Coffee Brewing This Week (Feb 15-22, 2016)

This week is a good one for sampling coffee.  I currently have the following bags on the go:

• George Howell Rwanda Kanzu
• George Howell Kenya Mamuto AA
• Sightglass Ethiopia Wanja Qarsa Jimma (espresso profile)
• Sightglass Indonesia Cempaka Mulya Village
• Copa Vida Ethiopia Guji

It’s a fine selection, but the Mamuto AA keeps me coming back for 19-23g of beans at least once a day.  This is simply put, one of the best coffees I’ve had over the last year.  There’s no wonder that this is my third bag of AA, and when combined with the Mamuto Christmas Box which contained the peaberry and AB quality beans — I’ve had an awful lot of Mamuto!  There’s a really nice acidity, but overall, a really great depth of body combined with the fruity acidity.  My go-to brew method is the Hario V60 pourover, and I’m brewing with 19g of grounds at grind 6M on the Baratza Vario grinder (ceramic burrs), 94 degree celsius water, and doing two 30-second blooms at 0 and 30 seconds.  320g of water, and 3m45 seconds later — you’re all set to enjoy your cup of coffee.

Sightglass Indonesia and Ethiopia single-origins for Feb 2016

The Sightglass Indonesia Cempaka surprised me the first time I brewed it.  I chose to grind on my Baratza Encore at setting 14, and threw it in an inverted Aeropress.  This had 17g of grounds, and 260g of coffee.  30 seconds to immerse the grounds with about 50g of water, four to five gentle stirs to get it all wet, and then a pour to the top.  At 2 minutes in, I’ve already cleaned my paper filter, and screwed it on, and so I flip it over and start a 30 second plunge. The resulting cup had a very surprising peach or nectarine-like sweetness and that really surprised me for an Indonesian. Previous Indonesian coffees have been very earthy and in some cases a little more on the savoury side of the taste spectrum.  Water temperature  was pretty close to 95C, I believe (but haven’t tested it at work). I brewed up a pour-over with this coffee, and wasn’t happy with the result, and am still dialing it all in.

The Guji has been a solid performer, but I haven’t been able to pull the “vibrant lychee and nectarine” tasting notes from it, regardless of how fine I grind.  My next test may be in the Able Brewing KONE. I’m grinding at 4K on the Baratza Vario, and brewed the V60 at 94C. It has subtle acidity and is an enjoyable cup (though hard to compare when you’re up against a bag of the Mamuto).

As the week comes to an end, I’ll likely be sharing with more people, and making some espresso at work.  We’ve got a Rancilio Silvia v3 that we hack on.  It makes for a fun time, and always rewarding to make #blahtteart