BIRTHDAY BLEND

EL EDEN NATURAL GESHA | YUKRO LOT 2

NOTES: FLORAL BERGAMOT, ORANGE HAWAIIAN PUNCH, STRAWBERRY CANDY

It's our three year anniversary and we wanted to celebrate with everyone! 

Every Year for our Birthday we put together a blend of coffees to celebrate by giving our supporters something special to enjoy. This year is no exception, with a blend of Gesha from Colombia, and Washed Ethiopia. 

This year we set out to make a ode to Gesha, as Lem and Kyle both used Gesha coffees to win the barista competitions that made B&W a thing. So, to do that we blended El Eden Natural Gesha from our friends at El Vergel (a stunningly beautiful expression of what El Vergel is capable of) and one of the coffees that captured the Imagination of Kyle. Yukro, roasted by Coffee Collective in Denmark was a landmark coffee for him.  Vibrant acidity, amazing sweetness, and complex fruit character.  Yukro comes from Agaro in western Ethiopia, quite near where Gesha got its origin.  

Big floral aromas, with all kinds of vibrant and tropical fruits.  We hope you enjoy it as we celebrate another year in the books.

Origin:  El Eden Natural Gesha, Tolima, Colombia | Yukro Lot 2, Ethiopia

Variety: Gesha and mixed varieties

PROCESS: Washed and anaerobic natural

ELEVATION: 1,450 - 2100 masl

ROAST | MEDIUM

NALA VILLAGE, HOUAPHAN PROVINCE, LAOS 

NOTES: TROPICAL, APPLE CIDER, BOOZY

Last year we were approached by a customer in our cafe about the coffee that one of his friends were involved in producing. This happens from time to time, and often not much comes of it. This time however, we were introduced to the team at Yuni Coffee, and to the cutting edge coffees they were attempting to produce in Laos.

The first coffee we received from them, was wild and crazy with big boozy fruit, and  a very tasty cup. Sadly there was only about 60 pounds of that coffee available, and it went very quickly.

This year's production was much larger, and the Yuni team were able to implement an Anaerobic Yeast Inoculated Natural Process as well. First, they starved the whole cherries of oxygen, and then pitched in a brewers yeast to control the fermentation to a specific group of flavors, giving this coffee those complex tropical fruit flavors, and a rather intense Malic like acidity, that comes though like apple cider.  Then the Natural Process shows through as a boozy cocktail cherry. 

Overall, we have been very happy with this years Nala Village Coffees and we hope you get to enjoy this distinct selection form such a remote and uncommon growing region.

Community: Nala Village 

Region: Houaphan Province, Xamtai District, Laos

Variety: Catimor, Java, Yellow Caturra

Process: Anaerobic Natural

Elevation: 800 - 1200 MASL

ROAST | LIGHT MEDIUM

GEDEB, ETHIOPIA

NOTES: WHITE FLOWERS, BERGAMOT, LEMON CURD, CLOVER HONEY

We are so excited to able to see this coffee through to delivery.  Carbonic Macerated coffee is not common anywhere in the world, and we love to see what they can produce.  Worka Chelbesa has done it yet again with this stunning lot of Competition Level coffee. Vibrant florals and Citrus, with great texture and amazing acidity. This coffee is basically the best of every coffee you have tasted from Ethiopia all rolled together as one coffee. 

We are so excited to able to share this amazing coffee from such a talented group of producers. Worka Chelbesa has been a specialty coffee mainstay for years, producing some of the most sought after coffees on the planet. Bright, Floral, and intensely sweet, what more could you want.  Well, how about amazingly fruity with juicy and vibrant acidity.  

This is accomplished by removing oxygen from the first part of the fermentation of the coffee. At Worka Chelbesa, this is done with containers where the oxygen is physically forced out of  the fermentation with compressed CO2. Forcing out the oxygen, and allows anaerobic bacteria to thrive, this is quite similar to Carbonic Maceration in wine production (which is where this style of processing was co-opted). With the addition of CO2 there is also a cooling affect which further controls the bacteria, and therefore the fermentation. This gives the coffee a vibrant wine like acidity, and intense fruit aromas.

We are so thankful for our relationships that made this coffee possible, and for the people all along the supply chain. We have been in communication about this coffee and coffees like it for almost a year with the Atlantic Specialty team. Tim Hill, helped us line up this project, and put into motion potential main lot offerings for next year. 

Farm: Smallholder farmers organized around the Chelbesa coffee mill

Process: Carbonic Maceration Washed 

Altitude: 1800 - 1900 masl

ROAST | LIGHT

TOLIMA, COLOMBIA

NOTES: FLORAL, PEACH, FRUIT PUNCH, WINEY

 So excited to bring back this amazing coffee from the producers of El Eden Estate. This Lot was the best of what we were offered from them this season, and we are excited to share it with you. This years coffee is special because we worked directly with the 2 Brothers that produce this coffee, and pioneered this specific anaerobic style of production.  

Overall the fermentation isn't that different than other large producers of Anaerobic Coffees. They utilize whole cherry fermentation, for fairly extended times in Stainless Steel tanks, but then after fermentation they then dry over periods of time to specific moisture percentages, and in between they allow the coffees to rest in temperature controlled warehouses, and closed containers to make sure that the moisture percentage equals out throughout the batch. Then they finish drying this coffee to the final 11% moisture.  This process can take over 30 days, but gives the coffee both consistency in moisture and flavor profile.  It also helps to increase shelf life for us there in NC. This process has also been used before, Shady and the team seem to be absolutely crushing it.  

The crew at El Vergel continue to innovate and utilize feedback from the specialty coffee industry. We are so excited to see some of our direct feedback given and utilized in this Lot of El Eden. This lot of EL Eden showcases their particular fermentation and drying style, but they have worked with us to showcase more of that beautiful Gesha Variety as well.  Marked florals, with intense fruit character.  This one is a fruit bomb for sure.

Roast:  Light

Producer: El Vergel 

Variety: Gesha

PROCESS: Anaerobic Natural

ELEVATION: 1,450 masl

SINGLE ORIGIN

TARRRAZÚ, COSTA RICA

NOTES: BLACKBERRY, CITRUS, BROWN SUGAR 

 You might have noticed that in 2020 more and more of your favorite roasters are showcasing Costa Rica more than you might be accustomed to. If you did, than great work, but if not lets chat a bit about how Costa Rica in particular does Specialty Coffee Trading.  

To be transparent I didn't know this was the case until this year, but Costa Rica relies very heavily on tourist travel. This makes sense, as so many of my friends have gone there for Honeymoons, or anniversary travel. I didn't realize that they also rely quite heavily on coffee buyer travel. Most of the great coffees of Costa Rica are bought on site by coffee buyers who travel to this beautiful place for "Work."  

With 2020 being the challenging year that it is for travel, most of these buyers were not able to make their yearly trip to purchase coffee, and with the global specialty market in a bit of a slump, many just could not buy as much coffee as before.  This has left Costa Rica with much more supply that is not accounted for than previous years.

This coffee in particular came to us through Caravela Coffee in Chapel Hill NC, they work heavily in Colombia, but an opportunity came up for them to take a shot at some Costa Rican Microlots, and an opportunity to help out and move some coffee.  We landed on this White Honey Single Producer lot from Tarrazu. We haven't met Don Lito, but his coffee stood out to us among the samples we were offered 

This coffee is marked by big sweetness and and amazing texture, with just enough sparkly acidity, and fruit character to keep it interesting.  This is a great middle ground coffee, easy to drink while having enough complexity to keep you coming back to it as it cools.

Kyle

Producer: Don Lito

Variety: Red Catuai

Process: White Honey Washed

Elevation: 1600 masl

SINGLE ORIGIN 

TOLIMA, COLOMBIA

NOTES:  PEACH JAM, RED SANGRIA, MILK CHOCOLATE

 When Marta and her two sons Elias and Shady, started to work with experimental coffee, they wanted to create and pass through the technology that would help improve their quality of life and of the families that work with them on the project at El Vergel. This coffee is the closest to the mill where the majority of the work happens at El Vergel, and the Guava Banana Lot is monitored and tended to by the women who work with El Vergel. Shady, conveyed a sense of ownership with these producers as they were excited to hear how much we liked this lot.

The Anaerobic Natural Caturra from El Vergel fits our Red Label so perfectly. Huge fruit character and intense sweetness. If you are a fan of the red label coffees, this one will be right up your ally.  Or if you are trying anaerobic coffee for the first time this should suit you very well.

Farm :  "El Vergel" from the Nuestra Familia

Variety: Caturra

PROCESS: Anaerobic Natural

ELEVATION: 1,350 masl

SINGLE ORIGIN

GEDEB, ETHIOPIA

NOTES: WHITE FLOWERS, JUICY PEACH, RED RASPBERRY

Worasa Mijane and his son Daniel Mijane are the producers of Worka Sakaro and are famous for the quality of their coffee throughout the Gedeb region. The Gedeb region is the most southern Yirgacheffe coffee growing area and in comparison to other areas coffee is somewhat newer to this area. Many farms here have only been growing coffee for 1 or 2 generations, and much of the coffee is only 20 - 30 years old. Farms in this area tend to be slightly larger than in the northern part of Yirgacheffe, but are still relatively small - averaging around 1-2 hectares. This selection comes from their Worka Sakaro washing station and is a testament to their dedication to produce amazing coffees.

This is our main lot Natural Ethiopia, picked form some 20 Offers. We are so happy with how this coffee showed up. Booking coffees from the samples we get from origin before the coffee ships (aka preship samples) is always a bit of a gamble. To hedge against this we utilize UV testing along with moisture, and water activity.  However these are not 100% accurate, and we do get less than stellar coffee from time to time. This coffee however, actually showed up tasting better than the preship samples. Super clean naturals are coming out of Gedeb this year. Tons of floral aromas, with clean tropical fruit, and clean acidity. We are so happy to share this beautiful with you all.

We worked with Tim Hill at Atlantic Specialty on many of our Ethiopian coffees this year and this one is a stunner, along with our Lots from Idido, Genji Challa, and Gogugu.

Process: Natural

Producer: Mijane Worasa & Daniel Mijane

Variety: JARC selections & Indigenous Landacres

Altitude: 1900 - 2100 masl

ROAST | MEDIUM

TARRAZÚ, COSTA RICA

NOTES: BLACK GRAPE, YELLOW PEACH, SYRUPY

Over the last three years we haven't bought, or sought out very many Costa Rican coffee, for a number or reasons. They tend to be quite high cost, and when comparing them to coffees from Africa that are available around the same time, it was a difficult cost benefit analysis.  However, this year we were really intrigued at how different the natural coffees from Costa Rica, so we made a space on the menu to share this beautiful coffee with you all.

This coffee comes from Finca El Alto, from producer Don Carlos Alberto Garbanzo his family the Monge Falas Family.  El Alto, has been in the family for 3 generations.  This amazing heritage, is coupled with an amazing microclimate and amazing elevation. All of this comes together to give a distinctly bright and fruity cup profile, with aromas of grape, blueberry, and stonefruits, with an vibrant juicy acidity and a round and syrupy body.  We are certain you will enjoy this beautiful offering.

FARM:  Finca El Alto

Producer: Don Carlos

Variety: Caturra and Catuai

PROCESS: Natural

ELEVATION: 1,800 masl

YEAR ROUND

COLOMBIA (EL EDEN JAVA NATURAL)  | Laos (Nala Village-Washed)

NOTES: JUICY, TROPICAL, COMPLEX

Anaerobic coffees have rewritten the rules for Barista Competition's around the world. In the last two years the top 6 Competitors at both the USBC (United States Barista Championship) and the WBC (World Barista Championship) have utilized coffees with this style of fermentation.

As a result, this new method of processing has inspired us to create our own product that focuses on highlighting the complex acidity and vibrant fruit flavors found in these coffees. Not simply concerned with cupping scores and competition points, we believe for a number of reasons that this style of fermentation truly is the future.  

In a time when the Commodity Market value for coffee is dropping lower and lower, producers are always looking for ways to maximize their earnings on a given crop. However, in order to do so they are forced to produce high scoring coffees in order to make these premiums. This is made even harder when a lot of these coffee farms do not have the high elevation required to produce the complex flavors and  boutique varieties found in specialty coffee (such as Gesha, Pink Bourbon, Java).

However, in the last few years many more farms have had access to anaerobic processing, which done simply can add acidity, and complex fruit character to the cup. Anaerobic processing, in its most basic form is holding the coffee (either in cherry, or pulped) in an oxygen free environment (which can be achieved a number of ways) for an extended time in order to promote the growth of bacteria, Lactobacillus. Where, Lactobacillus is the agent that promotes acidity by producing lactic acid. The result of this is the acidification of the coffee pulp, which translates to a more vibrant coffee both on the cupping table and in the cafe. 

This main benefit of this unique style of processing is that it can make coffees that are grown at low elevations taste very similar to coffees grown at higher elevations. As the global climate warms, farmers must go higher and higher up the mountain in order to achieve the same results, but for most producers this simply is not possible.

Now, however farmers can add acidity and complexity through processing and thus combat the effects of climate change, at least in the cup.

This Blend will showcase these coffees and their varying profiles from around the world. Most of these coffees that we are currently sourcing are coming from Colombia, but we are also sourcing some from Ethiopia, Costa Rica, and Peru. With some being washed, some natural and some honey.  

This version is a blend of an Anaerobic Process from Huila, Colombia; blended with the ever vibrant El Eden Washed Java from Tolima, Colombia.  This is a juicy and clean cup represented by the blue corner on the label. This corner will change as the flavor profile and blend components shift throughout the year.

We hope you all enjoy this adventure into what we believe to be the future of specialty coffee.

 - Kyle Ramage (Co-owner | Green Coffee Buyer)

Regions:  Tolima, Colombia | Laos

Process:  Anaerobic Natural and Anaerobic Washed

Elevation: 800 - 1600

 SINGLE ORIGIN

NARIÑO, COLOMBIA

NOTES OF CARAMEL, MILK CHOCOLATE AND SUBTLE CHERRY

The Sugar Cane Decaffeination process is a natural process that not only maintains the integrity of the coffee flavor, but allows complete traceability with our coffee since both the growing/ processing and decaffeination all occurs in Colombia, the coffee’s source. Colombian Coffees are commonly known to be big, rich, chocolaty coffees with exceptional fragrance and often great acidity. Since Colombia has many diverse growing regions, the coffee varies mildly from region to region.

Origin: Caldas, Colombia

Process: Sugar Cane/ EA