Colourful

Brew Guide:

Best Brewed with: Suitable for Filter and Espresso

Best Rested for: 2-3 weeks

Light Roaster Influence:
We roast this blend on the lighter side, with the view that it should still work as an all-rounder for both filter and espresso. Try a modern open recipe at 18g in, 45-50g out in 25-30s when brewing as espresso to really open up the flavour, or 60g/L when brewing on filter.

In combining the excellent agronomy and modern processing in these two lots, we’re tasting: 

Aromatics of foam sweets, strawberry laces and lemon/ginger tea. In the cup it's super sweet and bright, with milk chocolate as well as blackberry & redcurrant jam as the dominant notes. There's a spicy/savoury note that reminds us of gingersnap biscuits and preserved lemon. As it cools becoming more like dried strawberries, with earl grey and chinotto soda

Traceability (Blend Version: 16)

The Story:

Colourful was born out of another concept we wanted to play with, something we felt almost criminally under-explored. There is such huge potential in combining deeply fruity and fun coffees into a blend, yet so often it’s almost seen as sacrilege, that they must be a single origin special release, or else some green coffee buyer secret police will break in and confiscate the sacks back. 

Yet who amongst us has not occasionally chucked the remnants of a special bag or two into the grinder, and found the result to be more than the sum of its parts? So in the full rebellious spirit of  resisting pretentious coffee traditions, we've sought out the most uniquely fruity and fun coffees to feature in Colourful . There's no denying that the funky, wild profile of an anaerobic or experimentally processed coffee might not be for everyone, or the sort of coffee you drink every single day. However, we believe in their ability to surprise and delight, with the objective to showcase the vibrancy and full dynamic range that coffee has to offer. Like a mug full of pick n’ mix sweets, coffee in full colour (not just black and white!).

So here we have it - Colourful. It's a year-round celebration of colour and flavour, giving us the freedom to source, blend, or even to spotlight single origins under its banner. Colourful isn't dictated by its components; instead, its essence is its flavour profile and the fun we have in creating and selecting for it.

Version 16:

Don't say we don't spoil you. Colourful - at its heart - asks the question what if we got incredibly good coffees for a blend. The processing for these ones are a bit of a mouthful but at their heart this is peak Colourful.
First up, we've got the return of a lot first featured in Colourful V8 - The "Etago ES" lot from Lot 20 Coffee in Kenya. Sidney Kibet - the founder of Lot 20 - has become a bit of a special prep extraordinare. Focusing on areas of Kenya outside the usual spotlight (such as the west, and closer to the rift valley) as well as the lesser celebrated (but more resilent/productive) hybrid varieties like Ruiru 11 and Batian, Lot 20 focused on value-add processing. Across many types of modern preps - yeast inoculation, co-fermentation with local fruits, etc, this lot stood out to us for the unique profile and processing combination.

Koji is a domesticated A. Oryzae strain traditionally used in the production of Sake, Miso, & Soy sauce - and later popularised to be used for other ferments via the work of the Noma Fermentation lab, alongside other modern chefs. It was Christopher Feran and the team at Finca El Vergel that brought it to coffee processing, proving that you can grow Koji on coffee cherries and that the unique tropical & somewhat savoury notes are distinct to the process. The enzymes released by Koji break down longer chain sugars, proteins and the cherry skin, releasing further fuel for the local/wild microbes for the anoxic fermentation - supercharged. The end cup is winey, reminding us of a spicy malbec, as well as blackcurrant jam, and chocolate covered liquorice.

To cut through such a heavy profile, we've got a bright, airy, lemony & floral Gesha from producer Luis Abarca in Peru. Luis is a peak example of what's making Peru such an incredible origin for speciality - a young producer having inherited land from his father in 2017, he planted Gesha in 2020, and is deploying super modern techniques. Experimenting, taking notes, developing his own style - he separates out Mosto [the liquid from a previous fermentation, rich in aromatic precursors as well as the local/wild microbes present in the fermentation, at peak activity]. Using custom adapted bioreactors, he monitors each fermentation taking meticulous measurements for each lot, which allows an iterative approach to quality.
There's a seriously impressive groundswell of producers in Peru pushing the bar, with techniques and varieties that were once considered rare becoming increasingly commonplace, without a dilution of quality or expectation. We can say we now anticipate the return of fresh crop Peru with the same eagerness as other hallowed origins (like Kenya and Ethiopia, for example) - with each season bringing new delights and surprise at how much of a juggernaut for quality this country is becoming.