Beans: Udo's Micro lot
Roaster: Akai-mi coffee
Roasting Degree: Medium
Area: Nueva Segovia, Nicaragua
Finca La Virgen
Altitude: 1,250～1,300m
Varieties: Catura, Burbon
Processing: Natural
Screen: N/A
Grade: N/A
【
Impression】
Medium, fruity citric aroma, grapefruits and lime, cacao, lightly jasmine, bay leaf, mellow, clear but rich in flavor, juicy, well balanced sweetness and bitterness, sweetness as maple syrup, cane juice, plum, a touch of citric and cacao acidity, lime, lemon, fruity acidity of fresh green grape, raspberry, crispy bitterness, juicy sweetness as a long lasting aftertaste.
【Note】
Finca La Virgen August 2012 →
La Virgen is often introduced in Akaimi Coffee, which one of the COE nominated estate in Nicaragua.
Beans: Seasonal Special Blend ~Winter 2013~
Roaster: Akai-mi Coffee
Roasting Degree: N/A, After-mix ～ Blend
【Impression】
Medium, aromaful, lemony citric impression followed by Almond flower, Jasmine, sweet aroma as roasted almonds, hazelnuts, toasty, crisp, focused, well balanced bitterness and sweetness, round, hazy sourness follows after dignified sweetness, layers of sweetness raps dark chocolaty bitterness & spiciness, mellow sweetness as a long lasting aftertaste.
Tangy bitterness grows when cup is chilled.
【Note】
Warm winter welcome enjoyment from Akai-mi coffee. This year, Loma Grande adds sweet but heavy and rich flavor. Seasonal blend always entertain and surprise coffee geeks with a creativeness of the roaster. Also, they reminds us of that coffee is balance and creation of flavor, aroma, and so on... Thank you always for reminding me the core of coffee.
This time, Loma Grande and Udo's Micro lot came with this one.
Beans: Eleven Of Spades ～ Blend
Roaster: EXTRACTO COFFEE ROASTERS
Roasting degree: Medium
【Impression】
Light to medium, flavorful, lightly citric, chocolaty, almond flower, sweet, well balanced, smooth, juicy, fruity, top note sweetness of fresh pear, apricot and plum, Polysaccharides like slow sweetness, brown rice malts, plane almond milk, oat milk, clean bitterness, nutmeg like spiciness hidden, multi-layers of sweetness as a long lasting after taste.
【Note】
First one to try for mellow coffee lover enjoys pour-over. "Eleven of Spades" is Extracto's signature blend and the first one to recommend for first timers to bring home. Eleven of Spade stays rather lighter compared to "Seattle roast" but reminds me of Blue Bottle in SF.
Beans: Yamazakura ～Blend～
Roaster: Sepia Coffee
Roasting degree: Medium
【Impression】
Light to Medium, sweet nutty aroma as almond butter, maple syrup on a hot frying pan, slight citric tone as yuzu on the bottom, light texture, watery, juicy, well-balanced sweetness and bitterness, honey like layered sweetness, mellow bitterness, tint of fruity sourness, pear, black berry, blue berry, delicate and refreshing, juicy sweetness as a long lasting after taste.
Yamazakura ”山桜" means Wild cherry blossoms. This blend is characterized with fruity & flowery aroma combined with soothing after taste inspired by silently blossomed dark pink yamazakura.
【Note】
Ymazakura is specially created for Cafe Yama by Sepia Coffee, coffee bottega Sepia in Sakaide city, Kagawa-ken. The owner of Cafe Yama performs pour-over with HARIO and offer aroma-ful cup with their original blend, Ymazakura and Yamabuki.
These two beans can be purchased at Cafe Yama, Tadotstu in kagawa.
Cafe Yama:
1 Chome-４-３８ Sakuragawa, Tadotsu, Nakatado District, Kagawa Prefecture, Japan
Beans: Uganda BugisuAA
Roaster: Beans Tei
Roasting degree: Medium
Area: Bugisu sub-region, Eastern Uganda
Altitude: 1,600～1,800m
Varieties: Typica
Processing: Washed, Sun-dry
Screen: S18 up
Grade: AA
【Flavor scale】
Aroma: 4
Sweetness: 4
Acidity: 2
Bitterness: 3
Richness: 3
※Grade 1 to 5
【Impression】
Medium body, aromatic, sweet and floral, caramel, red currants, cacao, apple flower, freshly baked whole wheat Baguettes, smooth in texture, gentle, well-balanced, buttery, mellow, rich fruity sweetness, chestnuts honey, raw almonds&cashew, bright but low tone bitterness as cacao beans, blackberry like acidity hidden, juicy sweetness as a long lasting aftertaste.
【Note】
Bugisu has been recognized as the finest coffee beans production area in the global coffee market. There are hundreds of small coffee farms, maybe individual farmers, cultivating on the western side slope of Mt. Elgon, This lot is delivered from 49 micro farms on the west slope of Mt. Elgon which cultivate naturally.
A green beans broker emphasized "Natural farming", pesticides and chemical fertilizer free farming, as the recognized point of this beans. However, this is cynic. Any chemical farming "aids" have brought by the people, countries, that the brokers are selling the cultivation. Both natural and organic farming were "usual" for the farmers in Bugisu, but now it seems "usual" has changed to the industrialized farming style.
Beans: Seasonal Blend ～Fall 3013
Roaster: Akai-mi Coffee
Degree: N/A, After mix
【Impression】
Medium body, watery texture, spicy, nutmeg, cacao nib, a touch of satsuma citrus flower aroma, juicy, layer of sweetness followed by citric acidity bottomed with tangy bitterness, maple syrup, honey, demerara sugar, caramel, lime, bitterness as dark chocolate, tangy bitterness as a long lasting aftertaste.
【Note】
Compared with Fall 2012, fall 2013 is lighter in flavor and deeper in aroma, as well as less in mellow impression.
Here is the one of Americans coffee lovers favorite, Coava coffee Roasters in Portland.
Coava is already well-known as one of the leading coffee roasters in Portland. The shop shares space with Bamboo art craft studio, called Bamboo Revolution, in an industrial area in the Southeast neighborhood. The founder, Matt Higgins, graduated from Albina Press, the up-front coffee bar in Portland, and found Coava in 2009.
Coava's cozy and unique atmosphere seems to inspire many people. Although the location is a bit away from the city center, there were people walking in and in. Their line-ups are based on U.S. trendy, Specialty Coffee, and roasting degree seems lighter than so called Seattle roast, but not on the side of Scandinavian.
Coava developed their own unique Stainless Steel coffee filter, Coava Kone Pourover Filter, and this may be only one place you can have a cup with original Pourover flavor with their filter.
Coava is the one leading Portland coffee culture. Although it is difficult to measure their success objectively, besides financial aspect, it is not too much to say Coava has consolidated their reputation as Portland's best neighborhood coffee roaster.
Seattle used to be referred as "a coffee sanctuary", maybe is now. However, the actual third wave movement is supported by other locations, such as Portland and San Francisco, where have number of hidden neighborhood roasters with much higher potential. It is very fun to smelling around these town to look for something new.
