First off, I wanna throw out a big thank you to everyone that made the Midwest Coffee Club meetup at Tailwind here in Chicago possible, we had a wonderful time meeting a bunch of shoebox fans, other industry professionals and enthusiasts that all came together for a collaborative brewing event with great vibes and great folks. Ya'll rock so much!!!!
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This week, we will be releasing the last of our Colombian coffees until the next harvest lands. It has been an incredible season with new producers like Yessica and Marlon dropping banger after banger through our importing partners at KWC and Unblended, with a few shining stars in classic PBs from the LaREB export group making their way onto our menu as well. In particular, Luis Camacho's Fragrancia blew our minds with its unique floral and herbal characteristics and clean acidity. We find it very fitting to end the season off with 3x bangers, 2 from Unblended and 1 from LaREB.
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Colombia Julián Calderón Pink Bourbon Washed:
This coffee comes to us from our friends at LaREB(La Real Expedición Botánica,)a collective of coffee producers and professionals united by a common goal: pursuing quality and consistency on the producing side while building long term partnerships with discerning roasters who will do those coffees justice in the final product for the consumer side. Everyone we have been in contact with at LaREB shows a clear passion and love for the craft of specialty coffee and it's made clear, both in the quality of green, and in the quality of their roasted coffee. In Palestina, right next door to Lorena Pinzon's farm, Julián Calderón also produces excellent pink bourbon at a similar elevation, 1650masl. This coffee also features a fermentation practice that we've come to love from some of the folks exporting through LaREB, a dry bulk fermentation in open tanks after depulping. We first came across this process with the Ethiopia Alo "Moonshadow" washed, and we find it gives an extremely unique floral and fruit character to the final cup that really enhances sweetness and depth. In the cup, we find an immediate bright purple Acai note with a intensely sweet and syrupy body that reminds us of tasting the in-house vanilla syrup at a local cafe. As it cools, classic Rosado pink floral notes come through with a lovely citric finish.
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Colombia Fray David Chiroso Washed:
Fray's farm "Rosal" sits at 1,900masl in the small rural town of Pabón in Urrao. Rosal sits right beside the Penderisco River, an area known for its cool breezes and stable climate, setting it up with the perfect elevation and weather for growing coffee. Fray has been in coffee for over 25 years, and after seeing the success of his neighbors' Chiroso plots back in 2011, he decided to grow his own. Now after 15 years of experience growing the varietal and honing his techniques, Fray's chiroso stood out very clearly amongst our samples from Unblended as having a remarkably loud and juicy fruited profile, with a very interesting fermentation character and a lasting floral finish. In the cup we find a delightfully process-forward juicy blue-raspberry note with an intense candied sweetness. As intense as it is, this coffee is not without nuance and we wouldn't call it overtly funky either, offering really nice mandarin orange and orange blossom tones as it cools, with a lasting florality that lingers on the finish.
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Colombia Pablo Montoya Chiroso Washed:
Just a little further up from Fray's farm in Pabón, at 2,100masl, sits a second generation coffee farm managed by Pablo Montoya. Despite being one of 6 siblings, when his father passed away, Pablo was the only one willing to stay and carry on the family tradition of coffee farming. Now 61 years old with children of his own, Pablo has remained dedicated to coffee throughout his life, and has expanded his farmland by buying 2 additional neighboring parcels. His daughter now owns a seperate farm as well that Pablo helps manage, while his son stays at his main farm to assist with pruning, picking and processing. For the past few years, Pablo has gained a renewed interest in elevating his quality and processing standards with a great deal of focus on Chiroso. This year's harvest really exemplifies what we love about Chiroso, offering a delightfully clean and green tea/botanical forward cup. While hot, we find grassy notes of matcha or fresh green tea, with a nice citric kick in the center that reminds us of kumquat or blood orange. As it cools, a really lovely herbal tea tones begins to come through, reminding us of nettle and lemonbalm.