November Coffee: The Barn Brings the Funk

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. 

2. Ethiopia Tabe Burka

I realized when selecting a roaster this month that I haven't bought a single Natural Ethiopia for the Coffee Club yet. For as many people that specified how much they love Natural Ethiopians and/or stated a specific Natural Ethiopia they remember enjoying, it is quite the oversight on my part! I typically am careful when selecting these coffees as many can come off as one-dimensional or aggressively fermenty. The reason so many coffees in Ethiopia are sun-dried (natural) instead of Washed is due to lack of access to clean water. This combined with low wages paid to the hardworking members of processing mills can lead to uncontrolled fermentation times and less attention to detail. However, a great Natural Ethiopia can erase your worries, and trap you in the world of specialty coffee. This coffee is from the Guji region of Uraga, and consists of cherries picked only in close proximity to the Tabe Burka washing station. This coffee will remind us of the ancient tradition that is Ethiopian Coffee. Upon my first sip of this coffee, a wave of relief rushed over me. The coffee had zero aspects of an over-fermented natural. What I taste instead is a brown sugar and sweet tart party in my mouth. While not something I would describe as complex, it is clean and crisp. The fruit notes are well articulated and last throughout the entire tasting experience. I brewed this coffee with a 16:1 ratio and a coarser grind setting. My drop time was 2:45 for a pretty small brew (12 gram dose). I would say 2:45 is a good drop time if you are making a larger brew, but for my cup I think it was a tad over extracted. This one is a crown pleaser, please share with whoever you can (from 6 feet away of course).

3. El Salvador Himalaya 

The Barn has been working with the Himalaya farm for some years now, and I have always seemed to let them slip through my fingers. Although I have not tried anything yet, I still associate this farm with various micro-lots, rare varietals, and experimental processing. This farm was started in 1880 and remains in the same family. Mauricio Salaverria comes from generations of coffee growers, and possesses the collective knowledge of those before him to grow excellent coffee. This specific coffee is a Natural Maragogype. Like I first did, I am sure you are now saying "what the f$&% is a maragogype". It is a varietal that was mutated and produced first in Brazil, and is used to create a lot of interesting new hybrid varietals. The pure Maragogype is a massive sea-shell sounding bean. So before you ask, grind it finer than usual. The vision Mauricio holds for the farm is inspiring. Currently Himalaya covers 24 hectares and grows varietals like SL28, SL34, Maracaturra, Gesha. With the level of control over the processing, this natural coffee will show clean, exotic flavors. Right when my grinder started breaking these clunkers down, my kitchen filled with aromas of strawberry, spices, and tropical fruits. In the cup I taste ripe strawberry, lychee, caramel, and an overall 10/10 sweetness. Like stated above, I ground this a couple clicks finer than usual. I still poured my normal routine of three pulses at 35 second intervals and it dropped out at 2:40. I used a 16.5:1 ratio but am interested to see how it might changed if I use even more water. Say, a 17:1 ratio. Will it bring out more fruit? Or will it flatten the flavors out. Please try and tell me!