Tag: Coffee Review

First Brew - Blue Bottle Coffee Ethiopia Sidama Shantawene Natural

  • Coffee Name: Ethiopia Sidama Shantawene Natural
  • Region: Sidama
  • Country: Ethiopia
  • Producer: Shantawene Village
  • Processing: Natural
  • Cultivar: Heirloom
  • Elevation: 1,900-2,100 meters
  • Roaster: Blue Bottle Coffee
  • Brew Method: Chemex With Able Cone
  • Roast Date: January 19, 2020
  • Brew Date: January 30, 2020

About This Coffee

We can say that coffee comes from a fruit until the cows come home. But one taste of a coffee like this does more to illustrate that fact than a thousand words can. Such fruity perfection has everything to do with careful harvesting and sorting of heirloom arabica cherry. By paying attention to every last detail, producer Faysel Yonis and his team at the washing station in Shantawene Village give hyperfocus to the ripe and juicy fruit flavors that are a hallmark of the Sidama region’s finest.

First Brew - Blue Bottle Coffee Kenya Kiambu Hendege

  • Coffee Name: Kenya Kiambu Handege
  • Region: Kiambu
  • Country: Kenya
  • Producer: Handege Factory
  • Processing: Fully Washed
  • Cultivar: SL 28, SL 34
  • Elevation: 1600-1800 meters
  • Roaster: Blue Bottle Coffee
  • Brew Method: Chemex With Able Cone
  • Roast Date: January 19, 2020
  • Brew Date: January 22, 2020

About This Coffee

Coffee descriptions can seem vague. But one taste of this, and you’ll get what we mean by florality. Such delicate aromas are uncommon in Kenyan single origins. Usually, we’re gushing over juicy acidity or tropical fruitiness. But for a few years now, when we’ve had the luck to carry Handege Factory’s coffees, its perfume grabs our attention first. “We tasted dozens of coffees blind while in Nairobi this year,” our green coffee buyer recounts. “But Handege’s was the only one I could identify every time it was on the cupping table.”

First Brew - Blue Bottle Coffee Winter Blooms Single Origin

  • Coffee Name: Winter Blooms Single Origin
  • Region: Gedeb
  • Country: Ethiopia
  • Producer: METAD
  • Processing: Natural
  • Cultivar: Heirloom
  • Elevation: 1,900 - 2,200 meters
  • Roaster: Blue Bottle Coffee
  • Brew Method: Chemex With Chemex with Able Cone
  • Roast Date: December 3, 2020
  • Brew Date: December 12, 2020

About This Coffee

The pinnacle of an Ethiopia natural coffee, our Winter Blooms Single Origin is as uplifting as new buds on a bare branch. With such delicacy and florality, we shouldn’t be surprised by its source: the coffee company METAD led by producers (and brothers) Michael, Aman, and Tariku Adinew. Not only are they behind some of Ethiopia’s finest coffees, but they’re leading a new generation of growers who put the well-being of farming communities and the land first. For this single origin, smallholder farmers in the Gedeb Zone contributed ripe cherry from indigenous arabica trees. At the Adinews’ Chelbesa Washing Station, whole fruit were spread upon racks and sun-dried, after which the seeds (aka coffee beans) were removed. The result is this memorable coffee—intensely fruity and sweet, supremely balanced by a citrus-like acidity and a pleasant bitterness like brisk black tea.

The coffee mug is a Hasami Natural Mug, gritty-textured porcelain mug created by Hasami Porcelain. Hasami Porcelain was founded by Los Angeles–based designer Takuhiro Shinomoto.

Submitted for the 100DaysToOffload project.