May Coffee: Junto's Colombian Coffee Celebration
Happy Sunday everyone!
Next is the black honey coffee that many of you also received. This varietal is Yellow Colombia, a slight variation on the also common Colombia varietal. The trees were grown almost as high as the frozen cherry, at 1900-1950 MASL, and then harvested once cherries are ripened. What is interesting about this farm, is that not all cherries are picked upon perfect ripening. For this coffee, 70% of the lot was harvested at peak ripeness, 20% over-ripe (imagine a wilting strawberry), and 10% under-ripe. Again, this is not something that is super common, and definitely not something that is commonly shared. This coffee has more tropical berry notes, chocolate, and tartness. Here is how I brewed it:
- Dylan
By now you have received your very first coffee order delivered by myself or the lovely Adam Hirzel. For the first month, you may have noticed you received only Colombian coffees. Single-bag subscribers and multi-bag subscribers all received the frozen cherry natural and then the black honey. Both of these coffees come from the same producer in Colombia, Felipe Trujillo of the La Ventolera farm in the Antioquia region. From many of you, I heard the same reaction that I also had when first hearing "frozen cherry natural". It is a very experimental process that I had never heard of before either. Basically, they start with a Castillo variety (common varietal in Colombia) grown at 2000 meters. After harvesting, the cherry is processed like a normal natural and fermented for 400 hours. Next is where it gets a little funky... the fermented cherries are packed in sealed plastic tanks and kept at -18° C for three days. This process in unheard of in my world at least - cutting off a natural process to do a frozen anaerobic process. The combination of the two processes creates an extremely controlled natural fermentation, keeping the nasty natural flavors from taking over. This coffee is clean, excessively sweet, and fairly acidic. Brownies on the nose, flavors of cherry ice cream, and a lingering aftertaste of chocolate chip cookies.. Here is how I brewed it:
- I used a 16.5:1 ratio, and went very April Coffee Roasters style on it, brewing just 12.5 grams of coffee with 205 grams water.
- Grind this one EVEN finer than the black honey listed below. By one or two clicks.
- For v60, I bloomed with 2x the dry dose, and then poured to 70 grams water, and from the start of this pour, I waited 30 seconds, until 1:10, then poured to 140 grams, then waited until 1:40, and poured to 205 grams. My brew time was 2:30, although if I would have poured slower and extended the final brew time, I feel more flavors would have come out.
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| Frozen Coffee Cherres being removed from -18° C sealed tanks |
Next is the black honey coffee that many of you also received. This varietal is Yellow Colombia, a slight variation on the also common Colombia varietal. The trees were grown almost as high as the frozen cherry, at 1900-1950 MASL, and then harvested once cherries are ripened. What is interesting about this farm, is that not all cherries are picked upon perfect ripening. For this coffee, 70% of the lot was harvested at peak ripeness, 20% over-ripe (imagine a wilting strawberry), and 10% under-ripe. Again, this is not something that is super common, and definitely not something that is commonly shared. This coffee has more tropical berry notes, chocolate, and tartness. Here is how I brewed it:
- I used a 16:1 ratio, using 20 grams of coffee, and 320 grams of water.
- Grind slightly finer than your normal "go-to" starting grind.
- I used a v60, and after blooming, I used two pours. 50 gram bloom, then poured to 200 grams, then poured to 320 grams. My brew time was 2:45.
- Dylan
Comments
My first impression of the frozen natural is that this was an experiment that didn’t pan out. The nose has a soy sauce and cooked meat component that makes me think the cherries got too hot during the drying phase. In the cup I had a hard time getting any sweetness with various brews and water formulas.
I’m curious what characteristics you liked in this coffee as to offer it?
I have only brewed the black honey a few ways, so I look forward to getting into that coffee as the nose smells exceptional and close to the descriptors on the bag. The range of acidity and sweetness in this coffee is delightful. I’m excited to keep exploring these coffee.
Chad - My first brew of this actually tasted much better than second - i tasted some undesirable flavors in the second, close to what you said. I brewed both of these at 199 F, which is my typical starting point for a lower density bean. The first brew I ground at the same setting as the black honey, so contrary to what blog post says about finer. I think it would have been more beneficial to go coarser and draw out my pour time to change the flavor profile.
- Dylan