Sourcing:

This bourbon varietal coffee is sourced from the prominent La Pastora estate in the Tarrazu region of Costa Rica. This microlot uses a natural sundried process technique similar to that used with traditional Ethiopian coffee production to allow the coffee cherry’s fruity flavors to end up in your cup.

Roasting:

We roasted 450g (~16oz) in our Aillio Bullet sample roaster. We planned to roast this bean similar to how we roast natural Ethiopians - fast, high heat, high fan, with a short Development Phase to preserve as much fruit flavor as possible.

Drying Phase (0-4:45): HUNKS of chaff separate from the green bean. I’ve never seen such thick chaff on a bean like this.

Yellowing and Development Phase (4:45-7:46): The coffee bean has a wonderful red hue once the Maillard reactions begins, similar to what I’ve seen with Rwandan naturals.

First Crack began at a surprisingly high temperature of 415F and late time of 7:46min. In contrast, I’ve seen some coffees start to crack at as low of 395F.

Development Phase (7:46-8:55): I typically aim for a minimum Development duration of 1:15 to 1:30min with every roast. However, taking this Development any further would result in that gunky chaff to char and create a burnt taste. I suspect FC actually began 30 seconds earlier but wasn’t audible.

Moisture Loss: 14.2%, which is high for a 1:09min Development Phase.

CUPPING: