News / Coffee
My love of Oily coffee
Two new dark roasted coffees.
I have sourced a couple of coffees to add to our collection, both selected for being Fair Trade and Organic or Rainforest Alliance as well as producing a great cup of strong coffee when roasted ‘Oily’.
The first is from Ethiopia, and is a Yirgacheffe from the Negele Gorbitu Cooperative.
Founded in 1995 the Negele Gorbitu Cooperative comprises of nearly 1,000 producers. Most Ethiopian Co-ops use traditional organic farming methods but Negele Gorbitu with the help of Oromia Coffee Farmer’s Cooperative Union helped provide the funding to enable both Fair Trade and Organic Certification.
This certification has allowed them to implement investments in a new school for over 300 students as well as a medical facility.
At 1,960 meters above sea level, Negele Gorbitu is in a prime location to produce a classical Yirgacheffe with good citrus tones and the characteristic bergamot finish. The coop operates two washing stations and consistently turns out high quality coffee. The berries are hand-picked and only the best are selected.
As you are aware my love for Oily coffee is well known, so we have Dark Roasted these beans as they respond particularly well to this treatment, producing a pronounced sweetness and still retaining some floral notes.
My second choice was from Central America, Nicaragua. I have always enjoyed Nicaraguan coffee and the quality is usually very good, this Nicaragua Finca Santa Luz Rainforest Alliance is fantastic.
The Santa Luz farm is found four kilometres North-east of the small town of El Tuma, based in the mountains of Matagalpa and has been Rainforest Alliance certified since 2003.
Coffee growing started in this area of Matagalpa in early 1920’s when a new road connected the then village of El Tuma with the big City of Matagalpa.
Finca Santa Luz covers 158 hectares, of which 97 are dedicated to coffee. There are a total of 127 hectares suitable for coffee and the rest are woodlands and administrative areas. The altitude of the coffee plants at Santa Luz are between 700 and 900 meters above sea level, therefore, producing Strictly High Grown (SHG) coffee, smooth and well balanced. The farm has built its own ecological processing plant which produces this very good quality coffee.
This lovely bean has responded very well to dark roasting and produces a lovely strong cup with a sweet after-taste and great body. I love it.
Dark Roast Cuban Coffee The Best
London Coffee Festival 1 of 2
We played around on an exhibition that was selling a brilliant device called an AeroPress, invented in 2005, which uses air pressure to improve extraction of flavour. We tried two differently prepared cups, prepared in front of us using the same water, identical Ethiopian beans, same grind and roast but one made with the AeroPress and one made with the popular mini Pour-Through method. Astonishingly the AeroPress was vastly superior in its flavour and surprisingly in its depth of body. Watch World Champion Barista Gwilym Davies showcase it here.
I was feeling ‘lunchy ‘ by then so phoned Helen to find out where she was. “It sounds like you’re speaking with your mouth full!” I said. Turns out she’d found the chocolate hall and was making short work of the samples…
It wasn’t my idea of lunch so we dragged her out of there and made our way to the Curry Mile for a cracking lunch courtesy of Bengal Village
Three New Coffees...
