Dear Coffee Subscribers,
I hope you all had a great summer with loads of good iced coffees. We had a lot of interesting and positive feedback on the natural processed coffees we sent out last month and I really hope that you liked them. If natural coffees were not your cup of coffee then you have nothing to fear as this month we are back with what I believe are some of the best washed coffees you can get from Honduras. I am actually very excited for this month’s coffees as two of them are “brand new” coffee varieties from the Caballero family and they are all exclusive for our subscribers.
To learn more about them make sure you watch the latest Coffee Subscription Tasting with Friends video where I am joined by one of our team members Fotis Daflas. Fotios has been working with us as a barista since January 2017 and as a roaster since September 2018 last year. In this episode, we try all 3 of the Caballero coffees below, which come from their farm in Honduras. Marysabel and Moises are very good friends of ours and famous farmers who sell coffee all over the world. We have a very good relationship with them, so much so that I stay at their place when I’m there, totally spoiled with all the delicious food that Marysabel prepares for us. She is a great cook and she knows I love food. Anyway, watch on to learn more about:
– this month’s coffees
– how a Honduran SL28 differs from a Kenyan SL28
– what are the classic pacamara fruit flavours
– what it means to call something a “balanced” coffee
– which of these coffees remind me of lemonade; and
– what other coffees the Caballeros grow on their farm…
Enjoy.
Filter & Espresso
Caballero SL28, Honduras 1 bag
Producer: Marysabel Caballero & Moises Herrera
Harvest: February – March 2019
Origin: Chinacla, La Paz, Honduras
Cultivar: SL28
Process: Washed
Flavour notes: Red berries, caramel & cocoa
This is the first harvest of the SL 28 variety that we planted together with Moises and Marysabel 5 years ago. We have been waiting patiently to taste the first beans from these plants, and had a small sample last year that tasted quite average. This year the volumes are bigger and also the flavours are more intense. As you may know, the SL28 variety is the one commonly grown in Kenya and is famous for its fruity black currant and red berry flavours. We have planted and tasted the SL28 both from Nacimiento in Honduras and Finca Tamana in Colombia and now it is time to taste the one from the Caballeros. They are all slightly different but all share the same fruity characters.
Producer: Marysabel Caballero & Moises Herrera
Harvest: February – March 2019
Origin: Chinacla, La Paz, Honduras
Cultivar: Pacamara
Process: Washed
Flavour notes: Tropical fruit, orange peel & cocoa
This is the coffee from the same trees that we competed with and helped us win the 2018 Nordic Roaster Competition. It is a great example of a fragrant Pacamara with loads of tropical fruit and orange peel. This is on my top 5 list of the best Pacamara coffees I have tasted in my career and is a really sweet and complex coffee with loads of intensity.
Caballero Etiope, Honduras 3 bags
Producer: Marysabel Caballero & Moises Herrera
Harvest: February – March 2019
Origin: Chinacla, La Paz, Honduras
Cultivar: «Etiopian»
Process: Washed
Flavour notes: Citrus, floral & cocoa
This is the first harvest of Moises and Marysabel’s Ethiopian variety. Some years ago they got a handful of seeds of this variety and it has taken a lot of time to plant enough trees in order to get a decent production. Although we are not sure what specific variety it is, we do know that it is one of the Ethiopian landrace varieties. This is confirmed when you taste the coffee as it does have subtle flavours of citrus and jasmine very much like you will find in typical washed Ethiopian coffees. The difference is that the Caballero’s Ethiopian variety also has a lot of the classic cocoa and chocolate characters that you can always expect from their coffees.
Cheers,
Tim