December 2023 Newsletter
The holiday season is almost upon us, and as usual we'll be closing over the break.
To receive your coffee before the Christmas/New year period you will need to place an order by 9.00 a.m. Tuesday 19th December, as this will be our last day for shipping.
We will reopen the order pages on Monday 8th January and start shipping on Tuesday 9th January 2024.
We've gone all out to find a suitable special to end the year with, and I think we've accomplished it, but first some notes on tasting coffee:
ACIDITY is a desirable feature of most coffees. We're not talking about a harsh, vinegary taste but the sparkling, refreshing, fruity acidity you get from a sip of lemonade. Wine drinkers will note the same sort of sensation in young Rieslings or Sauvignon Blancs, mostly tasted towards the front of the mouth. High grown Central American and Kenyan coffees are noted for their acidity, and the coffees from the Tarrazu valley of Costa Rica show the purest combination of coffee flavour and acid.
SWEETNESS is also highly prized. Often the acidity of a particular coffee will also emphasize its sweetness, but certainly less acid coffees can still have sweet, caramelly tastes. Dry Process coffees where the coffee fruit is allowed to dry on the bean, infusing it with sugars and fruit flavours can combine sweetness and low acidity. Bourbon varietal coffees (often called heirloom coffees) from the Cerrado and Mogiana regions of southern Brazil stand out for their sweetness, making them a desirable base coffee for espresso blends.
BODY is the difference between hot water and a rich broth. The feel of the liquid coffee in your mouth can be thin or thick, the "thick" sensation is created by lipids and carbohydrates extracted from the beans. In general dry process coffees tend to have more body than washed, wet process coffees where the skins and fruit are fermented and washed away. The coffees with the most body tend to be very low in acidity, and taste more earthy than sweet. Leaving aside monsooned coffees and robustas, the fullest bodied coffees in the world come from Indonesia, and the best of these is the Sumatra Mandheling.
BALANCE, the combination of acidity, sweetness and body in perfect harmony, is rare in single origin coffees. Most tend to stand out for one thing or another, which is why so many coffees are blends. In my experience the best balanced single origin coffees in the world come from Colombia and New Guinea. The quality of New Guinean coffees is largely unknown to the world outside Australia, which is fortunate for us; we can choose the very best.
FLAVOUR varies as much between coffees as wines, and for much the same reasons; differences in varietals, terroir and processing. Of course, all quality coffees must have basic coffee taste, but the devil is in the subtle overtones. In extremely general terms, though:
PURE COFFEE: Costa Rica, Colombia
CHOCOLATE: Ethiopian Harar or Yemen Mokha.
NUTTY: Island coffees, Kona for walnut/pecan, Cuba for peanut, Jamaica for pecan/hazelnut.
SPICY: Sulawesi Toraja, some Indian coffees.
FRUITY: Ethiopian Yirgacheffe, Kenya.
EARTHY: Sumatra, Timor
So our festive season special coffee is
$80 Per Kilogram
Medium
This is a Grade 1 (Cupping score 86+) dry processed Yirgacheffe, a standard of Ethiopian coffee we rarely see these days. It has clean acidity, a floral and fruit aroma which translates to sweet tropical fruit flavour, and a smooth cacao finish.
Quantity is very limited, it was difficult to acquire a first class Ethiopian coffee in the current market.
There are many reasons for this but the main one is direct intervention in the farming, processing and sale of coffee by the Ethiopian government. If you're not discouraged by a heartfelt, long and somewhat technical article you can read about it here: https://christopherferan.com/2023/04/09/march-forward-dear-mother-ethiopia/
Best wishes to all our customers for a prosperous and healthy 2024.
Until next year
Alan
