API, Mushonyi Washing Station

Name: API, Mushonyi Washing Station
Roaster:  Nama mame hompo
Roasting degree: Full-City
Area: Mushonyi, Lake Kivu, Rutsiro, Rwanda
Variety:  Red Bourbon
Grade: N/A
Screen: N/A
Altitude: 1,828m
Defect: N/A
Processing Method: Fully Washed, Sun-Dried

【Flavor scale】
Aroma: 4
Sweetness: 4
Acidity: 3
Bitterness: 3
Richness: 4          ※Grade 1 to 5 

【Impression】
Medium Light, soothing aroma, nutty, raw cacao, echire butter, caramel, a touch of Boysenberry as a top note, mellow, savory, well-balanced sweetness and bitterness, molasses sweetness with raw cashews, maple syrup, raw chocolate, thin layer of mild bitterness on bottom, a tint of fresh red currents like sourness, mellow juicy sweetness as a long lasting aftertaste.
Satisfying cup, full flavor.


【Note】
Rwanda produces strong and impressive flavor coffee and has established its status in specialty coffee community.  As 2011 COE winner, API, Agro-Processing Industries, Mushonyi processes clear but full bodied coffee beans. 

Viphya Hills Cooperative, Khanga

Name: Viphya Hills Cooperative, Khanga 
Roaster:  Doi Coffee
Roasting degree: Full-City
Area: Khanga, Viphya, Rumphi-region, Malawi
Variety:  S Agaro, Catimor, Mundo Novo, Geisha
Grade: AA
Screen: 17/18
Altitude: 1,200～1,500m
Defect: 0/300g
Processing Method: Fully Washed

【Flavor scale】
Aroma: 5
Sweetness: 3
Acidity: 2
Bitterness: 2
Richness: 3
※Grade 1 to 5 

【Impression】

Medium to Medium dark, dark chocolate, roasted wheat and chestnuts, almonds, a touch of bourbon vanilla, cinnamon, lightly silky, clean, mellow, well-balanced sweetness and bitterness, acidity of fresh apricot, green grape, nutty sweetness, roasted peanuts, cashew, floaty-chiffony layer of clean bitterness as cacao, mellow nutty sweetness as a long lasting aftertaste.    

【Note】
 Viphya Hills is one of the six components of Mzuzu Coffee Planters co-operative Union, located on altitude 1200 to 1500m of Misuku hill.  Over 3,000 members compose The Union and they grow/produce high quality coffee beans, such as Geisha, at their own micro-lot farms.  The lest of 5 farms are as follows: Phoka Hills (1300 -2500masl), Nkhatabay highlands overlooking Lake Malawi (1000 -2000masl), South East Mzimba on the south of Viphya plateau (1200 - 1700mals), and Ntchisi East (1200-1800masl).
S Agaro is a unique hybrid developed in Malawi.   

cafe de corazón

Here again:cafe de corazón.
Located in Nishi-jin, Kyoto, cafe de corazón is a homey style neighborhood  coffee roaster and cafe.  

The owner roaster has trained at "Cafe Bach", Minami-senjyu, owned by a legendary coffee meister/roaster Mamoru Taguchi, and inherited a roasting machine customized specially for Bach roasting.  

Cafe de corazón offers specialty coffee with various roasting degrees, whose flavor is very clean and clear.  The owner definitely has his opinion.  He may not verbalize, but he quietly expresses and concentrates in a cup.  There are freshly baked home made pastries offered with coffee.  For me, they are rather pricey but has decent flavor with selected ingredients.  The flavor of coffee are gradually blending right in with the location and the owner, Masaru Kawaguchi.

The Mill

Here again; The Mill, the best place to stay all day.
The Mill is, as we all know, a joint venture between Josey Baker Bread and Four Barrel Coffee.  

The mill is one of few serves freshly baked sour dough breads, just out of oven!!!, together with a fresh cup of specialty coffee with freshly roasted coffee  beans, both with choices.  San Francisco has several nice cafes and Kiosk style coffee stands, but no other place manages to keep specialists there, both Barista and baker. 

Evaluating too high?  I do not think so.
The Mill opens 7am to 7pm( 9pm on Mon.) and you may have difficulty to find a seat anytime during their open hours.  This has a big enough capacity more than 50 person , but difficult to find a place to dine in especially in the afternoon.
There are many just come and grab a just-out-of-oven "Josey Baker Bread", besides clouds of people seated with a piece of favorite bread and coffee.  

Talking about coffee beans in a bag, it might be better to go Four Barrel Coffee Valencia if you have enough time.  Maybe just a feeling around, but it makes more tasty if enjoyable roasting aroma is there when we grab a bag.  

Amazingly, Josey Baker Bread has published the cook book , "Josey Baker Bread", already!!  Together with the book, there were a series of specialty ingredients, such as a package of stone-ground baking flowers and so on.  (Hope these promise to bring "juicy breads like the Mill offers here.)

This is the movement: A good cup of coffee needs a better pastries.  Not ordinarily, but tasty enough to compete with excellent coffee.  Even Starbucks offers La Boulange pastries nationally, although the flavor of them ditches "freshly baked" and "specially selected" copy.    

Anyway, Blue bottle has been offering Freshly baked waffles together with a cup of freshly poured coffee.  There are always a line at Ferry Building.  Four Barrel Coffee offers variety of toasts using Josey Baker Bread even at Portola Kiosk.  

San Francisco is the city for Foodies and we all welcome this lovely movements for coffee industry.

Finca Buenos Aires

Name: Finca Buenos Aires
Roaster:  Doi Coffee
Roasting degree: Full-City
Area: Nueva　Segovia, Nicaragua
Variety:  Maracatu (or maracaturra)
Grade: N/A
Screen: N/A
Altitude: 1,200～1,500m
Defect: N/A
Processing Method: Fully Washed

【Flavor scale】
Aroma: 5
Sweetness: 3
Acidity: 2
Bitterness: 2
Richness: 3
※Grade 1 to 5 

【Impression】
Medium Dark, Dutch cocoa, honey, dry roasted wheat, wheat cereal, well balanced bitterness and sweetness, creamy, honey like mild sweetness, hazelnuts cream, almond chocolate, milky, fruity acidity as red apple, Gala and granny smith, natural sweetness followed by light acidity, mellow sweetness as a long lasting aftertaste.

Unlike how it look, this Maracatu variety in Nicaragua has delicate and sensitive flavor.  So does Maragogype, sizey beans often requires sensitivity in roastin, although this may gives better flavor in deeper roasting degree.    

【Note】
Lovely 'Maragogype' look, long nose huge beans.  The Maracatu variety from Nicaragua is a hybrid of Maragogype and Caturra
Maracatu is a hybrid of Maragogype and Caturra in Nicaragua. Maragogype is considered as a natural mutation from Typica while Caturra as from Bourbon.  Latin and Central America produces series of hybrid varieties from Coffea Arabica for more  disease-resistant and more fruitful trees.  Often new varieties has poorer cup quality, in terms of flavor, but recent specialty coffee movements motivates to “create” higher quality and sophisticated cups together with to adjust growth environments.   
  

Finca Alcatraz, Wilfredo Ule Vargas

Name: Finca Alcatraz, Wilfredo Ule Vargas
Roaster:  Sightglass
Roasting degree:
Area: Huila, Oporapa, Colombia
Variety:  Caturra
Grade: N/A
Screen: N/A
Altitude: 1,780m～
Defect: N/A
Processing Method: Washed, patio dried

【Impression】

Light to medium light, citric, lemony, red grape fruits, concord grape, lime, Madeline orange, high in acidity, a touch of light tangy-ness as matured red wine, bitter persimmon, shinny and bright, lime like freshness as a long lasting aftertaste.   

【Note】
Beautiful beans but rather small and rough surface.  
Sightglass roast always leaves full of silver skin, chaff, which makes coffee flavor cloudy.  There would be special technique to extract fine flavored coffee out of so called Scandinavian roasting beans, but I need more experience and blessings to figure out how.  Some says silver skin creates an aspect of flavor, which could be true for the light-roast fans and supporters.  In my opinion, coffee flavor could be more clear and more friendly if there are less chaff.  

On cozy afternoon, if there are enough time to enjoy a cup, it could be better to sift after grind beans to remove "silver skin meal" before pour hot water.


Talking about Scandinavian roasting, Ritual Coffee carries highly edgy ones, "accelerated" raw beans flavors.  Sightglass is lighter roasting but not "Scandinavian" enough compared with Ritual.  U.S. "specialty" coffee has benefit of a bigger capacity and higher capability roasting machines: however, this lighter roasting movements may be the back way to minimize the benefits since lighter roasting technique are developed for/with small-batch machines w/ limited land benefit.       

Finca San Juan

Name: Finca San Juan Microlot
Roaster:  Doi Coffee
Roasting degree: Full-City
Area: La Libertad, Huehuetenango, Guatemala
Variety:  Caturra, Catuai
Grade: N/A
Screen: N/A
Altitude: 1,525m～
Defect: N/A
Processing Method: fully washed, patio dried

【Flavor scale】
Aroma: 4
Sweetness: 3
Acidity: 2
Bitterness: 4
Richness: 3        ※Grade 1 to 5 

【Impression】
Medium, mellow, freshly baked vanilla cake, maple syrup, cocoa, roasted almond, a touch of lemon peel, chocolaty, silky texture, bold but smooth, deep mellow sweetness along with tangy bitterness, high citric acidity as a top flavor, raw cacao nib, roasted pecan, raw cashew, earthy spiciness, mild bitterness as a long lasting aftertaste.  Acidity impression changes when cup is chilled.   

【Note】
Unfortunately, there are not much information available about San Juan Microlot, besides the farm location.  Located on a slope of Acatenango, a stratovolcano.  Hope more transparency, though I understand Microlot farms are hidden treasure for importers in this specialty movement.