Crown Jewel Bolivia San Lorenzo Yulissa Chambi Raised Bed Natural CJ1527 – 30247 – SPOT RCWHSE

taste

Taste Analysis by Chris Kornman 

Yulissa Chambi’s coffees stunned us a first glance last year at this time, and we’ve eagerly awaited their arrival this season. A first-time producer yielding extraordinary cup quality is an extreme rarity. Having repeated the performance, Chambi proves it was no fluke. This is the beginning of an epic coffee career from a storied region, with a family legacy behind her. 

This natural coffee, which includes a brief cherry maceration in a sealed tank, is intensely sweet with impeccably clean fruit flavor. We noted plum, peach, green apple, and a cacophony of the usual berry suspects – strawberry, raspberry, and blackberry. Its milk-chocolaty sweetness underscores its approachability; it’s complex enough to woo the cupper, yet easy enough to appreciate for the casual drinker. While we loved it as a pour-over, we’re thrilled to feature it in our Tasting Room as a single origin espresso. 

source

Source Analysis by Mayra Orellana-Powell 

Coffee has been in Bolivia for hundreds of years, but now a new generation of coffee farmers dedicated to producing high-quality coffee are taking the stage in Bolivia. For the first time in the country’s history, green coffee production has funding and support from the federal government, fueling the search for knowledge among dedicated young coffee professionals.  

The epicenter in the rise of Bolivian specialty coffee is in the los Yungas region, where most farms were first established after a wave of migration to the region caused by Bolivia’s Agrarian Revolution in the 1950s. And nearly a century later this lot emerges from a single 10-acre farm belonging to Yulissa Chambi and her family. Yulissa is just 22 years old and working on her university degree but also comes with a family that has been growing coffee in the Yungas region of Bolivia for over 60 years. Yulissa carefully harvests the cherry, depulps, ferments the coffee in sealed tanks, washes, and dries the coffee on patios and raised beds.  

Since Bolivia is a landlocked coffee producing country, farmers need help getting their coffee to the international market. Felix Chambi Garcia through his leadership role at the San Juan cooperative has become an important figure, helping producers with the logistics of moving coffee to the dry-mill where quality and traceability are protected during the preparation for export. 

green

Green Analysis by Chris Kornman 

Yulissa Chambi’s second year of harvesting produced exceptional results, her precision processing creating an exciting encore performance to last year’s crop. The green is clean, graded to 16+, high in density and quite low and stable in moisture and water activity. Our roaster Doris Garrido is in frequent communication with Yulissa’s brother, Felix, who is both our exporter and a leading voice in Bolivia’s emergent specialty coffee scene. This natural process coffee has a bit of reddish silver skin and a slightly darker hue than its washed counterpart. 

Felix communicated some interesting nuances of the processing style that are worth repeating here. This year, Yulissa held her cherry for about 24-36 hours in a sealed tank prior to drying in whole cherry. This “anaerobic/carbonic maceration” step was one they elected to leave off the naming of the coffee, since otherwise both in process and flavor everything remains quite “traditionally” natural, and we decided to honor that naming and reflect similar verbiage for our Crown Jewels. Felix emphasized that while Yulissa is obviously taking methodical, precise steps during the whole process, for them the most important step is drying; a note reflected in the exceptional moisture figures. 

We’re accustomed to seeing long-berry type seed appearance from Bolivia, Typica trees grow here in abundance and are well known for their elongated shape to both the leaf and cherry. In addition, Yulissa Chambi is growing the short-stature arabica hybrid Catuai. 

diedrich ir-5

Diedrich IR-5 Analysis by Doris Garrido. 

This is the second year I got to roast Bolivia Yulissa Chambi coffees. Her two coffees are becoming Crown Jewels, and this year I wanted to get a deeper look into these two on my sample roasts to be able to shape the roast profile in a way that shows what these coffees have to offer. These are the same varieties, but one is washed and the other natural process.  

I started with a 150 gram sample on the Proaster, I did two roasts of each coffee, one slightly underdeveloped and a second a little more extended. I got the idea of this coffee showing its fruitiness on the first roast, and on the second I wanted to know how to make the sweetness it has work well in the cup. 

This worked the way I intended. On both coffees, the acidity tasted great, with berries and fruitiness in the natural, and a touch of florals and juiciness in the washed. 

For the natural I decided that I wanted to have a clean taste, looking more for the berries and trying to avoid the fermented flavor that we sometimes taste in natural coffees. 

Here’s the way I roasted the Yulissa Chambi natural process coffee:  

I started with a 5.5lb. batch on the 5 kilo Diedrich with a temperature of 431F, using the warming air technique that I used on Yulissa’s washed coffee, (I roasted the washed first and the natural second as the drum tends to get more stable after the first batch) trying to go fast but also gentle with the warmed air at 50%. I went to the 100% before turning point and lowered the air at 0 after. 

I dropped gas to 60% at 3 minutes, and 30% a few seconds later, then marked color change at 304F. The roast ran simply perfect during Maillard at a great pace, and I started the air again at 337F. First crack started at 386.3F and I increased airflow to full for post development. I let the coffee continue roasting for 1:15, killing the burners in the middle of this phase as I had enough energy, and I did not want to end with higher temperature; drop was at 398.5F. On the cupping table this roast tasted simple delicious, elegant, berry forward, with very pleasant hard candy sweetness. This Bolivia natural is hitting the espresso bar in the next weeks at The Crown. 

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! 

I never dreamed I’d be roasting so many different coffees from Bolivia, but after a number of years it seems that their specialty coffee production is making more of its way to us here at Royal and the US in general, with consistently stunning results. Seeing that the younger generation is just as interested in coffee is heartening, even though saying that makes me feel old. One of the best ways we can support that interest as roasters is to do the coffee justice in the roaster, and communicate our experience so that others may do so as well! So, away we go.  

Upon taking a gander at the green metrics, I knew I’d need to handle this coffee just a little differently in the roaster. High density accompanied by low moisture content and a decent spread of sizes in the 16+ range meant that on one hand I’d need to use plenty of heat from the outset, and on the other manage my late-roast handling of the coffee gently. 

Starting the 500g batch with 446F for both this roast and the washed accompaniment, CJ1526, was my plan. They’re equally dry and heavy, but as you can see the washed was handled very differently late in roast. And this roast was a very thorough exploration of what is possible on the Bullet, as you’ll see. 

With P8 power and F2 fan, this coffee was off to a good clip from the outset, but I knew that I’d need to watch carefully beyond yellowing and into Maillard. At peak RoR I increased fan to F3, then decreased power to P7 with F4 shortly afterward in anticipation of a nice slope downwards. Anticipating the usual spike in RoR around 365F, I went wild and moved to P6 and F5 – a move that usually results in a crash, but wouldn’t in this case as I also reintroduced P7 heat to parry the blower. Next, I alternated between F4 and F5, hitting F6 just briefly a little after first crack to really pull smoke out of the drum on this very chaffy coffee. There were some fits and starts, but I achieved my end temperature of 394F with 1:36 of post-crack development, which made me happy. 

Interestingly, I saw this coffee change from slightly light when dropping into the cooling tray, to a fairly dramatic darkening as it became cool. I haven’t noted this too often in my experience, so I felt this was an interesting development, if you will.  

In the cup, I got just oodles of chocolate fudge and chocolate mousse notes, complete with strawberry topping. Hibiscus tartness came through, with a very pleasant and tangy dried fruit note, and a complex touch of cannabis and bubble gum rounded out this coffee’s flavor experience in an incredibly unique finish. I can’t imagine a brew method this coffee wouldn’t be good for, but it’s definitely a post-lunch coffee for me! Don’t let that hold you back from your morning cup, however – this fruit dried bomb will make an excellent addition to any menu.  

Follow along with my roast at roast.world: https://roast.world/@egilman/roasts/rfmO_Fg2dYX4EukoIvtDx 

ikawa pro v3

Ikawa Pro V3 Analysis by Isabella Vitaliano 

Our current Ikawa practice compares two sample roast profiles, originally designed for different densities of green coffee. The two roasts differ slightly in total length, charge temperature, and time spent between color change in first crack. You can learn more about the profiles here. 

To say these recent arrivals from Yulissa have been highly anticipated might be an understatement. We had the opportunity to give a sneak peek of her arrivals at SCA EXPO in Portland a week prior to its release. The coffeegoers of the busy weekend would sip this accompanied by a sharp eyebrow raise and something along the lines of “that’s really good,” often bringing along other folks back to the booth to try a taste of this natural Bolivian coffee. It may be shocking to the attendees at EXPO but at Royal we are unsurprised by the quality Yulissa has produced for a second year in a row.  

Green specs show an above average density, and I’m excited to take a look at how this coffee performs on these Ikawa profiles. Starting with the low-density profile we have some lemon and peach tea, slight rosemary herbal, raspberry, and rose. With some hints of floral this shows a delicate side of this natural coffee accompanied with a finish that is a little thin and quick. Our high-density on the other hand had the fruit turned up with raspberry, blueberry jam, pie, and rose. If the low density had a couple rose petals sprinkled out the high density showcased the whole flower with a full fruity body and sweet finish. By far my favorite of the two was the high-density roast with stunning florals and complex body and clean mouthfeel it is no wonder it kept the masses coming back for more.  

You can roast your own by linking to our profiles in the Ikawa Pro app here: 

Roast 1: Low Density Sample Roast 

Roast 2: High Density Sample Roast   

brew

Brew Analysis by Katie Briggs 

Another fun natural coffee here at Royal that we are so excited to get to play around with! With summer coming up, I have been very much loving the fruity, floral and tropical notes that can come from a lot of natural coffees. Perfect for a cappuccino or in an iced americano for a refreshing summer drink.  

We started off brewing this coffee on a P70 brewer, with 19 grams of coffee at a 9.5 grind. We started with 50 grams of water and a 40 second bloom. We then took it up to 200 grams of water for the second pulse, and then the final pulse up to 300 grams. Upon tasing, it wasn’t giving us the super fruity notes that a natural usually has. We tasted some apricot, caramel and a bit of tobacco. It had a bit of bitterness and the TDS was at 1.43, so we wanted to bring that down a bit and see if we could get rid of some of those more bitter notes and clean it up a bit.  

We did our next brew on the F70 flatbed brewer to slow it down a bit and see if we could get that TDS down. We also coarsened the grind to a 10.5 to try and get a little less dissolved solids. We used 19 grams of coffee, started with 50 grams of water and a 40 second bloom. Took the second pulse up to 200 grams of water, and then 300 for the final volume. This brew actually yielded a higher TDS at 1.50, which was interesting. We still weren’t super happy with this brew, and we tasted notes of bitter dark chocolate, tobacco, green apple and peach. 

We decided to go back to a cone brewer and do an even more coarse grind to really clean this coffee up and bring the TDS down and bring out some of the natural fruity flavors of this coffee. We brewed this one on the V60 cone brewer at an 11 grind. We did the same 50 grams of water and 40 second bloom for our first pulse, brought it up to 200 grams, and then 300 for the final pulse. The TDS was better at 1.40, but still a little high for what we usually recommend, but the brew was very tasty. With notes of plum, milk chocolate, peach, blueberry and citrus. This coffee seems to just be a bit more soluble, which is why we recommend a coarser grind and a cone brewer. 

This is all around a super fun and tasty coffee! A little less fruity for a natural coffee on some of the brews, but that makes it that much more versatile and fun to experiment with! 

espresso

Espresso Analysis by MJ Smith 

Recipe 1: 19g dose, 41g yield, 31 seconds
Recipe 2: 19.5g dose, 38g yield, 28 seconds 

This coffee makes for a truly delicious espresso, so much so that it’s going to be one of our new featured espressos available here at The Crown! It’s delightfully sippable on its own, and reminiscent of a root beer float when paired with milk. It has a slight fruitiness that you would expect from a natural process coffee, but not so much that it dominates your palate. With notes of stone, pome, and citrus fruits, warm spices, and a slight florality rounded out with a chocolatey finish, this coffee has something for everyone. 

I started out with a dose of 19g. After tasting it at multiple volumes, I decided to stretch the yield out to 41g, and landed at a 31 second pull time. Initially, I picked up notes of milk chocolate, spiced pear, and plum. As it cooled, I was able to detect some more delicate notes of kiwi, strawberry, lavender, and black tea. I’m sure this recipe would pair well with milk, as it’s a really nice coffee, but because of the higher yield, it might be slightly more enjoyable on its own.  

This next recipe might be a little better if you’re looking for a solid shot that can stand on its own as well as when paired with milk. I wanted to see if bringing the dose up a tiny bit would bring out some of those quieter fruity notes a little more, so I bumped the dose up to 19.5g and pulled it with a yield of 38g at 28 seconds. Instead, this shot was much heavier on the sugary sweetness, with a hint of berry on the end. I picked up notes of salted caramel, apple sauce, brown sugar, jasmine, and blackberry. I shared a bit with the rest of the barista team, and they added notes of dulce de leche, root beer, soft grapefruit, and cranberry sauce.  

To circle back, this coffee is an amazing espresso. It’s versatile, it’s fun to work with, and when I tried it in an iced oat milk cortado, it tasted just like a root beer float. Perfect for summertime! Hope you enjoy!