I'm starting to believe Wisconsin is home to some of the greatest coffee roasters in the US. It has been a great, great ride with these last several Kickapoo Coffee offerings. I’ve loved getting a closer look at the company I was so fond of earlier in the year from their Congolese offerings, and quickly learned that saturating the palate with flavor wasn’t a fluke only found in those early offerings. Kickapoo has quickly become one of my favorite roasters I’ve been able to experience, as I know any offering I select is not only going to be linked to great sustainability, but I know the profile I find will always be worth the price of admission. They say their fanaticism pays off in some of the best coffees available on the market today, and I’d have to agree with that. As you read this, five new offerings exist on their site from the ones we visited as well as four of the ones we’ve seen already, including this Kabingara AA Kenya we’ll be diving into today. Check out the site, and keep up to date with these guys as they do great things in specialty coffee. Thanks Kickapoo for sending out these 5 offerings for me to sit down with.
This coffee comes to Kickapoo from the lush rolling hills of the Kirinyaga region near the Mount Kenya native forest of Central Kenya. About 700 small holder farmers bring their coffee cherries to the Kabingara washing station for processing. The co-op was established in 1988 on a seven-acre plot of land near the small town of Kerugoya. Their relatively small production volume allows for an increased focused on quality compared to many other factory-style stations in the area.
This lot is particularly interesting because it is entirely comprised of the SL-34 varietal. Oftentimes in Kenya we see lots that are a mix of SL-28 and SL-34, weighted more towards SL-28, but now we see how delicious SL-34 can be when it stands alone. A pretty rare treat in the Kenyan coffee world.
Details:
Roaster: Kickapoo Coffee Roasters
Region: Kirinyaga, Central Kenya
Farm: Karithathi Cooperative
Process: Dry Fermentation, Washed, Overnight Soak, Raised Bed Drying
Varietal: SL-34
Elevation: 1,700 - 1,800m
Brew Method:
V60 no stir | 14g (c) to 227g (w) | 2:10 total time | 200 degrees | 1.43 TDS | 21.50% Ext.
Dry aroma of lemon, Frosted Flakes, and candy.
The brewing aroma gives nods to passion fruit, florals, cherry, chocolate covered banana, wood, and herbal notes that linger in the air.
The nose is very aromatic, sweet, creamy.
The initial sips are a bit intense as indicated by TDS, but enjoyable.
It is moderately viscous with bright but approachable citrus on the front and sweetness emanating from the cup most quickly arriving at toasted marshmallow followed by passion fruit, and ending on a creamy apricot and cherry coulis spread across the palate to saturate with flavor, but also slightly drying the mouthfeel in a lingering finish.
As it sits in the mouth, and continuing sip, that sugary sweetness still seems to coat those sips, sips that now reveal blackberry, peach, tomato, green apple, pomegranate, lime, floral, and honey, with the long finish bringing in elements of spice, dark chocolate, and cream.
The cooler it grows the more soft and settled it becomes, grapefruit still keeping the cup bright, but it is very comfortable, non-attacking on the palate, moving into a lavender soda sweetness on the front, a buttery and shortbread-like middle, and finishing with really pleasing chocolate notes. All the while, candy-sweet floral and fruit notes dance all around those flavors and grapefruit lingering long after your sips are done.
The final sips are just a more cohesive saturation of the above progression.
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Brew Method:
Kalita Wave | 34g (c) to 552g (w) | 3:45 total time | 201 degrees | 1.35 TDS | 20.30% Ext.
One of those samples where the beans themselves smell gorgeous. Honey and sweet.
Brewing aroma is almost candy-like, caramel, apple, and spice.
The nose is dense, sweet, spiced, and citrusy.
The first sips are really something. Syrupy, sweet, really clean and clear cranberry, spiced plum, cherry skin, candy apple sweetness with honey coating and trailing to a more grapefruit citrusy brightness, still coated in sweet, sweet honey.
Not too far after the initial sips grows vanilla wrapped apricot and passion fruit, still swimming in that saturated and syrupy body with a tart cherry finish. Those notes continue to grow more plump, more nectary, more voluptuous in the cup. Prickly blackberry, and pomegranate dance on those tomato notes, still sweetened in the end with peach and apricot.
It carries similarities here to the previous make: a growing grapefruit and lavender effervescence on the front like soda, a buttery and dense body full of sweetness and floral tickles, and a lingering honey finish with notes of spice and chocolate.
The final sips still sit in a sea of saturated syrupiness (say that 5 times fast), sweet, a bit splashy, bright and floral infused.
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Brew Method:
Chemex | 30g (c) to 480g (w) | 4:00 total time | 201 degrees | 1.35 TDS | 20.00% Ext.
Nice Kenya aromas - cranberry, currant, honey, vanilla.
This cup carries a very bright intro. Tart cranberry notes mix with what seems like bright grapefruit, spice, and a nice honey thickness in the end.
It settles in quickly, carrying a passion fruit sparkling water beginning and saturating the palate with baked apple crisps, poached pears with honey and ginger, and cranberry and rhubarb torte. It is very coating in sweetness, but tingly tart and bright with spices abound, and finishing like grape Twizzlers pull-n-peels.
It cools further and remains dense- sweet, splashy, and a bit refreshing, adding some melon-like notes to the sparkling front that feels more like an Italian soda, still a bit tingly but more balanced. Notes of cranberry, raspberry, cherry, and cream finishing.
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This cup is classically Kenyan, yet an excellently executed one at that. If there is anything I’ve come to learn over the last several offerings from Kickapoo Coffee it is that they have found the sweet spot on each of their coffees to give up every last drop of flavor in every single sip, and that certainly can be said for Kabingara Kenya. It was clean, bright, sparkling and syrupy. It packed a punch and soothed the palate. It danced on the tongue and slowly slid away. If you are looking for a Keny
If you’ve noticed by now, you may be thinking, “Man...those Kickapoo Coffee tins look really sharp.” If you have been, you’d be correct. Designed by Neal Olson, these tins are incredibly awesome, a welcomed change from the typical bags we see these days, and they do more than just promote a local graphics designer. Being from the Midwest (and owning it), Kickapoo loves keeping with the Midwest aesthetics and the rural feel. These tins are one way they can not only be sustainable (read 100% recyclable and easily reused), but also gives a throwback to the Midwest.
Plastic packaging is one of the major environmental costs of the coffee industry. At Kickapoo Coffee, they strive to eliminate plastic from their operations. All of their prepackaged coffee is sold in reusable, recyclable steel cans containing 80 percent post-consumer recycled steel. Their one-pound bags feature a biodegradable glycine liner, and they package the majority of their bulk five-pound bags in biodegradable kraft bags.
Let's open our can of Ethiopia Sidama Fero and see what's inside.
Ethiopia is the birthplace of coffee and the Sidama Union of Growers, comprising of 80,000 individual farmers, put the region's traditional knowledge into practice through nearly 50 regional base co-ops.
Kickapoo has tasted coffee from many of these groups, but over time have zeroed in on the Fero Cooperative. Their coffee shines due to their particular locale, which is vaulted high in the mountains above the Rift Valley at nearly 2,000 meters. This impressive elevation causes the coffee cherries to mature slowly, developing a physically dense bean, filled with nuanced and complex flavors.
Kickapoo also loves the fact that Fero uses washed processing: immediately after harvest, the pulp of the coffee cherry fruit is removed by milling. After that, the bean is fermented, washed and then dried on raised beds. Washed processing results in a cleaner, brighter, more consistent coffee.
In a business that spans oceans and continents, relationships are important. This is their fourth year in a row working with the Fero Cooperative, and they couldn't be more excited by the commitment to quality they’ve seen with this group of dedicated farmers.
Details:
Roaster: Kickapoo Coffee Roasters
Region: Sidama, Southern Ethiopia
Farm: Fero Cooperative
Process: Washed
Varietal: Heirloom Varieties
Elevation: 1,900 - 2,010m
Brew Method:
V60 no stir | 24g (c) to 350g (w) | 2:45 total time | 200 degrees | 1.40 TDS | 18.65% Ext.
It carries a juicy intro. A bit drying in mouthfeel with notes of raspberry, cherry, and a smooth, slightly nutty (almond or pistachio) finish.
Splashy pops of sweet fruits jump on the tongue with each sip, lightly saturating, with apple, pear, peach, and strawberry and carrying sweet vanilla and a dash of honey in the trails.
Oh wow, not a few minutes later those notes get even sweeter, more candy-like in the cup, with citrus notes of lemon and orange adding some brightness before a flavor filled finish with slight tea-like tendencies.
While it carries a layered sweetness (grape, raspberry, and strawberry most note able) growing a bit buttery through cooling, it still always keeps tickles of those tea-like spices (and nods to dried fruits) and always ends the lingering almond-like but carrying shifty drifts of fruits that go on and on.
Gosh, it just keeps changing and changing. Creamy body and the fruits grow sweeter again. Berries and more of a lemon and lime citrus note like a more classic Yirgacheffe profile.
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Brew Method:
Chemex | 30g (c) to 482g (w) | 4:20 total time | 200 degrees | 1.29 TDS | 19.18% Ext.
Really nice brewing aroma.
Lighter presentation than previous make. Soft and sweet berry fruits on the front with soft cream, caramel, apple, and chocolate notes in the finish. Elements of it remind me of green apple jolly ranchers, ultimately ending with a slightly drying finish.
It is soft, but feels a bit dense as well. Candy-sweet fruit notes begin to radiate as it cools- raspberry, cherry, apple, dried kiwi, and strawberry. If you were to Inception it even deeper you may find notes of red currant, orange creamsicle, and peaches and cream. Still, it sits lightly splashy and plush in the mouth, and ends with a slightly almond finish and even nips of tea-like tendencies and drifts of dried fruits arriving in the long finish.
Brightness is a lot more reserved in this method. Candied lemon and lime may be present, but more highlighting of those sweet candy-like fruits. It grows more and more creamy- touched with peach, apricot, honey, vanilla, and raspberry, and stays like that for the remainder of the cup.
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Brew Method:
Kalita Wave | 34g (c) to 552g (w) | 3:55 total time | 202 degrees | 1.33 TDS | 20.00% Ext.
Mmm. This coffee. At it's hottest moments it does have a bit of a nutty drying to it, and cherry liqueur may come to mind, but it is also too hot for me to give accurate description.
Cooling a bit, you find lovely floral notes, similarly to the Idido in fact. There are raspberry and strawberry notes there, not too sweet yet, still met with some cream in the finish leaving a slightly almond drying.
Further, you find a subtle, sweet, and juicy cup. There is a nice brightness on the front, more lime than lemon but balanced in the cup, with more dense fruits softly saturating and a crisp but slowly juicy finish.
Cherry, apple, raspberry, swirl in the middle, with softer orange notes lingering in the finish, slightly drying but sweetly carrying on. The more it opens the more vibrant the front is, like a honey crisp apple, with a balanced body and slight syrupiness growing in the finish.
Clean raspberry and chess pie are reminiscent in the final sips, smooth drying with cherry, juicy saturation, light chocolate notes and slight malting.
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Brew Method:
Aeropress (Inverted) | 17g (c) to 240g (w) | 2:00 then plunge by 2:30 total time | 201 degrees | 1.32 TDS | 19.75% Ext. (Immersion mode)
This method, while floral forward, seems to allow a sparkling lemon acidity intro the cup with notes of cherry and raspberry sweetening the cup before a smooth, slightly nutty finish.
As it opens it remains crisp and vibrant, floral led with hints of bergamot joining with the lemon acidity to brighten the juicy body that now tastes a bit more similar to Juicy Fruit chewing gum, saturated with flavor: peach, cantaloupe, apricot, raspberry, apple, and cherry with tea-like characteristics developing. It's silky as it glides across the mouth, luscious and beautiful.
It grows more creamy and lingering, but stays on those floral notes with complex and lightly sugary fruits melting into the background as it finishes with a honey coated, tea-like dream.
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What a flavorful cup of coffee. Compared to the Idido, this offering gives up more juiciness, more saturation to the palate, with a bit more noticeable citrus as well. Also, there was a lot of shifting flavors through the cooling process, with a lot of sweetness to be had. If you are anything like me, profiles like that are always fun cups to have around when you are sipping, be it while you work, listen to music, read, or catch up with a friend over a good cup. It also seems that this was a contender for Good Food Awards last year as well, and I can definitely see why. While the Idido might have carried more subtlety, more delicacy or elegance, the Sidama (while equally enjoyable) splashes on the palate and gives you layer upon layer to unravel.
Today is an absolute treat for me. The next two reviews we visit are going to be two new washed Ethiopian offerings from Kickapoo Coffee. If you know anything about me, you know I’ve been tracking washed Ethiopians pretty closely this year, so I’m really excited to see what Kickapoo offers up, and something tells me we will be impressed.
Kickapoo begins each roast with an open mind. They consider the micro-region, processing methods, and growing conditions that influenced the harvest. Then they roast in small batches, cupping as they go, in an ongoing search for the perfect expression of the bean's natural characteristics. By focusing on the best flavor profile for each variety, they end up with a rainbow of subtly distinctive roasts, each beautifully expressive of the inherent qualities of the beans.
Roasting fresh, high-quality green coffee is vitally important. To this end, they designed and built a custom green storage room that is temperature and humidity controlled. Because each origin has essentially only one harvest per year, properly storing raw coffee is crucial. They roast their coffees weekly, to order, in small handcrafted batches in our refurbished German-made Probat roaster from the 1930s. In refurbishing it, they used all original parts, while adding customized elements to increase their control. These modifications include a frequency control drive to control the speed of the drum, special adaptations to maximize cool times, and probes to measure bean and environment conditions with digital precision. What better way to experience that precision through roasting, and sourcing we read about last write-up than visiting a bean that shows a prime example of that- one of last year’s Good Food Award winners, the Ethiopia Yirgacheffe Idido.
Idido is famous in the world of Ethiopian Coffee. Named for the village located just a few kilometers from the cooperative and mill that were among the first in the world to craft meticulously prepared natural processed coffees under the name 'Idido Misty Valley'. Like many cooperatives in Ethiopia, Idido has all of the right ingredients for turning out some of the best coffees in the world: high altitude, sound processing techniques, fertile soils, and heirloom varietals.
Idido was established in the late 1970's and joined the ranks of Yirgacheffe Farmer's Union in 2002. The cooperative has roughly 1000 active members who cultivate farms averaging 1.5 hectares. Kickapoo visited this cooperative in November of 2011 and were very pleased with the level of interest and engagement from members of the cooperative.
Our roast of last season's crop was named one of the top 15 coffees of the year by Coffee Review and was recognized nationally by the Good Food Awards this past January in San Francisco.
They've been working with Idido for the past four years and each lot has been better than the last. After tasting the first batch, they now know that this lot is no different. Enjoy.
Details:
Roaster: Kickapoo Coffee Roasters
Region: Yirgacheffe, Ethiopia
Farm: Idido Cooperative
Process: Wet Fermentation, Soak, 14 Day Raised Bed Drying
Varietal: Ethiopian Heirloom
Elevation: 1900-2100 meters
Brew Method:
Kalita Wave | 34g (c) to 552g (w) | 3:45 total time | 201 degrees | 1.33 TDS | 20.00% Ext.
Lovely brewing aroma perfumed with florals, lime, and berry.
Nose of honey, strawberry candies, florals.
Whoa, really rich initial sips, comes out of the gun smoking. It carries strawberry candy on the front, zested a bit with lemon peel, tangerine, and a bit of saturated juiciness like biting into a really flavorful cantaloupe, with vanilla, lime, cherry, honey, and almond but still those delicate florals you find in washed Yirgs. If it is this sweet right away, I am greatly anticipating it's cooling phases, as still not but a few minutes in this vanilla cream note seems to almost jump out in the end of the sips.
Cooling a bit, it slowly and silkily covers the walls of the entire mouth. You get some slightly sour cherry notes come out mixing (like the midway point of eating an warhead) with these really perfumed florals, adding all kinds of complexity to the cup. It's clean, but syrupy. Delicate, but saturated. Honey lined, citrus kissed, sweet like melon with raspberry, strawberry, plum, peach and vanilla, refined and directed. In the end there is a bit of a savory element that hides in the florals, I can't tell if it is molasses or what it is. Lingering on gives quiet notes of orange peel as well in a slightly drying finish.
The last 1/3 of the cup is so luscious, so lingering and sweet. I'm so surprised how this satisfies the urge of everything I like about washed Ethiopians. The florals and herbals are perfectly at balance with the sweetness, nothing steps on any toes, the body is silky but still seems a tad richer, not coming off 'light" like some others can. It's saturated, comfortable acidity, fruit notes that aren't too sweet. It is a perfect cup.
In the end it carries a growing acidity, still harmonious in the cup.
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Brew Method:
Chemex | 30.2g (c) to 480g (w) | 4:20 total time | 200 degrees |1.38 TDS | 20.25% Ext.
A bit on the stronger side. Really clear and sweet aromatics, berries, cream, floral.
First sips are very detailed: apricot, peach, mango, and strawberry candies. Lemon and lime sort of dance on the top, with a nice plush raspberry note in the center sweetening the entire cup til it's creamy sweet, floral-infused lingering finish.
Really similar to the Ruby Kochere here, balanced, delicate, silky, complex, and lovely... so lovely, in fact, that I am leaving my notes here to enjoy.
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Brew Method:
V60 no stir | 14g (c) to 227g (w) | 2:05 total time | 199 degrees | 1.37 TDS | 20.60% Ext.
The aromas brewing and in cup are still astounding.
More herbal/floral entangling in the beginning of this method than some others, still with that candy-like raspberry note. Soft, not quite silky, lemon brightness and slightly tea-like in the finish.
Opening further, notes of apricot, strawberry, and cantaloupe seem to meet in a more honied body, delicately palpable and finishing cleanly and a bit more effervescent, while the lingering finish mid-cup seems to bring out cherry and even grape-candy sweetness a bit more.
The mouthfeel is so delicious. It slides in silky, brings that sugary sweetness, and then melts into a buttery trail of absolute bliss.
The finish balanced out nice. Plush, sugary, nice fruit juiciness, candied lime, and a flavor-filled lingering full of lovely florals.
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Brew Method:
Aeropress (Inverted) | 17g (c) to 240g (w) | 2:00 then plunge by 2:30 total time | 199 degrees | 1.38 TDS | 20.60% Ext. (Immersion mode)
Really prominent floral and lime off the front- beautiful and sweet. Raspberry growing, and these are just the hottest sips.
Coming back the cup most similarly reminds me of Aricha on the aeropress- clean, saturated but lower lying lemon and citrus, and spread on a bouquet of florals and herbals, complex and sweetened. I might sip this one slower than the other methods, as i'm still waiting for that sweet raspberry note to pop in the cup.
Ah, not two minutes later does it arrive. Buttery, sweet, kiwi, melon, and raspberry. Plump, dense, and balanced. It grows so creamy and sweet, with lemon underlying the whole cup, structured wonderfully, comfortably saturated with delicious fruits and layered sweetness that continues to unravel as it cools.
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You know, I’m not sure if I’d had coffee from Idido before this offering. Quite possibly I had Counter Culture’s Idido last year while road tripping back from South Carolina, but I wouldn’t remember if I had. Either way, I had no idea until recently what a gem this was in the specialty coffee world. It wasn’t until Jonathan Bonchak of Counter Culture commented on the picture of this coffee I posted to Instagram that I learned about #TeamIdido and, in turn, realized that this coffee fared so well in competition and also in Good Food Awards.
I’m going to sound like a broken record here, but I can’t help it. I feel like Ethiopian season is this ongoing, gradual, ramping up of flavor and enjoyment, or at least that has been my experience with them. I thought I found “the one” but that only lasted until the next “one” came along. While drinking this coffee, I was so pleased with how it presented a similar raspberry sweetness to the Ruby Kochere (review not yet posted) that I had finished previously, but it didn’t jump out of the cup like the Kochere seemed to at times. It also kept the herbal/floral clarity that I found in the Chelectu. It was articulated, it was delicate and poised, it saturated with flavor yet always remained in balance. Plus, it had this absolutely jaw dropping mouthfeel. It was, simply but, a perfect washed Ethiopian offering. If I had to drink but one coffee for the rest of my life, I think I’d be happy sipping on Kickapoo Coffee’s Idido.
Maintaining truly direct and meaningful relationships with farmers is extremely difficult for coffee roasters, as importing and communicating with farmers takes resources most small companies do not have. To overcome this obstacle, Kickapoo Coffee is an owner-member of Cooperative Coffees, a fair trade importing business owned by 23 like-minded roasters who are actively engaged in supporting our own importing cooperative. They import over 85 percent of our coffees through Cooperative Coffees, and this number is increasing each year as they develop partnerships with new producers around the world.
Through Cooperative Coffees they set the bar higher for the fair trade world. Their pricing minimum is set at a price that is substantially above fair trade standards. They also offer our farmer-partners much-needed pre-harvest financing.
Fair trade at Kickapoo Coffee goes beyond pricing to building relationships and partnerships with their growers. Because they import our own coffees, they are communicating with growers directly, not through a middleman. Maintaining direct relationships with producers is very different from buying and selling fair trade coffee from an importer. Kickapoo gets to participate in the lives of our farmers directly, seeing where the roadblocks are, and devising solutions for a more sustainable partnership. One of those farms happens to be Agustin Gomez Hernandez, let us learn more.
Traditionally, Mexico has been a country not typically well known for producing standout coffee. For years, what we've tasted from Mexico had been poorly processed, masking the potential that exists in this amazing country. Mexico has all the right ingredients for producing some of the best coffees in Central America: high altitudes (1200-1800 Meters), heirloom coffee varieties (typica and bourbon), and very fertile soils. In the last number of years, that potential has begun to surface. Particularly in the case of our friend Agustin Gomez Hernandez.
TJ and Caleb have made two visits to Agustin this year, once before harvest, and once again as the harvest was wrapping up. Now in his seventies, Agustin is the cooperative's largest member and an amazing success story. From modest beginnings as a landless, seasonal picker, he was able to slowly save, purchase his own farm and grow it to 10 hectres over many years with his exceptional coffees.
Agustin's farm is located in the community of Emilio Zapatas, just outside of Tuxtla Gutierrez in Chiapas, just a few hours from the Guatemala border. He is a member of the Comon Yaj Noptic (Comon) Cooperative that has 186 small to medium sized members. Comon is a part of a larger, umbrella organization known as El Triunfo and they own and operate their own dry mill.
Comon is one of the first cooperatives in Mexico to start segregating individual farmer lots from their best producers. This allows members the capacity to have a direct relationship with buyers as well as the possibility of negotiating quality premiums.
Details:
Roaster: Kickapoo Coffee Roasters
Region: Emiliano Zapata, Chiapas
Farm: Agustin Gomz (Comon Cooperative)
Process: Pulped, Dry Fermented, Patio Dried
Varietal: Bourbon, Typica, Caturra
Elevation: 1,675 - 1,750m
Brew Method:
Kalita Wave | 34g (c) to 552g (w) | 3:45 total time | 201 degrees | 1.31 TDS | 19.70% Ext.
Your first sips are a bit surprising. You find a cup that first comes off a bit spicy on the front, then opens up a bit brighter with apple skin and grape sweetness, slightly candied and nutty before a milk chocolate finishing. Medium bodied, creamy mouthfeel.
Being the first sips, I'll let this cool and see how it shifts.
As it cools you find those grape notes open up a bit more, cleaner, and almost giving a melon-like vibe (thinking honeydew specifically, but cantaloupe too). With that, English toffee sets the creamy base of the cup, a bit nutty but mostly sweet, honey dipped, and slightly dry but lingering in sweetness.
The aroma in the cup is still sweet and vanilla lined- really enticing. Mid-cup those clean fruit notes still ring out, led by a slightly tart green grape acidity and then finished with a creamy honey and vanilla finishing, with trails of spice and dark chocolate now in the finish. This is a really pleasing, balanced, approachable coffee for all drinkers, and I'm beginning to think that this will make a delicious espresso base.
It tastes similar to how it is articulated. "CHEE-AH-PASSSSSSS"
The final sips are so sweet! Cherry cream, melons, grape, kiwi, spread out with easy access to cream cheese fruit dip, maybe even a few chocolate dipped fruits in there too.
Medium bodied, creamy, clean fruits, grape acidity, chocolatey finish.
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Brew Method:
Chemex | 30g (c) to 480g (w) | 3:45 total time | 200 degrees | 1.31 TDS | 19.40% Ext.
Clean aromas- grape, apple, caramel.
The intro to the cup is soft. Very much filled with cinnamon and spices and caramel sweetness (more spice though), but how soft it is prevents it from being abrasive. After that you can sense notes of cocoa, honey, grape and apple skin, but I may let this sit to really let those notes draw out and spice dissipate. More than some other coffees, this strikes a unique chord between savory spices and resonant sweetness to reach a wide range of drinkers.
As it opens you get a nice cherry sweetness and underneath is just layered with honey sweetness, ending with a bit of drying almond.
Every further the body remains on the medium side of things, crisp apple on the front with a rich cocoa structure nicely finish.
The final sips continue a nice honey sweetness, with cherry, grape, and chocolate covered pretzels in the finish.
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Brew Method:
V60 no stir | 14g (c) to 227g (w) | 1:55 total time | 200 degrees | 1.32 TDS | 19.85% Ext.
Much more juicy start than the previous makes, still spiced but it creates a really nice presentation with the more round body. If you are a classic Guatemala fan, keep reading.
Slightly nutty, notes of clove, cinnamon, Apple Jacks, and lingering cocoa.
Opening further is intriguing. It cleans up a bit, adding cream and a maltiness that reminds me of Whoopers, still with sweet chocolate, and now adding in cleaner fruit bursts of cherry, dried strawberry, and some grape.
Finial sips add some caramel to the cup to give a nice palpable finish to the otherwise clean and sweet fruity and chocolatey cup you experience. It could be that this is a bit older of a make, but there are lingering elements of pepper that aren't necessarily a deterrent, actually quite interesting to encounter. The first make I said this would probably make a good espresso base, and this make makes me think it would be a great bridge coffee for those coming over to specialty coffee.
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Brew Method:
Aeropress (Inverted) | 17g (c) to 240g (w) | 2:00 then plunge by 2:30 total time | 198 degrees | 1.32 TDS | 19.75% Ext. (Immersion mode)
At it's warmest moments, this coffee gives nods to melted tootsie roll sweetness, slightly juicy with green grape and green apple skin, with a slightly spiced finish. It almost reminds me of Mexican hot cocoa, as you notice the raw cocoa with elements of spices the more it cools, but it always carries a brighter green apple note in the acidity with a squirt of lemon following. It also to some extent carries a bit of saltiness that makes me think of olives.
Opening further it sweetens into that more juicy profile we've said in previous makes. Soft honey now coats and floats down the tongue as green apple opens each sip, cherry, raisin, and red and green grape sweetness it while chocolate and cinnamon covers the notes as it floats into the finish. However, the lingering does seem to give more drying thoughts like wood, pear, and blackberry.
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I seem to have mentioned it in all the makes, so it must be applied to the summary- this coffee is fully accessible. It has an intro that your grandpa will love, and an ending that you and your friends will tweet about. I really enjoyed the ending, as it doesn't quite seem like it would pack as much flavor in from your initial sips, but you'll be surprised. I was also right about the espresso thing, it performed really well for cappuccinos and cortados alike. This is a solid and balanced offering that straddles the lines between rustic and sweet- an all-day kind of coffee not just from Mexico, but in general.
It’s hard to even figure out where to start when it comes to Kickapoo Coffee Roasters. My first experiences with this Wisconsin based roaster were two of their Congo roasts that came in Craft Coffee boxes earlier this year. In those bags, not only did I find some of the most flavorful coffees I’d had to that point, I found stories of farmers and struggle that, again until that point, I have never known existed.
Flash forward to a few months ago when I was contacted by Kickapoo about interest in visiting more of their offerings, and you can imagine my excited. I spent a good hour on the phone with Alex, just talking about the family-owned business, about sustainability with cooperatives, farms, and packaging, living in and representing the Midwest, and about their 1930’s German Probat. All these are things we will dive into more detail about in the next several days, but for now, let’s just dig into one of the many amazing offerings that Kickapoo has: La Gabriela Costa Rica.
Finca La Gabriela is located in the Santa Cruz de León Cortés area of Aserrí, Costa Rica, about two hours south of San Jose. Gabriela owns approximately five acres of property, four of which are dedicated to coffee production. She brings ripe, red cherry down to the Rio Jorco Mill where individual farmer lots are kept separate and dried in massive, gordiola dryers to about 10.5 percent moisture content in preparation for export.
Kickapoo visited Rio Jorco last February and were welcomed with open arms by Rio Jorco's owner, Luis Alfaro. The mill is impeccably run by their manager Ruddy Azofefia who does an amazing job collaborating with over fifty small-scale producers in the region. They visited many beautiful farms in Tarrazu and met with a slew of producers.
Luis Alfaro's grandfather, Jorge Zeledon Casto, purchased the main farm and processing facility in 1920. He had rare vision and dedication to quality way back then, made a name for himself as the godfather of specialty coffee in Tarrazu. Fast forward three generations and Luis and his brother Jim have taken the reigns and doubled down their efforts in helping producers craft some of the most delicious micro-lots in the country.
Details:
Roaster: Kickapoo Coffee Roasters
Region: Aserri, Tarrazu
Farm: Finca La Gabriela
Process: Mechanical Wash, Gordiola Drying
Varietal: Caturra, Catuai
Elevation: 1,700 - 1,800m
Brew Method:
V60 no stir | 14g (c) to 227g (w) | 2:10 total time | 200 degrees | 1.39 TDS | 20.85% Ext.
Nose carries citrus, wood, berries.
First sips are so layered. Rich and syrupy peachy nectar on the front that slides effortless into a glaze donut-like sweetness, with green apple, green grape, blood orange marmalade, lemon and lime also present in the sips that end in a sweet, slightly spiced, honey coated finish.
Actually, the end of each sips are quite remarkable. Buttery in mouthfeel, with luscious butterscotch candies, warm honey-buttered croissants, and caramel covered orange that saturate the palate.
About mid-cup these floral notes also come out in the tail end of each sip, so replacing some of that dense saturation and giving a lighter, more fluttery ending that is still citrusy, still bright and clean, and take you into those caramel and spice finishes.
The colors turn from greens to reds, still sweet and fruitied with a resurgence of peach, apricot, and raspberry, and cranberry, caramelly and spiced, but the finish now seems more structured, more aimed, more purposefully. Because of that, it creates a beautifully balanced cup, citrusy, sugary, spicy, with red fruits in a slick mouthfeel that has a sweet lingering and dry spice finish.
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Brew Method:
Kalita Wave | 34g (c) to 552g (w) | 3:45 total time | 205 degrees | 1.34 TDS | 20.15% Ext.
A more nutty, spicy, and chocolatey start, still with clean fruits in the finish. It's rich, deep, and moves towards a creamy sweetness in the finish, but still a lot heavier, more full bodied than the previous make. It still carries an orangey citrus note, but balanced and sweet in the cup.
Soon it opens up, and lays down some of that weight and becomes a sweeter cup with those peach and apricot notes coming through, followed by the grape and apple cleanliness, and still finishing with a spiced nut finish.
The front of each sip is clean, splashy, and it grows a bit more creamy in the mouthfeel, with notes reminiscent of incense, anise, and mint seeming to stir around these dried fruit notes with caramel and chocolate oozing out of the bottom end, with the lingering finish giving nods to toasted marshmallow, malt and barrel aged liquor tones.
While not as sugary, it still gives some nice orange and raspberry tootsie roll sweetness in the end, still bright and spiced through the sips.
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Brew Method:
Chemex | 30g (c) to 480g (w) | 3:40 total time | 200 degrees | 1.34 TDS | 19.85% Ext. (preferred method)
First sips are syrupy sweet, a bit tropical, a bit green apple tartness, and a bit of spice in the finish.
Continuing sips are caramel sweetness, almost like a glazed donut sweetness with a splashy fruits after leading to nips of cinnamon on the sides of the tongue in the finish.
Cherry brightens the way in the cup, peach and mango flesh is the landing point with raspberry sweetening the end of each sip, sprinkled with sugars as it gets closer to candy sweet with light notes of florals growing and a slightly biting orange cream soda aftertaste.
That candy sweetness actually grows more plush after each sip, I feel as if I'm eating a French macaron, the question being what kind? Matcha, earl grey, vanilla bean, raspberry, brown sugar, lemon zest lavender? The mouthfeel is similar enough, slightly cake-like with delicately saturated sweetness.
Such balanced sweetness in this cup, truly an experience.
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Brew Method:
Aeropress (Inverted) | 17g (c) to 240g (w) | 2:00 then plunge by 2:30 total time | 201 degrees | 1.37 TDS | 20.45% Ext. (Immersion mode)
This cup is clean on the front. Lightly creamy, rich, and carrying nips of spices on the sides of the tongue with lingering notes of cocoa and pomegranate.
It soon opens to cherry pastry, showing both a lightly concentrate sweetness, a bit of a ting and a slightly drying finish, with more savory bread-like qualities.
I can tell this one has seen fresher days, so know that you may want to address this coffee within the first few weeks. Still, cooling you do find some sparkling peach notes enter, a more moderately syrupy body growing with spice and cocoa still lining the finish. In terms of whole picture, it is quite balanced, no one element jumping out above the rest. A light layer of meyer lemon rides through the cup, sitting just below the other fruits notes and just above this strand of brown sugar sweetness growing in the cup. The fruits, while still lightly tingly, begin to grow more caramelized as the cup cools, just not as vividly as previous makes.
Really clean cherry and raspberry develop in the final sips, sweetened, plush, creamy, and leaving trails of dried lavender and honey, and caramelized sugar (akin to the top of creme brûlée) on the palate, with lingering notes of apple torte.
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Maybe it was wrong of my to have come out of the gate like this, but man. From the first make, this coffee was immediately on my favorite coffees of this year. It was so approachable and elegant yet lively, layered, and complex, leaving nothing at all to be desired that wasn’t already being offered. The highlight would probably be the cup’s sweetness, that while tantalizing and mesmerizing, never leaves the cup out of balance. The addition of spices and slightly savory touches here and there really make this an exceptional offering that, if at all possible, should be experienced to really understand.
It’s almost that time again! Boxes of coffee towering over our desks here at the office means that our March Box is headed to subscribers soon!
As much as we can’t wait to send you our new coffees, we are also sad to graduate our three coffees from Fourbarrel, JJ Bean and Kickapoo. (Is this what teachers feel like when their students leave them?)
So before we do, let’s take a look at a few more of these "Tasting Notes Brought to Life" from our last Tasting Box...
Striking grapefruit acidity and delicate floral aromas lead into flavors of black currants and oolong tea. Lingering notes of brown sugar and bing cherries round out this wonderfully complex, dynamic cup.
A wonderfully balanced cup, with a soft apple-cider acidity, flavors of honey and caramel, and a succinct finish reminiscent of graham crackers and pears.
Striking tomato & cherry acidity give way to a savory center and a finish redolent of cinnamon & cloves.
