Crown Jewel Peru Organic El Diamante Flores Family Raised Bed Dried CJO1469 – *51241* – 24972 – SPOT RCWHSE

taste

Taste Analysis by Chris Kornman 

Sweet and gentle, yes, but unassuming Peruvian coffee this is not. Far more than a faceless, generic bulked regional, this lot of coffee from a small family group of farmers in northern Peru boasts sugary-sweetness for days. There is so much more to it, but it seems every conversation I’ve had about the cup character has begun and ended with its sweetness. Look for brown sugar notes especially, and hints of candied stone fruits, rum-soaked raisins, horchata, and pralines. 

The cup is also elegantly fruited, with a present but balanced acidity that carries with it strong reminders of plums and pears. Elements of lemony sparkle can be found alongside pink lady apples and a brisk, clean and refreshing finish that leaves the drinker with a whisp of coriander, jasmine, and butterscotch. Drink up. 

source

Source Analysis by Mayra Orellana-Powell 

In Peru the bulk of coffee production comes from small farms owned and managed by people who follow organic farm management practice attuned to their cultural connection with the land.  Producers typically cultivate coffee on just a few acres of land intercropped with shade trees, bananas, corn, and beans.  They carefully harvest and sort cherries before depulping, fermenting, washing, and drying the coffee using their own micro-mills.   

While producers design farm management and post-harvest solutions to fit their needs, they also need a strong alliance to bring their coffee to the international market and earn fair prices.  Aroma del Valle, an organization established to assist small producers access the specialty coffee market carries out activities that often go unnoticed but are crucial for small producers.  Investments for basic infrastructure needs, like road improvements, establishing local warehouses, and preparing coffee for export are all coordinated through Aroma del Valle.  

This particular community blend comes from the Flores family, which cultivates coffee near San Ignacio, in the Cajamaja region. The Flores family has grabbed hold of the saying, all for one and one for all. And at the heart of the family, David Flores Chilcon, is the head coffee musketeer.  He is all about supporting his family and they are all about supporting him.  Much of his passion started just a few years ago when he went with his father to sell coffee and saw a coffee laboratory for the first time.  He was hooked on the dream of producing a coffee that would stand out on the cupping table. After succeeding with his own micro-lot in 2021, he has dedicated his energy this year to helping a collective of 30 family members make a standout community blend. With David’s leadership, each family member uses their own micro-mill where carefully harvested cherries are fermented for 24 hours and then depulped, fermented again in the mucilage, washed to remove the mucilage, and then gently dried on raised beds over a period of 18 days.  The dried parchment is delivered to Aroma del Valle, which ensures traceability and quality control throughout the post-harvest process.  

green

Green Analysis by Chris Kornman 

Legacy cultivars including Bourbon and its short-stature mutation Caturra make up the trees on the Flores family farms. After harvesting and processing, the coffees have been expertly graded and as a roaster this coffee looks and feels like everything you’d want out of a great green coffee. There’s a little silver skin left clinging to the beans, so keep an eye on the chaff when roasting. Otherwise, high density paired with picture-perfect moisture figures and large (if a bit widely spread) screen size indicate good shelf life and a coffee that should be able to take plenty of heat. 

diedrich ir-5

Diedrich IR-5 Analysis by Chris Kornman 

This was a super fun coffee to roast, and a little prior knowledge from past years working with David Flores’ coffees led me to believe that I could really try and push the limits on heat application. I opted to charge hot at about 430F, with an idle burner (30%) and airflow setting (50%). Giving the coffee about 30 seconds to soak, I started ramping gas up in anticipation of the turning point, hoping to build enough momentum to move quickly through the drying phase and spend a little higher percentage of time in color change. 

Color seemed to change even a little earlier than anticipated, at a pretty low temperature, just prior to 300F. I dropped the gas to idle and opened the airflow just after this observation, and basically let the coffee coast for the remaining few minutes. The exhaust temp remained nice and steady (the drum had been warmed up by a few previous roasts), and first crack came at a pretty normal looking temperature. With zero indication of a late-roast spike in the rate of rise, I let the coffee continue to slow its pace and watched for color, shooting for a pour-over style light/medium roast, with about 90 seconds of low temp development. 

The cup proved immediately and intensely aromatic, and the brewed liquor delivered on the promise. Lots of subtle tropical fruits, a nice bright but balanced acidity, and exceptional sweetness that really tied a bow on the whole experience. There are some hints of uncommon fruit flavors like blueberry jam and papaya and pear nectar layered underneath the sweet caramelly overtones. 

I couldn’t have asked for a more polite coffee. Roast with confidence, and don’t be afraid to give it some gas early! 

aillio bullet r1

Aillio Bullet R1 IBTS Analysis by Evan Gilman 

Unless otherwise noted, we use both the roast.world site and Artisan software to document our roasts on the Bullet. You can find our roast documentation below, by searching on roast.world, or by clicking on the Artisan links below.  

Generally, we have good results starting our 500g roasts with 428F preheating, P6 power, F2 fan, and d6 drum speed. Take a look at our roast profiles below, as they are constantly changing! 

This Peruvian selection was a standout on the selection table, and I believe we were all happy to see it was a producer we have worked with for a few years! Unintentionally following in Chris’ footsteps here, I decided to hit this coffee with a good deal of heat in order to get the most out of the juicy acids and deep sugars I knew were in this cup. I did start with 428F preheating, P6 power, F2 fan, and d6 drum speed, but I may venture to say hitting this coffee with P8 off the bat might be a good idea – more on that later. 

As soon as turning point came around, I increased heat to P7 and decreased fan to F1. I re-upped fan to F2 much later than usual at about 350F, and only reduced heat to P6 just before where I thought first crack would be. Instead, I got a spike in RoR after my adjustment, and I further increased fan to F3 at 380F despite not yet hearing crack. Crack came quite late for me in comparison to Chris’ roast – at 395F in fact! At crack, I increased fan speed further to F4 and reduced heat to P5, crashing my stubborn RoR numbers. If I’m to be truthful, I felt a bit frustrated with this result as I thought I had made appropriate adjustments much earlier that should have dropped my RoR numbers significantly instead of leaving me with a drop temperature of 405F and only 11% post-crack development. Harumph.  

The sugars in this coffee are really what took the cake. Great big honey sweetness, milk chocolate, and the sugariness of dark red plum just kept going. A touch of lime acidity graced the cup here, but I think it would have been tamed slightly by hitting this coffee with a more abrupt heat application. My spike in RoR did result in a bit of toastiness in the finish with this roast, but it came off as a sweet graham cracker note that wasn’t too displeasing. In fact, this gave me very fond memories of honey nut cereal from my childhood, even though bringing out that note was not my intention! 

I would definitely suggest allowing this coffee to roast slowly through Maillard, cutting the majority of heat after about 330F, or perhaps a little sooner if you’re roasting a larger batch. It does want to keep on cooking. Regardless, this is such a sweet cup that it made my morning just that much easier.  

You can find my profile for this coffee here, on roast.world: https://roast.world/@egilman/roasts/WvIEsxU3ac5I_w1TD6m6s 

ikawa pro v3

Ikawa Pro V3 Analysis by Chris Kornman 

This fun Peru showed off some really nice flavors on our standard sample roast Ikawa profile, as well as on Production Roasting Assistant Doris Garrido’s newer Inlet roast. 

Doris’ profile features a short drying phase and a pretty long color development prior to first crack. It offered a balanced cup with dried mango, excellent acidity, and a range of sweet citrus fruits and hints of florality like Lilac and Corriander. 

The OG sample roast profile hits the coffee with lots of heat and high fan speed, and produced a cup that mirrored our Diedrich roast in many of its flavors. It came out very citrusy, with good sweetness of butterscotch and cane sugar, hints of tropical Kiwi and mango, and a bit of nutty fragrance. 

You can roast your own version by downloading the Ikawa profile here:
Roast 1: Crown Inlet SR1.4 +DG v5
Roast 2: Crown Standard sr 1.0  

brew

Brew Analysis by Elise Becker 

I have consistently enjoyed working with coffee from David Flores (and family) over the years. The care and dedication to quality on the producing side really shines through in the cup, which is a delight to brew and even more enjoyable to drink. After cupping this coffee, I knew it was super sweet and had a pleasant acidity, so I set out in my brews to tease out the sparkling fruity notes and let them shine. The results of this analysis were so chuggable that we immediately put this coffee into service on our pour-over bar in the Tasting Room at The Crown. 

The brew device I habitually turn to for highlighting crisp, clean acidity in the cup is the Hario V60. I have been enjoying making small adjustments to our usual recipes to help push our extraction percentages, and for this coffee, it worked quite well. I dosed 17.5g of the coffee ground at a #8 on our EK43S, and brewed it with a 40 second bloom (gently stirred a few times), and hit it with an additional 2 pulses during the brew. The resultant coffee was bright and clean, with notes of spiced pear, apple juice, candied nuts, and milk chocolate. Notably, it had a delectably creamy mouthfeel and a faint but present cinnamon note that had us dreaming about horchata. I could drink this all day long! 

For due diligence, I also brewed this coffee using the Beehouse, and was glad I did. Using essentially the same recipe as I did on the V60, I was able to get a similar result for time, TDS, and extraction on the Beehouse, but produced nuanced differences in flavor. Tasting notes included light jasmine florals layered over Asian pear, sweet butterscotch, and a chocolatey finish. Like the V60 sample, this brew was exceptionally smooth and sweet, but it had a lighter body and more delicate overall character.