ANCIENT RECIPE
Consisting of the Congo single origin coffee, Kaapi Royal Plantation, Santos Cerrado, Colombia and Sidamo.
80% Arabica, 20% robusta
–> Monorigin coffee from CONGO has a balanced, sweet aroma with a slight aftertaste of toasted bread and exotic woods. A round and dense body with a very pronounced feeling of fullness. A strong taste with a touch of branches and spices and a pleasant presence of notes reminiscent of toasted almonds and bitter cocoa.
–> Kaapi Royale
This grade, first introduced in the 1992-93 crop year, shows India’s commitment to the Specialty Coffee Trade.
To be called Kaapi Royale, 95% of the beans must stand on a sieve with round holes 6.70 mm in diameter (17 screen) and 100% must stand on 6.65 mm sieve. No peaberries, broken beans, bits, blacks, brown or foreign matter is permitted.
Suggested Uses
We recommend use of this premium coffee in three specific applications:
First, to fortify milk based espresso beverages: When milk makes up a significant part of the drink, coffee flavors become muted and most espresso blends are too mild to power through the milk. Addition of Kaapi Royale helps to cut into the milk and fortify the Arabica coffee flavors. It also adds to the European flavor profile that no Arabica can do.
Secondly, to enhance the crema in an espresso: Kaapi Royale helps to maintain ample crema that is the ear-mark of a high quality espresso. In our experience, Robusta does not necessarily produce more crema, but it alters the surface tension sufficiently to make the crema bubbles last much longer. Proprietary blends containing Kaapi Royale have produced crema so rich that it takes twenty minutes before it breaks in the middle to reveal a dark brew underneath.
Thirdly, as a component in a high caffeine blend: Since Kaapi Royale contains roughly twice the caffeine of Arabica, such blends give that extra.
Cerrado coffee is generally clean with a good body (creamy mouthfeel), low acidity, well-balanced, and often exhibiting a nutty and even slightly caramelly flavor when light-roasted, perhaps even malty, though more chocolaty if given a darker roast.
Coffee growing elevations in the Cerrado region average about 850 meters and the growing areas are huge, providing large quantities of coffee.
Mechanical harvesting and mass processing are the norm with Cerrado coffee, providing large amounts of coffee which is exported from the country.
The relatively flat topography of the Cerrado region makes it possible to utilize mechanical harvesting while also assuring some consistency of quality in choosing the optimal time to pick the coffee beans, which generally do not ripen all at once – different fruit ripen at different times over a period of one to four months.
–> Colombia
Geography and climate
Colombia has just about the perfect geography for growing coffee, a sensitive crop which needs exactly the right conditions to thrive. The richness of flavour for which Colombian coffee is celebrated is mainly down to an excellent climate, perfect soil and the exact right amount of rainfall. Coffee thrives in places with at least 200 centimetres (80 inches) of rainfall per year, as well as in locations where the temperature never falls below freezing.
Colombia’s mountainous terrain, tropical location, high rainfall – but with just the right amount of sunlight, too – and relatively mild climate make for an unbelievably perfect coffee-growing country. People often say that Colombia was blessed with its amazing biodiversity and friendly locals, but if anything, its greatest blessing has been an ideal climate and geography for growing some of the world’s best coffee.
The growing and harvesting process
This factor cannot be underestimated when it comes to producing top-notch coffee. It’s not enough to have the perfect climate and terrain if your methods of growing and collecting coffee beans are sloppy or poorly executed. The best coffee is grown on steep slopes, surrounded ideally by trees and banana plants – which provide much-needed shade and prevent the beans being scorched in the hot sun – and every bean is picked by hand. Yes, you read that right: each one of the nearly 600,000 coffee producers in Colombia picks every bit of their harvest by hand.
This hand-picking process is not to be underestimated. A machine cannot tell the difference between green beans, unripe beans, overripe beans and the ideal coffee cherry. But a human being can, and the hard work and blistered fingers of tens of thousands of coffee pickers is testament to the hard nature of their work; however, it pays off for the coffee-lover, with the selection process meaning that only the very best coffee beans make it to your cup (although the bad beans still get processed and, sadly, end up in the cups of most Colombians, with the top-quality stuff destined for foreign mugs).
The type of coffee
Coffee isn’t just coffee. There are two different types of coffee bean: arabica and robusta (as well as new varieties produced within those two species). Colombia, with its perfect terrain and climate, is one of the only countries that produce 100% arabica beans. But what does this have to do with the quality of Colombian coffee?
It’s simple, really. Arabica is widely considered to be the superior bean, and it is blessed with a sweeter and lighter taste, as well as less caffeine – about half the amount – and stronger acidic notes. In short, arabica produces a tastier, richer cup of coffee than robusta, and Colombia’s 100% arabica status is bound to add up to some pretty amazing coffee.
As we mentioned, there’s nothing that can be done to rescue even the finest coffee on earth if the roast is dreadful, it’s been stored poorly or you simply dump boiling water over the grounds and expect world-class coffee. However, if you are looking to enjoy a cup of the finest coffee in the world, look no further than Colombia for your beans. And now you know exactly why Colombian coffee is so good!
ETHIOPIAN COFFEE BEANS – SIDAMO
For hundreds of years, Ethiopia has provided some of the world’s best reviewed single origin premium coffee beans. In general, Ethiopian coffees are best known for their complexity with a pungent, winey quality and a distinct wildness in their acidity.
Altitude Range: 1,500 – 2,200 meters above sea levelLanguage Spoken: AmharicHarvest: November – FebruaryAnnual Coffee Production: 6,600,000 bags (2013)Common Varieties: Arabica, native heirloom varieties.Avg Farm Size: In general, small plantations.
ETHIOPIAN COFFEE REVIEW: TASTING NOTES
Also grown in the south are the full-bodied and complex Sidamo coffees (or Sidama) with their rich mouthfeel and bright finish. Sidamo green coffee beans are often less expensive than their Yirgacheffe counterparts, but reflect a better value in terms of price-to-quality.
The eastern region of Ethiopia, best known for its dry processed (unwashed; natural) coffees, produces the Harrars with their fruity or winey tones, complex blueberry notes, bright (sometimes brilliant) acidity, and with a medium to heavy body that has a dry edge to it. Harrar coffees are a distinctive wild-varietal specific to the region, and are hand processed by locals.
The western region of Ethiopia produces the Ghimbi coffee beans distinguished by their rich, sharp acidity and complexity of flavors and aromas.
A more specific categorization divides Ethiopia into nine distinct growing regions: Yirgacheffes, Sidamo, Harrar, Bebeka, Teppi, Limu, Djimma, Illubabor, Lekempti, Wellega and Gimbi. There’s no Best Ethiopian Coffee, with preferences varying depending on personal tastes.
BEST ETHIOPIAN COFFEE BEANS
There are three top coffee-producing regions in Ethiopia,with each coffee-growing region producing a truly distinct coffee.
- Ethiopian Yirgacheffe
- Ethiopian Sidamo
- Ethiopian Harrar
The southern Gedeo zone of Ethiopia, known for its wet processed (washed) coffees, produces the spicy, fragrant Yirgacheffes with their delicate body, sweet flavor and floral aroma including shimmering notes of citrus. These coffee beans are consistently some of the highest rated in the world, and while often pricey, are much more affordable than most Konas or Jamaican Blue Mountain. Natural growing methods (including pest control) made Organic Certification an easy sell to farmers, and Fair Trade Organic certified coffees are abundant.
While Yirgacheffe is technically a part of Sidama, their higher quality and name-recognition allows them to be separated out.
