Colourful
About this Product
Sourcing coffees that are exceptionally vibrant, bright and intensely expressive, then blending them together for a raucous cacophony of flavour. This blend will be an exploration of modern processing and vibrancy, a year round staple of intense fruit-forward notes. Coffee in full Colour, not just black and white.
Brew Guide:
Best Brewed with: Suitable for Filter and Espresso
Best Rested for: 2-3 weeks
Light Roaster Influence:
We roast this blend on the lighter side, with the view that it should still work as an all-rounder for both filter and espresso. Try a modern open recipe at 18g in, 45-50g out in 25-30s when brewing as espresso to really open up the flavour, or 60g/L when brewing on filter.
In combining the excellent agronomy and modern processing in these two lots, we’re tasting:
White chocolate & blackberry aroma, in the cup - grape jellybeans, the bright redfruits acidity of craft dark chocolate, pedro ximénez sherry, almond butter, blood orange, dense body and overall very sweet
Traceability (Blend Version: 14)
Country of Origin: |
Honduras | Mexico | Indonesia |
Blend Percentage: |
35% | 35% | 30% |
Region: |
El Cielito, Santa Barbara |
Santa María Ozolotepec |
Bebesen, Sumatra |
Producer Group/Washing Station: |
Juan Carlos Reyes |
Galguera Gómez and local outgrowers
|
Aulia Kahfi |
Varieties: |
Parainema | Bourbon, Criollo Typica, Caturra | Abyssinia |
Elevation: |
1400 MASL | 1988-2200 MASL | 1300 to 1600 MASL |
Process: |
Traditional Natural: Cherries selectively picked with unripe and overripe cherries separated during harvest and removed. Coffee transported to the local wet mill before floating and skimming. Dried as a natural in a parabolic drier over 20 days, with continual hand sorting. |
Inoculated* Washed: Cherries from local outgrowers are delivered to the wet mill for bulk processing. Cherries floated, skimmed, depulped and fermented in mucilage in a closed tank for a 72-hour period. Followed by a secondary 24-hour submerged fermentation in an open tank. Drying involved centrifugal drying, two stages of mechanical pre-drying, and final patio drying. *The Galguera Gómez mill has a microbiology program and develops locally sourced starter cultures for their fermentations, but prefers to keep their exact protocols as commercially confidential information. |
Anoxic Natural: Cherries washed and fermented for 24 hrs in an anoxic environment, followed by drying on raised bed as a natural |
Import Partner: |
LCM | Que Onda | Sucafina |
Harvest: |
Crop 24/25. New purchasing relationship | Crop 25/26. New purchasing relationship | Crop 24/25. 2nd Year purchasing from Aulia Kahfi |
The Story:
Colourful was born out of another concept we wanted to play with, something we felt almost criminally under-explored. There is such huge potential in combining deeply fruity and fun coffees into a blend, yet so often it’s almost seen as sacrilege, that they must be a single origin special release, or else some green coffee buyer secret police will break in and confiscate the sacks back.
Yet who amongst us has not occasionally chucked the remnants of a special bag or two into the grinder, and found the result to be more than the sum of its parts? So in the full rebellious spirit of resisting pretentious coffee traditions, we've sought out the most uniquely fruity and fun coffees to feature in Colourful . There's no denying that the funky, wild profile of an anaerobic or experimentally processed coffee might not be for everyone, or the sort of coffee you drink every single day. However, we believe in their ability to surprise and delight, with the objective to showcase the vibrancy and full dynamic range that coffee has to offer. Like a mug full of pick n’ mix sweets, coffee in full colour (not just black and white!).
So here we have it - Colourful. It's a year-round celebration of colour and flavour, giving us the freedom to source, blend, or even to spotlight single origins under its banner. Colourful isn't dictated by its components; instead, its essence is its flavour profile and the fun we have in creating and selecting for it.
Version 13:
Our first three part Colourful! We've got 3 super interesting lots going into this one:
Our final lot from producer Aulia Kahfi, the "Abysinnia" variety is an Ethiopian landrace variety that's been circulating around Indonesia for some time. It's considered the potential parent variety (or one and the same) as the "Java" cultivar grown in Central and South America. Super sweet, tropical, with that classic Gayo Sesongot processing
Joining it is two late arrivals from Central America - we've got a community lot from the Santa María Ozolotepec region, processed at the Galguera Gómez mill. Whilst we selected these special preparations based on their excellent processing, the mill has chosen to keep the exact specifics of their microbiology program reserved.
We aim to give the best possibly processing information where possible, but it is always the case that producers may choose to withhold certain proprietary steps. We're assured the microbes are locally isolated strains (likely yeast species or lactobacillus) that elevated the cup profiles of these lots. We've got 2 lots from Galguera Gómez - and we're starting Colourful V14 with the washed, which has bright acidity - naval orange, cranberry, and dried apricots, alongside a super rich sweetness that reminds us of rich tea biscuit and brown butter
Finally, a traditional natural but of a variety we've always been very fond of - Parainema. A hybrid variety developed in Honduras, identifiable from the very pointy beans (making it tricky to roast just like java!) - good Parainema have unique super high acidity, which is surprising considering their sarchimor lineage.
