{"id":5670,"date":"2019-04-29T20:53:35","date_gmt":"2019-04-30T01:53:35","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/coffeecantata.co\/?p=5670"},"modified":"2019-04-29T20:53:42","modified_gmt":"2019-04-30T01:53:42","slug":"review-sparrow-coffee-kenya-iriguini-chicago-illinois","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/coffeecantata.co\/?p=5670","title":{"rendered":"Review: Sparrow Coffee Kenya Iriguini (Chicago, Illinois)"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

I’ve written up a bit more detail regarding Sparrow Coffee<\/a> in my review of their Ethiopia Guji<\/a>, but for anyone unfamiliar with them, Sparrow is known for being one of Chicago’s most exclusive roasters, providing custom coffee blends for a long list of Michelin-starred restaurants. I picked up this single-origin at their roastery location in Chicago. They did not have any pre-printed bags available for me, but they kindly wrote down everything I needed to know for these beans.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Whole bean: Bit funky of an aroma, with lots of layers. I remember being really shocked the first time I tried a Kenyan coffee because of its complexity and almost vegetal flavor notes (cherry tomato and celery). Since then, I’ve experienced a wide variety of tastes in Kenyan coffees but this is one country where I never quite know what to expect. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

V60: I brewed this for 3:35 and the coffee that resulted was like a dark chocolate syrup. Decadent but not overly sweet.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

French press: Complex and rich cup of coffee with a really plush mouthfeel. This actually felt like drinking wine (maybe a Lodi Zinfandel?) without the boozy flavor. The taste was borderline savory. The dark chocolate notes from before were nowhere to be found here!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Chemex: Simpler flavors than the French press cup… Smoother-drinking but still interesting to sip. I kept marveling at the velvety, soft, mouthfeel with this coffee.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

AeroPress: This wasn’t my favorite method for these beans, as I felt the result came out edgy and bracing. Kind of a harsher flavor here vs. the other methods. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Summary<\/strong>: This is a robust Kenyan with notes of dark chocolate and red wine, and a really soft, luscious mouthfeel. This is one coffee tasting that did feel more like I was doing a wine tasting! <\/p>\n\n\n\n

From the roaster: No tasting notes provided<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As far as I can tell, Sparrow does not sell their coffee online, but you can pick up bags at the Naperville cafe and at their Chicago roastery, or you can sample one of dozens and dozens of custom Sparrow roasts in Michelin-starred restaurants in Chicago! <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sparrow Coffee<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Review conducted 4-5 days post-roast.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I’ve written up a bit more detail regarding Sparrow Coffee in my review of their Ethiopia Guji, but for anyone unfamiliar with them, Sparrow is known for being one of Chicago’s most exclusive roasters, providing custom coffee blends for a long list of Michelin-starred restaurants. I picked up this single-origin at their roastery location in […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":5789,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"jetpack_publicize_message":"This coffee tasting felt more like a wine tasting, with the heavy, syrupy notes of dark chocolate and red wine.","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false,"jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_options":[]},"categories":[7,156,159,155,3,154],"tags":[36,166,118],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"acf":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/coffeecantata.co\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/04\/SparrowCoffeeRoasterylogo.jpg","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":5668,"url":"https:\/\/coffeecantata.co\/?p=5668","url_meta":{"origin":5670,"position":0},"title":"Review: Sparrow Coffee Ethiopia Guji (Chicago, Illinois)","date":"April 23, 2019","format":false,"excerpt":"I can't even remember now how Sparrow Coffee got on my radar, but they were the one Chicago-based roaster for whom I was willing to go out of my way in order to buy their beans. I even scheduled my Friday flight to arrive in enough time that I could\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Africa"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/coffeecantata.co\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/04\/qt9ld65ruu98m7cumvde.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":1030,"url":"https:\/\/coffeecantata.co\/?p=1030","url_meta":{"origin":5670,"position":1},"title":"Review: Quasar Coffee Rwanda Kibuye Valley (Chicago, Illinois)","date":"August 15, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"I kind of take for granted these days that pretty much all companies will have websites. It was a surprise when in the process of writing this review, I could barely find any hint of an online presence for Quasar Coffee Roasters, outside of a sparse Instagram feed and a\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Africa"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/coffeecantata.co\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/08\/tn_IMG_1217.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":809,"url":"https:\/\/coffeecantata.co\/?p=809","url_meta":{"origin":5670,"position":2},"title":"Mini review: Intelligentsia Decaf Librarian’s Blend (Chicago, Illinois)","date":"July 6, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"This bag of Intelligentsia was a gift for my friend Julee, but she generously offered to let me have some of the beans in order to do a review. 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I have never had a coffee from Burundi; most of the African coffees I have sampled to this point have been\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Africa"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/coffeecantata.co\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/04\/IMG_0918-e1430540460991.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":5923,"url":"https:\/\/coffeecantata.co\/?p=5923","url_meta":{"origin":5670,"position":4},"title":"Review: Intelligentsia Coffee Black Cat Analog Espresso (Chicago, Illinois)","date":"September 2, 2019","format":false,"excerpt":"The first time I tried Intelligentsia's Black Cat Analog Espresso was in a coffee shop. I was in Northern California for work back in 2015 and had a beautifully pulled shot at Vero's Coffee Bar in San Jose. I enjoyed it so much, I use the photo of it that\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "AeroPress"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/coffeecantata.co\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/IMG-7216-e1562605959648.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":5664,"url":"https:\/\/coffeecantata.co\/?p=5664","url_meta":{"origin":5670,"position":5},"title":"Review: Abacus Coffee Roasters Algorithm Blend (Chicago, Illinois)","date":"March 25, 2019","format":false,"excerpt":"I bought this bag from the folks at Javaya, whom I've written about before. 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