Ch-ch-changes

Time moves so quickly. I found out via the Courier Coffee Roasters blog that we are in for some changes as far as our daily ('cept Mondays of course) coffee and espresso service. Well, espresso more specifically for the time being. We have grown very fond of our single origin espresso (SOE), the Brazil Cerrado Fazenda Chapado de Ferro. Joel has experimented with this coffee utilizing both short and long roasts, some not much longer than twelve minutes, and others staying in the drum for close to fourteen minutes.

As I understand it, among Joel's goals for this coffee was to create a roast that could sustain close to 30 seconds of extraction (brewing) without too much variation in color. Of course a really good flavor is always the desired end result. Ray (and myself at times) have done our best to attempt to carry out these instructions, going for larger pours (though mine always stayed pretty short) with larger than to be expected volumes.
In hindsight, I can say that it has been a very fun coffee to work with. Consistent, often very easy to manipulate. The coffee's flavor profile was characteristic of huge floral notes, the kind that hit your nose from a foot away, and warm nutty flavors (the good kind, not those which might suggest improper extraction). Personally, I spent much of my time working with this coffee experimenting with dose size and grind size. Acquiring a Robur, at first on loan and later through purchase, gave us a much more consistent grind, which really made this type of trial and error experimentation possible.

Next batter on deck: El Salvador Borbollon. I am very excited about serving this coffee. This is a coffee Joel purchased nearly two months ago, and has since been sitting on it, taunting me with its impending arrival. El Borbollon (aside from being really fun to pronounce), is among the largest organic growers in all of El Salvador. The size of their operation allows their farm to do some really cool things such as pay their workers higher than standard wages (paid for their time as well, not based on how much they are able to harvest), offer classes, seminars, and cuppings for employees, and most importantly, they make sure their pickers harvest only the most developed fruit on the tree. Trust me, you really can taste the difference. This was the first coffee I had ever tasted at LRBC that was pulled off the Robur grinder, and I remember that it tasted so complex for a single origin espresso, it showed me just how amazing Joel's coffee should taste all the time. Subsequently, I bought the Robur.

Now the El Borbollon is coming back, and will be here to stay hopefully late into November. For the time being we will continue to serve two different coffee's for our French Press in house coffee: Guatemala Finca las Nubes, and El Salvador Finca Alaska. Both are fantastic.