Brew Lab | Artisan Coffee Bar

New coffee: Brew Lab Espresso Mk.7 – El Salvador, San Rafael, Bourbon, Washed

Some of you may have noticed that our house blend has changed numerous times since we opened our doors. This is because we share the belief – along with our roasters, Has Bean – that coffee should be purchased in accordance with the various harvest seasons of the producing countries. This gives us a fantastic array of tasty beverages but it also helps us keep our offerings of the upmost quality. Has Bean have just had their first container of this year’s El Salvador coffees come in; they’ve done a fabulous job of being one of the first European roasters to land this year’s harvest. We are delighted to get hold of one of these as our house coffee.  The coffee is called San Rafael Washed Bourbon.

El Salvador has the right ingredients to produce speciality coffee – soil, climate, altitude, and great plant stock. 70% of coffee exported by El Salvador is a cultivar called Bourbon. It isn’t a particularly high yielding cultivar and it has problems with disease, pest resistance, and susceptibility to wind and rain damage. It is however revered for its cup profile: Bourbons are generally known for being balanced, sweet, and having a refined acidity which does not dominate in the cup. Whilst being delicious as a brewed coffee, Bourbons are renowned for making a great shot of espresso.

The San Rafael farm is located very close to the Santa Ana volcano in a much coveted region for growing exceptional coffees. The coffee is shade grown with a mixture of agricultural crops and indigenous species, which is good ecologically. Increasing biodiversity on the farm helps protect soil and water resources whilst also helping with pest control and crop fertilisation. Additionally, shade regulates the microclimate to allow coffee plants to produce very high quality cherries. All the farm upkeep activities are done by hand rather than using chemicals and additional waste from the cherry processing plant is recycled back to the farm as fertilizer. Our coffee was hand-picked in January and then sorted to remove organic debris and bad cherries.

This coffee is known as a ‘washed coffee’ due to the way in it is processed at the El Mono mill. What occurs here is a dry fermentation where the coffee is sprayed with water, or water from the de-pulping process is added, for 8-10 hours until the drying process begins. Due to the extreme heat at midday the cherries are covered to prevent damage and the beans are then dried on patios until they have between 10-12% moisture content. Has Bean buy this coffee through the mill the producer uses and move the coffee themselves.

Once the coffee has landed at Has Bean towers in Stafford, it is then down to the roasters to choose a ‘roast profile’. The coffee is roasted to varying degrees with different temperature profiles, these sample roasts are then evaluated and a particular roast profile is chosen – the particular profile of this coffee was selected to accentuate its sweetness. Once roasted and shipped to Brew Lab the coffee rests for 7-10 days and its then down to me, the barista, to consistently serve this coffee to its fullest potential. This is me dialling in the espresso first thing in the morning before the shop opens.

Here I am trying to achieve a grind size and dose which best highlights the coffee on any day, it’s a lot of pressure considering the complex chain of events that led to this coffee coming into my hands!

I think effort put in at the producing country and at Has Bean really shows in the cup. As an espresso expect a very smooth mouth feel with a buttery and creamy sweetness. In milk there is even more sweetness: chocolate, cream and little bit of hazelnut.  As a brewed coffee there is an increased complexity with a sticky caramel sweetness coming through. Come in and see what you think of it!

El Salvador, San Rafael, Bourbon, Washed 
Country of origin: El Salvador
Region: Palo de Campana
Farm: San Rafael
Varieties: Bourbon
Process: Washed
Roaster: Has Bean
Brewing method: Slayer Espresso Machine

New coffee: Brazil, Passeio, Natural, Icatu; Colombia, Finca Tamana; Brazil, Passeio, Pulped Natural, Rubi

Brazil, Fazenda Passeio, Natural, Icatu 
Country of origin: Brazil
Region: Minas Gerais
Farm: Passeio
Varieties: Icatu
Process: Natural
Roaster: Has Bean
Brewing method: Clever Dripper

This is the second coffee we’ve had from Fazenda Passeio. The first (which incidentally, we have as a guest single origin espresso at the moment), was an amazing brew - it tasted of KitKats! You can read all about Fazenda Passeio here. This coffee is unusual in that it features a relatively unknown varietal: Icatu. Icatu is a hybrid of Mundo Novo and Caturra, it is high yielding, pest resistent and relatively resistent to leaf rust.

The coffee has a really big mouth-fell, and tastes of dark fruity chocolate, and wafers. It’s a really good contrast to our second coffee, Finca Tamana.

You can watch Steve’s video review of the coffee here:

 

Colombia, Finca Tamana, Caturra & Colombia, Washed
Country of origin: Colombia
Region: Huila
Farm: Tamana
Varieties: Caturra & Colombia
Process: Washed
Roaster: Workshop Coffee Co
Brewing method: V60

Coffee from Finca Tamana has been getting quite a lot of press recently. Maxwell Colonna-Dashwood from  Colonna & Smalls in Bath came second in the UKBC using it, additionally, its been getting a lot of attention in the coffee world thanks to the work Tim Wendleboe and the Farm’s owner, Elias Roa are putting into improving picking, washing, drying, logistics, sustainability of the farm and the welfare of their workers. You can see more about their work in this video.

This is an extremely elegant coffee with notes of poached pear and candied orange.

Brazil Fazenda Passeio Rubi Pulped Natural
Country of origin: Brazil
Farm: Passeio
Region: Minas Gerais
Varieties: Rubi
Process: Pulped Natural
Roaster: Has Bean
Brewing method: Slayer Espresso Machine

This coffee was on the brew bar a few months ago, but we liked it so much, we wanted to get it on as a single origin espresso. You still get the chocolate and KitKat coming through, with a very creamy body and very little fruit at all.

 

 

New coffee: Colombia, Huila, La Buitrera & Bolivia, Taypiplaya, Jatun Kollo Mountain

South American coffees are really starting to roll in, and this week we have an amazing Colombian from Square Mile, and an extremely tasty Bolivian from Has Bean.

Colombia, Huila, La Buitrera, Washed 
Country of origin: Colombia
Region: Huila
Farm: La Buitrera
Varieties: Caturra, Castillo & San Bernardo
Process: Washed
Roaster: Square Mile
Brewing method: V60

La Buitrera is owned by Albeiro Ortiz Gomez and based in the Huila region of Colombia. Colombian coffee has recently been blighted by a fungus called leaf rust that attacks the coffee plant and essentially ruins crops. The Castillo variety that is present in this coffee is the latest that has been created to be leaf rust resistent: a glimmer of hope for the coffee industry in Colombia. This coffee is delicate with a lychee syrup sweetness with a hint of chocolate and summer berries on the finish.

Bolivia, Taypiplaya, Jatun Kollo Mountain 
Country of origin: Bolivia
Region: Caranavi
Town: Taypiplaya
Farm: 150 coffee producers
Varieties: Caturra Red/ Yellow, Typica, and Catuai
Process: Washed
Roaster: Has Bean
Brewing method: Clever Dripper

There are around 150 farmers in the Taypiplaya colony that grow coffee around the Jatun Mountain. It is a washed coffee so the cherries are mechanically separated from their husks with water. The coffee has a juicy dark plum acidity with hints of lime and pineapple  but there is also a large amount of chocolate in the cup.

You can watch Steve Leighton’s review of the coffee here:

The Super Secret Sunday Syphon Society

The Syphon is a spectacular method of brewing coffee. Water is placed in a glass globe and brought to the boil using a halogen light that makes the apparatus glow deep red. A glass flute is sealed onto the globe, and the pressure makes the water rise up. The coffee is added to the top chamber and brews for 2 minutes; next, the heat source is turned off and the partial vacuum that is created draws the coffee back down to the bottom globe, through a fine paper filter.

The Syphon has been used to make coffee for more than a century, and the combination of immersion brewing, a stable brewing temperature and a fine paper filter makes a super clean cup, with lots of body and distinct flavour clarity.

Every Sunday we’re using the Syphon to showcase some of the best coffees available to buy in the UK. These Cup of Excellence coffees have been voted the highest quality examples from their country in any given year and exhibit outstanding flavour and balance.

This Sunday we’ll be brewing a coffee from the Rwanda Mibirizi washing station that came 3rd in the last Cup of Excellence competition. The washing station is owned by the Nile Congo Mountains Coffee Company and receives coffee grown from Bourbon plants first planted 100 years ago. The coffee undergoes meticulous processing, the beans are fully washed with spring water from the mountains then sun-dried and hand sorted.

The coffee has a big, chewy mouth-feel with a caramel and butterscotch sweetness that is really brought out by the Syphon brewing.

Rwanda Mibirizi Cup of Excellence
Country of origin: Rwanda
Region: Western
Washing station: Mibirizi
Varieties: Bourbon
Process: Washed
Roaster: Has Bean
Brewing method: Syphon

 

New coffee: Ethiopia Kebel Kercha Guji, Bolivia San Jose, Sweet Shop Espresso

We’re onto three new coffees, with some really exciting coffee in the pipeline too. The first new coffee was sourced by our barista Mark, so he’s written about it for us:

I’m really excited to have a coffee on this week from a roaster in Stockholm, Sweden. Stockholm Roast are a micro-roaster who only tend to supply to cafes in and around Stockholm. I’m very pleased we’ve managed to get this coffee on our brew bar, and I’m sure our customers will love this UK exclusive coffee too.

Guji, Grade 1- Kebel Kercha Dry Mill
Country of origin: Ethiopia
Region: Sidamo, northern Yirga-Cheffe
Processing station: Kebal Kercha
Varieties: Local varieties with a majority of Typica
Process: Natural
Roaster: Stockholm Roast
Brewing method: v60

I came across this coffee when I had a holiday in Stockholm earlier this year. Having tried the coffee as an espresso at Tasman Cafe, I brought a lighter roast of the same coffee back to Edinburgh to try as a filter coffee. My colleagues and I were so impressed with the coffee that we decided to buy it in bulk from Stockholm.

The processing station Kebal Kercha is located north of the city of Yirga Cheffe in Ethiopia. Around 750 farmers grow and contribute their wares to Kebal Kercha. This is a natural processed coffee; it is dried in the sun with the skin and pulp intact for up to 6 weeks.

The secret of this lot is gentle processing and a conscious harvest where only fully ripe berries are picked. It has intense aromatics of berries, a creamy texture and a deep milk chocolate sweetness.

Our second coffee is from Has Bean, and the second Bolivian coffee we have had on the brew bar.

Bolivia San Jose Constancio Aruqipa 2013
Country of origin: Bolivia
Region: Caranavi
Farm: Constancio Aruquipa
Varieties: Caturra
Process: ‘Bolivia style’, a hybrid of washed and pulped natural
Roaster: Has Bean
Brewing method: Clever Dripper

Constancio Aruqipa’s farm is situated in a small colony of 12 families called San Jose. Constancio lives and grows coffee there with his wife and 5 children. The coffee is from the Caranavi region, which displays a wide range of micro climates – all of which bring out very different flavours in their coffees.

Constancio only bought this farm in 2008, and this is the first crop from the 21,000 caturra plans he planted there. Once harvested, the coffee is processed at the same mill that Finca David Vilca is milled at, a coffee that we had on the brew bar a few months ago. The processing method is ‘Bolivian style’, which is a hybrid of pulped natural and washed processing.

The coffee is bright with a good amount of citrus and lemonade, but brewing it on the clever dripper helps to bring out a good amount of body.

Sweet Shop Espresso
50% La Buitrera (Colombia)
50% La Serrania (Colombia)

Square Mile’s Sweet Shop espresso is an ever changing blend that aims to combine sweet, characterful coffees to create an unique espresso packed with fruit. The combination of La Buitrera and La Serrania in this blend gives us lemon bonbons and lemon sherbet – its fizzy and bright, and really interesting!