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Looks like you're located outside the continental United States!
While we can't ship Royal NY Line Up boxes to you through our website, your coffee trader will be happy to help place your order and secure the best shipping rates for you.
This coffee comes from the Chiapas region, the most Southern portion of Mexico. Chiapas has produced some of the most unique coffees in Mexico, and can definitely expand one’s viewpoint on Mexican coffees in general. The Bella Vista municipality, where this coffee comes from, is located deep within this region and has a slightly larger bean size than most Mexican coffee we import, which is considered a sign of a higher quality coffee. We source this coffee through our export partners at Mayan Harvest, founded by Rosalba Cifuentes. Mayan Harvest not only looks to pay producers a higher premium than most cooperatives/areas in Mexico, but the goal behind that is to improve quality and have a unique cup profile. Currently the group consists of 70 producers, 50 of whom are women.
This lot contains Bourbon, Caturra, Catimor, Typica varieties and is located at 1700 masl. It is a washed coffee, which is the most common post-harvest processing method in Mexico and is sun-dried on patios. Chiapas has a very humid and warm climate, which helps to keep the volcanic soil replenished and therefore helping to grow some delicious coffee!
These beans were a bit large at a 18/19 screen size.
The density of this coffee was .78 g/ml (pretty dense) with a 10.3% moisture content (a little on the low side.) This implies that less time will be needed to ‘dry the coffee’ and that heat will transfer easily into the center. In other words, this coffee will need a quick decline in heat application to avoid roasting too fast and being too acidic. We chose to approach this coffee with middle of the road to a higher charge temperature with a quick decline in heat application after yellowing began. We targeted a lower end temperature, to keep the roast light, to highlight the complexity, balanced with a little more development to balance the acidity.
We tried out two different approaches on the Stronghold S7, with the latter being our favorite!
Roast #1: For this roast we were aiming for a slightly faster overall roast to potentially highlight the acidity in this coffee. With the lower moisture content this roast did get a little away from us with a total roast time of 8:12. We used medium charge temperature and achieved 19% development with an end temperature consistent with a medium roast. The resulting coffee had aromatics of: caramel, honey, toasted grains and green beans (the latter two being indications of underdevelopment.) The flavors we tasted were of apples, pears, fruit leather and lime with a slick body and sharp acidity.
Roast #2: In the roast we aimed for more development and an increase in overall roast time. We used a slightly lower charge temperature and began to reduce the heat application earlier in the roast. Our total roast time ended up at 10:45 with 25% development and the same end temperature as roast 1. The resulting coffee had aromatics of: Fruit leather, chocolate, apple sauce and caramel, with flavors of cherry, cacao, oranges, brown sugar and pear with a lavender finish. The body was quite slippery but light and the acidity was of subtle citrus.
We chose to use a Chemex to brew this coffee. The thick filter used of a Chemex highlights the clarity of a coffee. A Chemex worked well to keep that clarity of this coffee and highlight the quiet complexity and sparkling acidity. Although we could also imagine this very flexible coffee going the other way and being brewed in a French Press at a higher ratio to bring out more of that slipperiness to the body and to highlight the fruit leather and cacao aspects of it’s flavor.
We chose a 1:17 ratio, or 30g of coffee ground at 9.5 on an EK-43 and 475ml of filtered water. For consistent extraction, we poured in 5 slow pours. The final drip out time was around 4 minutes and 30 seconds. This resulted in a very basic tasting brew with a thin body and flavors of red apples and brown sugar.
We wanted to highlight the acidity a bit more so we decided to speed up the brew time by adjusting the grind coarser and keeping everything else consistent. The results were quite yummy and we could imagine this coffee tasting great brewed hot or over ice! The TDS measured at 1.15%, which seems a bit low, but with the heavy filtration of a chemex, most brews are a bit ‘lighter’ than when brewed with other methods.
Our final recipe was as follows:
·30g of coffee (8 days off roast) ground on 10.5 on an EK-43 and 480ml of filtered water
·30 second bloom with 75ml of water
·4 – 100ml pours, ending pouring at 2 minutes and 15 seconds and the final drip time being 3:45 seconds. This resulted in a 420ml beverage.
The final cup had aromatics of toffee and nuts and flavors of red apple, light brown sugar, and dried apricot, with a very sweet finish. The body was juicy and the acidity still mild and piquant, but more pronounced and complex than the first brew.
The coffee is currently available for purchase here.
