Since I had just reviewed a Colombian coffee from Cultivar, I wasn’t intending to pick up another Colombian coffee for a while, but on a recent visit to Houndstooth, this was the freshest coffee available, so I acquiesced. There are worse things in life than repeating an origin two weeks in a row!
Whole bean: cocoa powder, blackberries and raspberries.
French press: Semisweet chocolate and strawberries. It really did taste and smell like chocolate-covered strawberries!
Chemex: I brewed this a bit long (4:19) but the end result was pleasant, if sort of generic in flavor. There was very little fruit.
AeroPress: The flavor was like bittersweet chocolate, and it had a grassy finish. Once I added water, the grassy note disappeared and it morphed into milk chocolate with a really sweet, fudgy finish that tasted exactly like the Jelly Belly chocolate pudding-flavored jelly beans.
V60: Brewed on the faster end (2:35), the coffee was just “fine” – I wrote nondescript in my notes. However, at 3:30 extraction, it had a buttery flavor with just a hint of cherry cordial to it.
Summary: I think I tend to prefer my Colombian coffees in immersion methods, and this one is no exception. French press = chocolate-covered strawberries. Delightful! But if you want a thick, fudgy, sweet experience, brew this in an AeroPress, add a little water, and try not to drop your jaw too much… you might get coffee all over your lap.
From the roaster: Cacao nibs and berry preserves