December 2014 – Chele’lektu / Small Batch Roasting Co.

KaffeBox WildCard

KaffeBox is proud to exclusively feature Scandinavian roasters. Once a year however, we think it’s fun to play a ‘Wild Card’ and taste something roasted outside of Scandinavia. Scandinavian style light roast will always be a requirement however, and this year’s WildCard isn’t far from Norway’s heart with Tim Varney (previous head roaster and operations manager with Tim Wendelboe) recently joining the Small Batch Roasting co. team

Chele’lektu

Origin: Ethiopia
Region: Yirgacheffe, Chele’lektu
Producer: Local Chele’lektu farmers
Cultivar: Native heirloom varieties
Altitude: 1800-2000m
Process: Washed
The Cup: Nectarine, florals, lemon sugar

This coffee is one of the most complex and elegant Ethiopians we’ve encountered for a while. We’ve roasted it as we roast most of our filter coffee – to capture maximum clarity and fruit. We get apricot, white peach, and cherry, and the fruit is paired delightfully with a heap of sweet florals and honeyed citrus. Approximately 600 small holder farmers contributed to this lot.

La Estrella

Origin: Costa Rica
Region: Santa Maria de Dota
Producer: Luis Ricardo Calderon
Cultivar: Catuai
Altitude: 1900-1950m
Process: Washed
The Cup: Grape, Cocoa butter, Black tea

This coffee is from the lovely and famous Los Angeles Mill in Tarrazu, Costa Rica. La Estrella is a previously Cup Of Excellence winning farm, and the coffee presented itself as a great candidate for filter brewing because of its great creamy body, and sweetness provided in the form of a crisp grape and lime acidity and cocoa butter/nougat. It was discovered on the cupping table in San Jose, blindly of course! We were rather happy to discover it was from our friends at Los Angeles.