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Dose: 21g
Ratio: 1:16
Grind: Significantly Finer than Neutral
Brew Time: 3:00
TDS: 1.40
Extraction: 20.2%
Sensory Description:
This Natural Tabi from La Pradera is a heavily sweet, fruit forward profile. In well extracted brews, I was finding notes of raspberry, pomegranate syrup, red wine, red grape, and ripe citrus. The aftertaste was long and coating with red fruits. The aroma had clean notes of honeysuckle and berries. The leading characteristic of this coffee is its full body and syrupy mouthfeel contributing to a very dense sweetness. The sweetness is balanced with bright, citric and tartaric acidity that becomes more present as the coffee has time to cool.
Dial Notes:
I up-dosed the dial to 21g to accentuate the syrupy raspberry and pomegranate notes in the coffee. The larger amount of coffee requires a grind size significantly finer than neutral (greater than one full grind setting on the EK43) to properly extract. The coffee is relatively dense and lighter in roast color, meaning finer grind sizes are required in general to achieve proper extraction.
Under-extracted brews of La Pradera lacked the full, syrupy body found in higher extraction percentages and were sour, similar to underripe pomegranate seeds. The key indicator of under extraction was the lack of sweetness and body, resulting in an intense and sour brew due to the up-dose.
Over-extracted brews stood out for their powdery mouthfeel, leaving a distinct drying and fuzzy feeling on top of the palate. While most of the flavor notes found in well extracted brews were present in over-extracted brews, they dissipated quickly on the palate, leaving a burnt sugar note, like bitter burnt caramel, with little to no citrus or floral notes.
Well-dialed cups of Calagual are dynamic in experience, a lovely combination of process and terroir. Grown in Santa Rosa, Guatemala, this anaerobic natural pache opens with a soft and bright apricot and raspberry yoghurt, reflecting its process, and finishes with a vanilla and cashew-like sweetness and texture. There is clarity to the flavor profile, while carrying a velvety texture and slightly thicker mouthfeel.
A well-dialed La Maravilla La Cumbre is a great example of what we look for in our Orange label series. It’s remarkably chocolatey, with the creamy sweetness and richness of a good cup of hot chocolate. Perceived acidity is relatively low, and the cup leans on flavors of vanilla, caramel, and dried dates. Milk chocolate lingers on the palate, giving the coffee a long, pleasant finish. Sweet and full-bodied, it works as an everyday coffee on either pour over or espresso.
For a natural processed coffee, well-dialed cups of San Joaquin are quite chocolatey. And much like our other El Salvador offerings, this coffee is very sweet and has a nice creamy texture. You can expect a lot of candy bar flavors like milk chocolate, caramel, and vanilla. There’s also an underlying red fruit characteristic that adds complexity to the cup. Pay special attention to subtle notes of cherry and red apple when dialing. On the finish, you’ll find some cola, maple syrup, and pecan-like notes.
