Kaffebox Advent Calendar 2021 Box Set 2
Dec 13
Ruby Batian MK2
Producer: Macho & Ivica Cvetanovski
Origin: Meru, Kenya
Roaster: Coffea Circulor
Cultivar: Batian
Process: Natural, Hypoxia, PureProcess
Altitude: 1500 masl
Roast Date: 19.11.2021
Review
This coffee presents with a concentration of berry flavors that was intense with mild acidity and slight astringency. It improved as it cooled, with a flavor profile of fruit compote predominantly. A second brew at a 1:15 ratio and a few more days of rest yielded a more interesting cup of orange spice, melon, tropical notes, brown sugar sweetness, a juicy aftertaste and tangy mouthfeel. Strawberry notes emerged on the finish.
Dec 14
Sandra Milena Mora
Producer: Sandra Milena Mora
Origin: Palestina, Colombia
Roaster: Morgon Coffee Roasters
Cultivar: Tabi
Process: Washed
Altitude: 1700 masl
Roast Date: 19.11.2021
Review
Sweet as a candy apple and silky smooth with lingering aftertaste, this coffee tastes of apples and chocolate supported by a soft acidity. The brew is balanced and approachable.
Note: Tabi is a coffee cultivar that was bred and selected for in Colombia and it combines high cup quality characteristics and resistance to coffee leaf rust. As such it is still more rare than common as a specialty coffee. When the coffee trees on Sandra and Hector Mora’s farm were severely infected with leaf rust in 2013 they had to change something to save the farm. Because they are against the use of pesticides and only use organic fertilizer they became early adaptors of the variety Tabi, a leaf rust-resistant plant that is a hybrid of the Arabica varietals Bourbon, Typica, and the Robusta/Arabica hybrid varietal Timor.
Dec 15
Kiahia
Producer: James Mugumo Munyiri
Origin: Nyeri, Kenya
Roaster: Tim Wendelboe
Cultivar: SL28 & SL34
Process: Washed
Altitude: 1700-1850 masl
Review
Juicy sweetness balanced by subtle notes of hops in a fruity silky brew that is berry-dominant. Blackberry and mulberry conserve flavor notes mingle with mild astringency and tart red apple acidity to the point of being cabernet-like. Notes of butterscotch, maple and vanilla give it a sweet finish as it cools.
Dec 16.
Juan Sepulveda
Producer: Juan Sepulveda
Origin: Narino, Colombia
Roaster: Supreme Roastworks
Cultivar: Caturra, Colombia
Process: Natural, Bomba de Fruta
Roast Date: 22.11.2021
Review
This coffee offers a compelling and complex floral aroma profile and tasting notes of fresh red apples and blueberry compote balanced by soft citric acidity. The mouthfeel is silky and the aftertaste is pleasant and lingering. There is a strong undercurrent of caramel sweetness and a spray-of-roses florality that is intense. The sweetness of berries hold on as it cools and a hint of lime emerges on the finish leave this natural tasting clean.
Notes: Bomba de Fruta. What is it? Read what the coffee importing company, Nordic Approach, says about this processing concept. “It is not common to find coffees being produced as naturals in Colombia. However, we have been buying some natural coffees from an individual producer in Antioquia. Bomba de Fruta is a concept we created to refer to these natural lots, which literally means “fruit bomb” in Spanish. With a better understanding and knowledge of fermentation, and with ways of controlling this, we started to discuss processing coffees with producers. This allowed us to find different ways to achieve more fruit and still great coffee."
Dec 17
Deman Estate
Producer: Deman Estate
Origin: Meru, Kenya
Roaster: Nord
Cultivar: Batian & Ruiru 11
Process: Natural
Altitude: 1500-5100 masl
Review
Rich at first sip! Blueberry and chocolate in a full-bodied brew that is clean, silky and almost creamy. Pecan, cinnamon, maple and toffee accent the main notes in a beautiful, balanced coffee with the soft acidity of berry juices and very mild astringency of black tea. It is a dense coffee with fudgy mouthfeel that creates a dramatic textural effect.
Dec 19
Dario Hernandez
Producer: Dario Hernandez
Origin: Antigua, Guatemala
Roaster: Kaffa
Cultivar: Bourbon, Caturra
Process: Washed
Altitude: 1600-1800 masl
Roast Date: 22.11.2021
Review
This Guatemalan coffee tastes of chocolate, nougat and sweetened condensed milk with a graham cracker flavor note that adds interest. It’s a quaffable coffee that will surely please many palates.
Dec 20
Los Pirineos
Producer: Diego & Fabiola Baraona
Origin: Tecapa, Usulutan, El Salvador
Roaster: Tim Wendelboe
Cultivar: Pacamara
Process: Honey
Altitude: 1600 masl
Roast Date: 22.11.2021
Review
This coffee is noteworthy for the refined and intense quality of its berry and dark chocolate flavor notes such that the berry flavors are wine-and the dark chocolate notes liquor-like. The mouthfeel is smooth with medium-light body and the aftertaste lingering and pleasant. Sugar cane sweetness and berry acidity and in perfect balance while the dark chocolate fades into cocoa powder notes as it cools. A very interesting coffee and reminds me of one I tasted a few months ago also from Tim Wendleboe - Finca Tamana from Colombia, a washed coffee.
Here’s some of what Tim’s notes say about Finca Tamana:
“The majority of Finca Tamana is planted with Variedad Colombia and a little bit of Caturra so you might say it is the benchmark coffee from this farm. Both cultivars taste very similar here with pronounced sweet caramel and panela flavours with subtle fruity and herbal notes. Expect a caramel like (or panela if you are Colombian) sweetness with a clean and smooth mouthfeel and subtle fruity flavours.”
Dec 21
Montero Geisha
Producer: Montero Family, La Pastora
Origin: Tarrazu, Costa Rica
Roaster: Morgon Coffee Roasters
Cultivar: Geisha
Process: Natural
Altitude: 2000 masl
Roast Date: 19.11.2021
Review
This Gesha from the famed Tarrazu region of Costa Rica reveals a depth and complexity immediately with aromas of flowers and fruit. There are notes of pineapple, stewed strawberries, mingling with marshmallow sweetness and citric acidity, all of which work out in perfect balance. With the strawberry candy aromas and silky smooth mouthfeel this cup holds your interest to the very end. Kudos.
Dec 22
La Leona
Producer: San Marcos small holders
Origin: San Marcos, Guatemala
Roaster: Nord
Cultivar: Caturra, Bourbon
Process: Washed
Roast Date: 21.11.2021
Review
Creamy caramel and milk chocolate notes and honeyed sweetness are balanced by orange soda pop acidity in this richly sweet brew. Notes of green apple, maple and toffee and honeysuckle flowers punctuate the cup. This is a kind of quaffable coffee that comes from Guatemala - its a “sweet to the last drop” brew making every sip a pleasure. Wonderful!
Dec 23
Buku Sayisa
Producer: 430 small holders in the Buku Sayisa Village
Origin: Guji, Ethiopia
Roaster: Kaffa
Cultivar: Dega
Process: Natural
Altitude: 2000-2550
Roast Date: 21.11.2021
Review
Creamy and lush, this coffee gives the impression on first sip of fruit punch with notes of strawberry, raspberry, lemon custard, honey and tangerine. Satiny mouthfeel, clean, sweet and crisp champagne-like finish. A second brew using a V60 dripper (instead of the Origami dripper) produced a delicate satiny cup with flavors of cherry, plum, vanilla and maple and floral aromatics of lavender. The cup is balanced by a moderate acidity giving a fresh crisp finish - much like sparkling brut rose on the palate. Excellent.
Notes: This exceptional coffee was grown at the staggering altitude of 2350 masl in the Buku district of Ethiopia where the terrain is so uneven all the cherries are delivered by horseback to the washing station.
Dec 24
Chombi CCX
Producer: Altieri/Roger Pitti & Coffea Circulor/Ivica Cvetanovski
Origin: Callejón Seco, Boquete, Panama
Roaster: Coffea Circulor
Cultivar: Geisha
Process: Proprietary, Natural, Dried in cherry
Altitude: 1850 masl
Roast Date: 19.11.2021
Review
This is a stand out coffee from Boquete Panama with classic sensory attributes of the Gesha variety: floral, fruity and elegant. The juice of sweet cherries, guava, vanilla and maple-bourbon notes mingle with powerful floral aromatics of coffee blossoms in a satiny-syrupy brew. Notes of champagne give this coffee a rare distinction with a sparkling clean bright finish on the palate. Balanced and elegant.