Last week, I was contacted by a new micro-roaster, Coffee Bean Shop, asking if I'd be interested in a free sample of some of their beans to try. I didn't have to think long about gift-horses before deciding that wouldn't be a bad idea.
Actually, I'm really pleased. Interest in speciality coffee in the UK is increasing to the point where new firms are starting up. This is not the only micro-roaster that I know of that has started trading in the past few months. More micro-roasters means more variety, and therefore more quality for us UK coffee drinkers.
Anyway, my half of the bargain was to talk about my experiences on here, which I'm delighted to do.
Packaging and Presentation
They sent me their Honduras offering, which arrived the next day. It came packaged in a 227g plastic-lined paper bag, heat-sealed with a one-way valve. Sealing it with a one-way valve is the way to package and ship fresh-roasted coffee, because it allows the CO2 to escape, without letting damaging oxygen in. The bag didn't have a "date roasted" stamp on it, but I've no reason to doubt the strapline of their busines: "Ordered Today, Roasted Today, Enjoyed Tomorrow".
The coffee was labelled as "Honduras SHG". SHG stands for "Strictly High Grown", and is a grading system used in some countries to distinguish those beans coming from above a certain altitude.
Now: I always like to know the name of the farm / co-operative from which the coffee originates, as it means I can learn a little about the people who worked so hard to produce it for me. It also helps to ensure maximum consistency. Lots of coffee is sold simply as, e.g., "Brazilian Santos" or "Columbian Excelso". Santos is simply the name of a port town in Brazil. As it happens, most of Brazil's coffee is exported through Santos, and Brazil is a very large coffee producer. A coffee supplier in the UK can sell "Santos" and the consumer would never know if the farm changed completely. Label it by the farm, and we all know where precisely it comes from. (It's the difference between being sold a wine as a Bordeaux, and being told the name of the Chateau. You still get variations from year to year, but less so than simply knowing the region).
I asked Dean (from Coffee Bean Shop) if he could tell me more, and told me that the importer didn't offer that level of detail. Fair enough. At the end of the day, what matters is cup quality, not labelling, and I'll drink an anonymous but delicious coffee over a traceable but foul one any day!
So, on to cup quality, then …
Cafetiere
Brewed in the cafetiere, I got a lovely, medium-full bodied brew, with no unpleasant aftertaste. It grew on me, and I think I was tasting strawberry fruitiness and some tobaco tones as well. It's quite a complex cup with plenty going on, yet balanced at the same time. Nice.
Espresso Extraction
This is a nice bean to turn into espresso. Dialling in the grinder was easy, and the first shot I pulled had a nice thick layer of red-brown crema on it, with some tiger striping. Lovely. Some beans are much harder to get a good shot out of than others; this one extracts nicely. The taste was sweet, with some dry spice notes. The body was medium-full. Very good espresso, although a slight bitter taste that I found unpleasant, but others may not.
Cupping
You can read about the "cupping" method for tasting coffees at my earlier post on the subject. I cupped this alongside the other coffee I had around the house at the time, Brazilian Fazenda Cachoeira.
Here's how I know the Honduras was fresh: When I poured on the hot water, I got a large amount of bloom (fizz that comes from the CO2 being released, a bit like coca cola!). The coffee was actually not quite ready to cup, 3 days after roasting.
| Cachoeira | Honduras SHG | |
|---|---|---|
| Smell of Dry Grounds | Sweet, Caramel, Fresh | Fruity, Spicy, Fresh |
| Breaking the crust | Caramel | Spices |
| Acidity / Liveliness | Gentle citrus acidity (9/10) | Slightly brighter, winy acidity(8/10) |
| Body | Full (8/10) | Medium-full (8/10) |
| Flavour | Sweet. Butter. Caramel. Gentle citrus tones as cooled. (9/10) | Butter. Dry spice - possibly black pepper. Tobaco. Slight bitter taste (6/10) |
| Finish | Silky. Slightly bitter (6/10) | Bitter (4/10) |
| Total score (max 40) | 32 | 26 |
Conclusion
Coffee Bean Shop roast their coffees freshly to order, and send out good quality speciality beans.
The result is a fresh bean that produces a good shot of espresso, and comes out well on a cupping table.
This was roasted slightly darker than I would choose, but their roast profile is their call, and my taste is my own. Possibly this particular bean loses some of the spice tones if roasted too lightly. In any event, having another roaster on the block is a good thing, because it increases the chances that each of us will find a roaster who roasts the beans just the way we like them.
A shame about the bitter after-taste, but I've had that with other coffees that were competition winners and others simply adored - I suspect it's a personal thing.
All in all, I'd say: It's worth trying some of their beans, because then you have a greater range of coffees available. They say they want to get hold of some Cup of Excellence coffees when the next auctions are held, so that will interesting to watch for. I was glad to be introduced.
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