Crown Jewel Colombia Circasia Edwin Noreña Double Carbonic and Galaxy Hop Co-Fermented Gesha CJ1553 – 32423-1 – SPOT RCWHSE

taste

Taste Analysis by Isabella Vitaliano  

This limited batch of Galaxy hopped Gesha is Edwin Noreña’s playful take on amping up the flavors that are already inherent to the cultivar.  

Big on florals, big on hops, a little complicated, and highly fascinating, there will be no mistaking that something a little crazy happened to this coffee. Yes, we get lots of hops, but also ginger beer in the body, strawberry, black currant and black tea, accompanied by undercurrents of rooibos tea, spiced berry pie, mint and ube. 

On espresso there is potential to unlock a surprisingly softer version of this coffee. One of MJ’s shots in the espresso analysis is filled with botanicals: mint, lemon curd and juniper. Typically at The Crown we find the best results with these co-fermented coffees using a coarser grind and a higher water to coffee ratio. This reigns in some of the rambunctious flavor and makes it a bit more palatable for the average coffee drinker.  

This coffee can veer into the territory of cartoonish if that is what you are looking for and has the versatility to offer a gentler cup. We are offering a limited run of this coffee, make sure to get a box while you can!  

source

Source Analysis by Charlie Habegger 

For such a naturally gifted department as Quindío, precious few coffees seem to make it out into the world. Quindío is Colombia’s second-smallest department by size, making up only about 0.2% of the country’s territory. In counterpoint, its location right on the central cordillera of Colombia’s vast Andes divide, and centrally between the country’s largest and most influential cities (Bogotá, Medellín, and Cali), gives it a high volume of tourist traffic, coffee industry, and airline commuters after idyllic getaways in the form of brightly painted mountain towns, natural reserves, and high elevation tropical landscapes. Almost the entire department is mountainous (its lowest elevations still over 1000 meters) and dense with coffee plantations, from the small to the large and ambitious.  

Finca Campo Hermoso is a 15-hectare farm outside of Circasia, only a few kilometers north of Quindío’s capital city Armenia. Its owner, Edwin Noreña, is an agroindustrial engineer by trade with graduate-level studies in biotechnology. Edwin is a well-connected and highly aspirational coffee producer who focuses on cultivating very specific varieties paired with very specific processing methods designed to express the most surprising, memorable, and delicious coffees possible within his resources. Finca Campo Hermoso concentrates on growing cultivars distinct from the nationally-distributed hybrids, or traditional Caturra: the farm has in production Pink Bourbon, Yellow Bourbon, Bourbon Sidra, Gesha, and Cenicafe 1, a resistant hybrid developed by Cenicafé, Colombia’s national coffee research institute. The resulting coffees are marketed under “El Alquimista”, Edwin’s personal brand for his microlots, which have been featured in barista competitions and at choosy roasters around the world. 

The Gesha variety needs no introduction in the specialty world, although it’s worth mentioning that despite wide experimentation among Colombian coffee growers, it has yet to achieve the same level of appreciation here as it has elsewhere. This is surprising given the level of experience throughout Colombia’s coffee sector. Gesha does, however, have its moments. 

Edwin’s process for this particular Gesha is a combination of unique steps. A 72-hour whole-cherry fermentation is followed by a 96-hour depulped fermentation, both with carbon dioxide injection. The second fermentation is inoculated with what Noreña calls mossto, or “must,” the sticky, sugary runoff from the first whole cherry fermentation (a technique known as “back slopping”). Galaxy hops are added to the secondary fermentation as well, and finally the coffee is dried in the sun for 15 to 25 days. 

Oxygen-deprived, or “anaerobic” fermentation environments like the above have gained traction among processing wonks in coffee for the unique flavors and tanginess they can add, as well as creating exaggerated characteristics in the cup compared to what we’re used to. Edwin, by investing in his processing knowhow, can produce a wide variety of cup profiles from a small parcel of land, further expanding cuppers’ expectations of Quindío coffees and evolving the standards of his peers, not to mention boosting the notoriety of Campo Hermoso and the 30 families that contribute work to the farm.   

green

Green Analysis by Isabella Vitaliano  

This coffee is peculiar in a myriad of ways, but the most peculiar part of the green coffee is the aroma, an almost lemony, floral, and pine-like air wafting from the box — a nod to the brewed cup that is about to be actualized in your roaster. Despite the density hitting above the average range, and a slightly higher moisture content and water activity, make sure to be gentle with this Gesha. The idea behind this is to preserve those floral notes and create soft caramelization. A long and gentle drying time is key to getting the most out of the bombastic flavor from this coffee. 

diedrich ir-5

Diedrich IR-5 Analysis by Doris Garrido 

After some discussion about the roasting of Gesha cultivars, I agree that before anything else this cultivar must be approached carefully – period. Of course, what you look for is the coffee to bless you with its florals, and that is what I did in this roast. This coffee has an excellent fermentation process that can be noticed in the aromatics on the green. This is the second Gesha this month, and I used a similar approach to last week but on a different machine and with a different batch size.  

I started the roast at 403F, applying 70% gas from the beginning and 50% airflow. At the turning point I raised the gas to 100%. After three minutes and still in the drying phase, I started lowering the gas first to 70% and a little after to 30%. That helped me to bend the curve during yellowing, slow the pace, and finally get to first crack at 9:31. After 30 seconds in development, I noticed the rate of change wanting to rise and I dropped the pilot, leaving the roast with enough energy to finish the roast. After first crack I added 100% airflow. I do this at the first crack usually, but this time I forgot, and ended up doing it a little later, not the best practice with a delicate coffee like this.  

Fortunately, the final cup was just clean. This is a co-fermented coffee, and with the excellent fermentation skills of Edwin Noreña, there’s no doubt of his impeccable work. Regardless of preference for coffee, this is a coffee worth tasting. It is impossible not to notice the perfumed lilac aroma, and the rosewater in the taste. With the explosion of dry berries and candy sweetness its complexity is just impressive.  

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! 

As a coffee professional, you know when your friend asks about rare coffee that Gesha is going to come up in conversation at some point. But what you don’t expect is for hops to play into the conversation. And Galaxy, being one of the more sought-after strains of hops, certainly isn’t on the bingo card. Yet here we are. A Galaxy Hop Gesha, rarer than an unclaimed donut in a police station.  

Others have mentioned treating this coffee gently, and that’s just what I did here. Starting with a low charge temperature (for a 500g batch on the Bullet anyhow) of 455F, P9 power, and F2 fan this coffee didn’t have too much heat to soak up from the roasting environment. What’s more, I engaged F3 fan just a minute into the roast. I cut back on power at peak rate of change and let this coffee coast on P8 power and F3 fan until 6:10 / 367F, when I’d usually expect a little spike in my rate of change. I didn’t get that here, and my P7 power and F4 fan served me well until the end of the roast, were I lowered heat even more to P6 after coasting through first crack at around 15F/min. Textbook.  

The roast brought out abundant florals like petunia and geranium, and the bittering alpha acids of the hops came through just like they’d been isomerized during a hearty boil of the wort. Bitterness is a controversial topic in coffee, but if you’d like an example of the pleasant side of this much-maligned flavor modality, this is the coffee for you. Nobody wants a 150-IBU IPA in the morning… right?  

What can I say that this coffee doesn’t say for itself? It will blow minds anywhere you take it with its unmistakable hop character, with glamorous floral characteristics and a flamboyant kumquat acidity. I had the opportunity to visit the Bakke Coffee Museum recently, and treated my friends at La Marzocco headquarters to a cup of chuckles and raised eyebrows. This isn’t one to miss!  

You can follow along with my roast here at roast.world: 

https://roast.world/egilman/roasts/_lUlPGFRONLDagnkRAqok 

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. 

Our favorite alchemist is back with a delicious hopped Gesha! From bouquet-like florals, to ginger beer to hard candy you can experience a medley of flavors in the cup.  

The low-density roast is complex, very hops forward and perfumy. The flavor is almost refreshing like eucalyptus, and I kept finding myself sipping this roast to see exactly what flavors I could pinpoint.  

The high-density roast had lots of lemon zest and overall, a higher acidity. This cup lacked a bit of the hops, lavender and pine notes that make it so distinctive. This roast is still perfumy and Gesha forward just not actualized in its full form.  

We recommend using the low-density profile as it will help those bombastic florals and flavors pop as they are meant to. Brewing methods can tone down or amp it up drastically. 

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 Joshua Wismans 

Edwin Noreña returns this year with another crop of outstanding, boundary pushing co-fermented coffees. We had this Gesha last year and it was an absolute hit. This year, it’s even better. Edwin seems to get better year over year, refining his complex double carbonic macerations. Brewing them remains a thrill that challenges convention. 

Brewing co-fermented coffees is always an adventure. Starting with a moderately fine grind and a moderate dose with the V60, the resulting cup was robust and distinctive. While the extraction percentage and TDS were fairly normal, the cup was a bit in your face, with the “IPA process” being front in center in an intense way.

Our second brew lowered the dose slightly, while keeping the rest of the parameters the same. This cup had a beautiful balance of inherent cultivar characteristics (floral, fruity), co-fermented hops, and a wonderful caramel sweetness. This brew had a TDS of 1.36 and an extraction percentage of 19.8. Highly, highly recommend this profile. 

For posterity’s sake, we kept the brew recipe the same but tried a flat bottom brewer. The resulting brew was nice but had a bit of a tannic edge to it that the V60 had seemed to clean up. We recommend sticking with a conical brewer. 

We found that this coffee likes a slightly lower dose, a moderately fine grind, and a conical brewer. Shoot for a TDS around 1.35. Enjoy!
 

espresso

Espresso Analysis by MJ Smith 

Recipe 1: 18.5g dose, 39.5g yield, 29 seconds
Recipe 2: 19g dose, 39.7g yield, 32 seconds 

You all already knew that this espresso analysis was going to be a wild one… As Doris put it, this one was an “explosion of flavor!” I wasn’t sure exactly what to expect from this coffee as an espresso, but I really enjoyed all the filter brews I had tried so far. Let me tell you… this espresso blew my mind! Every shot I pulled had something a little different to offer, but botanicals, citrus, ginger, and chocolate were consistent throughout all the shots. Let’s dive into these shots! 

First, we have a dose of 18.5g, a yield of 39.5g, and a pull time of 29 seconds. I don’t even know where to begin with describing this shot. It was tangy and flavorful, but also had a delightfully creamy body. I personally detected notes of vibrant florals, elderberry, lemon-lime, ginger beer, vanilla extract, juniper, cheesecake, and pomelo. While we were calibrated on the notes of citrus and juniper, the rest of the team picked up some notes of cherry, tootsie roll, pine, cantaloupe, and lemongrass.  

For our next recipe, we’ve got a dose of 19g, a 39.7g yield, and a 32 second pull time. My first thoughts upon tasting this shot were of warm, spiced apple cider around the holidays. It still had a lot of those same citrus and botanical notes, specifically juniper, orange blossom, pine, lime, and grapefruit. This shot, however, had much more brown sugar sweetness and candied ginger warmth, with some lovely cooked apple notes. Some other notes we picked up on were tootsie roll (again), Moscow mule, hops, and macadamia.  

I can’t speak for how this espresso would taste when paired with milk, but it was truly fascinating on its own! If you’re looking for an espresso that would make anyone do a wide-eyed double-take, this is it! I found it tasted the best with a dose between 18.5g and 19g, a slightly higher yield, and a time range between 28-32 seconds. Enjoy!