This month in Coffee Subscription Tasting with Friends, I discuss two coffees, both Finca Tamana SL 28 and Finca Tamana Variedad Colombia + Caturra with Anders Valde, First Ever World AeroPress Champion, photographer and longtime Tim Wendelboe Espresso Bar guest. The first coffee we taste is a mix of the two cultivars Variedad Colombia Caturra from Elias Roa in Pital, Huila, Colombia. It was harvested in June/July 2017. Like all of Elias’ coffees it is produced with an intense focus on quality. Cherries are hand sorted before they are processed to make sure only ripe cherries are processed together. The Colombia cultivar is related to the Castillo which we sent out in May, but I find it to be softer and sweeter. One of the very best of the traditional varieties from this farm. The flavour notes are that of brown sugar, citrus & red currants.
Then we have a cup of Finca Tamana SL28. We planted these SL28 seeds with Elias 4 years ago in early 2014, then planted the trees in 2015. It’s uncommon to grow it outside of Kenya and Tanzania. The SL28 at Finca Tamana has some of the classic SL28 flavours, but tastes very different from the Kenyan SL28 coffees. It has a bigger body, lower acidity and an interesting spicy and sweet note that makes it really different from the brighter and more intense Kenyan grown SL28. This is the December 2017 harvest from Elias at Finca Tamana and it’s grown at 1650 masl. In this coffee, I am tasting black currant and floral flavours.
Coffee Subscription Tasting with Friends – June 2018 from Tim Wendelboe on Vimeo.