ALL PRODUCTS
SUBSCRIPTIONS
TOO FRESH?
Let the coffee rest before drinking/brewing
Lightly roasted coffee should rest for at least a week from the roast date in order to get rid of a sufficient amount of CO2. This will drastically and positively expose the nuances of the coffee. If the coffee is to be brewed for espresso, you can, with great advantage, easily wait a week or two before the coffee peaks in terms of both taste and aroma. In addition, the coffee becomes easier to "dial in" for espresso when it has rested and "degassed" sufficiently. Completely fresh coffee is more difficult to brew and almost always has a dominating, flat, dull, overwhelmingly chlorophyll-like taste and aroma.
COFFEE PROCESSING
Washed coffee
Most specialty coffee is washed. The method of washing typically is the clearest and cleanest interpretation of a given coffee. This means, quite simply, that flavor and aroma nuances are exposed distinctly and clearly in washed coffees, while other processes, like natural processed coffee, can leave a more "colored" mark on the taste.
In this method of processing, the coffee cherries are rinsed immediately after harvesting. This is where the first sorting takes place – the berries that float to the top are sorted out, as this can be a sign of a bad bean. The pulp is then removed (also called depulping), and the coffee bean, as we recognize it, is exposed. Succeedingly, the coffee must be left in fermentation tanks for at least 12 hours. Washed coffee generally has the mildest degree of fermentation compared to other processes, which is possibly one of the primary reasons for more clarity and purity in the cup. After fermentation, the coffee is rinsed in clean water until all soft organic matter is gone, and finally the beans are dried.
Natural processed coffee
In the world of specialty coffee, this method has gained a lot of traction. This is possibly due to the sustainability benefits of this process (no water is used/wasted in this method as the coffee is not washed). Natural processed coffee also has a quite unique and upfront characteristic from the fermentation, which can often show slightly more "full-bodied" notes and fruit nuances than washed coffees. Fun fact – this is the oldest processing method!
This process is, in many ways, the reverse method to the washing method. The pulp stays on the beans throughout almost the entire process. Initially, the berries are dried the sun, and this is where they ferment while the pulp dries out. This takes 3 to 4 weeks until the bean itself has a correct percentage of moisture of approximately. 11%. Finally, all of the soft organic material is removed, and only now the beans can be sorted.
Natural processed coffee also has a lot of fruit in the cup, but the fruit flavors are clearly modified by the increased fermentation. This can give a surprisingly "funky" and fizzy feel. With great fear of seeming pretentious, we can possibly call natural processed coffee for "lambic-coffee" (with reference to lambic beer).
Honey-processed coffee
Due to shared similarities, the honey process is almost hybrid a between the washing and natural methods. Both in terms of the process itself, but also because of the final taste and aroma of the coffee. The pulp is removed from the freshly picked coffee berries, like the washing method, but unlike washed coffee, honey-processed coffee is allowed to dry with remnants of the pulp remaining on the membrane around the coffee bean itself. It is the honey-golden membrane around the green coffee bean that has given its name to this process.
Along with natural processed coffee, the honey method has the advantage that far less water is used, as the membrane can eventually be physically removed by a peeling process (milling), when the coffee has fermented sufficiently – in contrast to washed coffees, where this is typically washed off with plenty of water.
MICROLOT COFFEE
The term "microlot coffee" is a describsion of a coffee farm's best or most feted selection - it can, for example, be a mini-batch from their best "field" or a limited processing method.
Overall, a microlot is a sign of quality, as higher standards and demands are, oftenly, required from the production and the cupping score of the coffee (over 85 for most regions), thus a higher degree of traceability is connected to these microlots. Microlots from Costa Rica, for example, can always be traced back to the farm or even the very field it came from. These farms are often called micromills. A typical microlot micromill has a yield of less than 1000 coffee sacks annually, and micromills are owned by one or a few independent producers, e.g. a family.
At Tierra Kaffe, a high cupping score is of course not our only criterion within selecting coffee and farms (here we also attach great importance to social and environmental sustainability), but microlot coffees, more often, meet all the requirements that are of high value to me as a roaster, buyer and coffee enjoyer. An example is the traceability of these coffees, which is paramount for a replicable quality and for the certainty of the desired sustainable conditions and not least the farmers' working conditions and wages. The microlot term is, thereby, simply an expression of a small, ambitious and high-quality production - and there can be several other advantages.