanachute, Terrazu, Costa Rica

From the Terrazu region of Costa Rica comes the farm called Juanachute. Juanachute is technically classified as a \”micro-mill\” which is really just a classification of how much coffee is processed on site. Typically this is standard for most of the coffee from single-producer farms in Central/South America we drink, however this farm and mill was one of the first of this kind in Costa Rica. Producing small lots, not meant to be blend binders and commodity coffee was simply not done in Costa Rica. As with the changing market, Luis \”Tacho\” Castro decided to create coffees with close attention to detail in both growing and processing. Additionally, Tacho was curious to experiment. Curiosity led him to be one of the earliest adapters of the Anaerobic technique. So early in fact, Tacho created his own fermentation tank to accomplish this. I wish I had a photo of the tank, but it is essentially a massive plastic tank with a one-way release valve to allow oxygen to escape but not enter. I do plan on writing a post about how Anaerobic and Carbonic Maceration work and how they differ when I have enough time, as I know we have had a ton of anaerobic coffees since the start of this. This all results in this stunning coffee grown at 1600 MASL in the beautiful mountainous region shown above. Upon grinding this coffee I got a little concerned… It smelled woodsy and smoky. Two aromas I would never look for in a coffee. That aroma stayed through the entire brewing process. Once the brew finished, I quickly discarded the filter and grabbed the carafe to smell, and to my pleasant surprise those fragrances disappeared! It turned in to a sweet, cinnamon forward cup. In the cup I tasted cinnamon, toffee, plum, spearmint, and a sort of salted caramel taste combined with bitter liqueur (Campari anyone?) that I could not quite articulate. I brewed this coffee using a 16:1 ratio and a pretty standard starting grind setting. After the bloom, I pulsed this coffee three times from 35-50 s, 65-80 s, and 95-110 s. My drop time was 2:30. I look forward to experimenting with this one to see what other flavors I can get out of it. 

October is the best for a couple reasons: the trees turn and become a form of earth art vibrant with an autumn palette, the month ends with the most important holiday, and last but not least, it is prime coffee sipping weather. This month we are drinking coffees from Kaffa from Oslo, Norway. I am not sure how many of you are familiar with Kaffa, as they were not a common roaster in the shop and hardly anyone in the United States sells them. They are a large roaster and, unlike the other Nordic roasters we enjoy, they use an older roaster called a Probat. Some argue that the roaster the others use, called a Loring, produces cleaner coffees with greater consistency. But roasters like Kaffa that do not use this newer, more techy/advanced roaster make me question that argument because their coffees are always clean and pop with flavor. Regardless, lets get in to the offerings!

Probat roaster at Kaffa

 VIVID AROMAS AND TASTE! 

Vivid for me is basically a \”Missed Connections\” success story. They sent me samples at the beginning of 2020 in an attempt to be a part of the retail coffee rotation at the Llama. I didn\’t even know they were sent to me until a fellow Barista texted me to ask if they could take them home as they needed coffee and I nearly said yes, as I was stressed about something else at the time, but my coffee instincts took over as I made sure to try every coffee sent to me to be polite. The coffees were outstanding, which can be rare for a random sample pack showing up. I immediately contacted the roaster/owner, Ian Bailey. We had a couple great runs with Vivid at the shop and then boom… Covid hits. Now, because of a couple of random occurrences taking place I am able to share the delicious coffees with the Coffee Club. 

1. Congo Hutwe

    Typically when the roaster describes a coffee as \”lights out\” that means I buy. This exquisite representation of the years of build-up and booming quality standards in Congo is by all means \”lights out\”. The Hutwe washing station brings together cherries from many smallholder farmers ranging from 1500-1800 masl and consists of mostly Bourbon. Another variety known as Rumangabo is grown locally and is suspected to be mixed in with the Bourbon cherries. The Hutwe station is located near the eastern border of Congo, northwest of Burundi/Rwanda and just west of Uganda. The growing conditions here are great for Arabica with fertile volcanic soil, high altitude, and rainfall. The region however is extremely impoverished and for many years has lacked proper infrastructure for Coffee Production. This coffee is delicate. \”Tea-like\” as they say. I tasted notes of jasmine, caramel, and sour candy. I have a hunch it will make for a great espresso. I brewed this coffee on my v60 with a 15.5:1 coffee-to-water ratio, and ground it finer than typical African coffees because of the lower elevation. It was actually two clicks finer than the Kenyan coffee last month from Kafferaven. I poured two pulses following the bloom from 30-60 s, and then 75-105 s. The brew time ended up being 2:20. Next time I am probably going to pour wider circles to bring the fines down and extend the brew time to see if I can get more out of it. 

2. Colombia Albeiro Ramirez – Chiroso

    This coffee interested me because it is essentially a single-variety test of a new variety to me. The varietal is called Chiroso, which exists as a natural mutation to the more mainstream Caturra varietal. Producers in the Antioquia region discovered the cherries were different and that the resulting coffee tasted outstanding. The producer of this coffee, Albeiro Ramirez, has been experimenting with Chiroso and made sure to provide a sample to Vivid. Albeiro grows this coffee high up in the mountains bordering Medellin at 1900-2100 masl. This coffee has excellent sweetness with notes of vanilla, brown sugar, grapefruit, and a suggestion of peach. I brewed this coffee with a 16.5:1 ratio and used my longer brew time schedule. I ground it a couple clicks coarser, and poured four pulses. Each pulse was spaced 30 seconds apart following my 35 s bloom, so I poured each increment at 35 s, 65 s, 95 s, and 125 s. The final brew time was 2:50. 

3. Costa Rica Hacienda La Minita – Anaerobic Villa Sarchi

    When I asked Ian about the current lineup, knowing the Congo was in stock, he told me that he just received six Costa Rican microlots with all different varietals and processing methods to which I replied, \”Holy Shit.\”. I really contemplated switching up the entire format this month and repackaging all six of them in smaller quantities for people to try but honestly that sounded like an awful laborious task. So instead, I chose the most unique one. This is a washed anaerobic coffee from Tarrazu, grown on the flagship farm for La Minita. La Minita is actually a global coffee importer, and this farm in Costa Rica is a place where they can experiment with varietals and processing. The anaerobic part will speak for itself in this unique coffee, but the Villa Sarchi varietal is one of my absolute favorite varietals because of it\’s clean, crisp flavor profile. This is an intensely sweet and fruity cup, reminiscent of the best juice ever (mango nectar; don\’t fight me). I also detected a slight earthy tone in the cup but it could be the way I brewed it. This coffee is clean yet a thick, heavy body coats the palate. I brewed this coffee with a 16:1 ratio and I used a finer grind setting than a typical starting point. Finer than the Congo listed above by about two clicks on my Wilfa grinder. I poured three pulses following the bloom from 35-60 s, 70-95 s, and 105-130 s. The final brew time was 2:40. 

Thank you for exploring the world of coffee with me. Until next month,

-Dylan 

Another month of quarantine passes us by, another month of  interesting and fresh coffees for us to drink. I decided on April this month for a few reasons. First off, why not. April always has a full range of coffees that I would feel comfortable buying without trying or knowing anything about beforehand. Each green coffee is meticulously tasted and rated on quality before being purchased and they have an extremely progressive take on direct trade. Secondly, I choose them because of the actual coffees they have in inventory right now. Let\’s jump in.

1. Colombia El Placer – 
   

   This is the third coffee I have personally tried from El Placer farm this year. The El Placer farm is owned by Jesus Saavedra, one of my absolute favorite coffee producers in Colombia. This is the last lot from Saavedra\’s high elevation farm (2100 MASL) SEY is featuring this year. This coffee is 100% Castillo and has a slightly earthy fragrance that kind of resembles sweet corn. The flavors are spiced strawberry and tropical fruits. Acidity on this coffee is slightly higher than a typical Colombian coffee: I used a 15:1 coffee to water ratio and did my \”Normal speed\” brew. This means a standard grind with bloom and then two pulses. Finishing at a 2:45 brew time. I finished pouring at around 1:45.

2. Kenya Karindundu – 

       
   A Kenyan coffee from SEY is not always an expectation each year. Since they are so dedicated on traceability and direct relationships, Kenya can be a tricky origin to work with. What we know about this lot, is that it was grown in Kirinyaga and processed at the Gatomboya Washing Station. The varietals are very typical: SL28, SL34, Batian, and Ruiru 11. While some people are opinionated on their Kenyan varietals, I am not. I have never found a Kenyan Coffee with Ruiru 11 or Batian to be of lesser quality than a \”pure\” SL28 or SL34. Like many other roasters, SEY is nervous about the future of Kenyan coffee as the soil conditions are getting worse every year. Luckily this coffee reminds us why it is worth the fight to keep Kenya a strong producer of beautiful coffees. It has a big sweet mouthfeel, with flavors of honey, pastry dough, and tastes the way flowers smell. I used a 15.5:1 ratio for this one with a 2:30 brew time. I brewed this one fast, with a quick 10 second pulse. I finished pouring around 1:30. 

3. Ethiopia Yabitu Koba –

   
   \”This coffee is mind blowing. This Ethiopian season is going to be insane and might end up being the best Ethiopian season of my personal career. Please drink every single one of them.\” – Production crew at SEY. I don\’t know if I can specify a \”best\” at this point in my coffee career, but it is comforting knowing that the coffee that nearly every single member of Stimulus Coffee Club received has this review. Yabitu Koba comes from the famous Uraga region, known for it\’s high elevation. This coffee was grown at elevations ranging from 2160 – 2310 MASL. The flavors of this coffee are spectacular and probably my favorite of the three. I tasted lemon, lavender, sparkling grape juice, and about 100 other very bright tasting flavor compounds. I used a 15:1 ratio, with a 2:15 brew time. I used a fast pouring method, finishing my last pour around 1:25. I recommend grinding this coffee much coarser than usual because of the high density. If the brew tastes tea-like without much citrus you are grinding too fine.