Colourful
Sourcing coffees that are exceptionally vibrant, bright and intensely expressive, then blending them together for a raucous cacophony of flavour. This blend will be an exploration of modern processing and vibrancy, a year round staple of intense fruit-forward notes. Coffee in full Colour, not just black and white.
Brew Guide:
Best Brewed with: Suitable for Filter and Espresso
Best Rested for: 2-3 weeks
We roast this blend on the lighter side, with the view that it should still work as an all-rounder for both filter and espresso. Try a modern open recipe at 18g in, 45-50g out in 25-30s when brewing as espresso to really open up the flavour, or 60g/L when brewing on filter.
In combining the excellent agronomy and modern processing in these two lots, we’re tasting milk chocolate, mango lassi, rum & raisin, plum jam, pineapple, with hazelnut praline in the finish – but with such complex coffees, there are more interpretations you can bring out through brewing at home.
Traceability:
Country of Origin: |
Colombia |
Costa Rica |
Blend percentage: |
52% |
48% |
Region: |
Bababudangiri, Western Ghats |
Las Lajas, El Pajal, San Antonio Huista |
Farm: |
Ratnagiri Estate, Ashok & Divya Patre
|
Grown & processed at Finca El Mirador |
Varieties: |
Catuaí |
Caturra |
Elevation: |
1,150 to 1,350 MASL |
1550 – 1720 MASL |
Process: |
Carbonic Macerated / Anoxic Natural: Extremely ripe cherries picked (23.9 Brix) & floated before processing. Placed in a stainless steel pressure vessel and pressurised with carbon dioxide, with a 60 hr fermentation. Post ferment, dried on raised beds over 30 days . |
Traditional Washed: Cherries picked and processed at the El Mirador wet mill. Floated prior to pulping, with a 24 hr wet ferment prior to washing. Dried on raised beds over 15 days |
Import Partner: |
Osito |
Primavera |
Harvest |
Crop 23/24, Arrived UK September 2024 |
23/24, Arrived UK: July 2024 |
The Story:
Colourful was born out of another concept we wanted to play with, something we felt almost criminally under-explored. There is such huge potential in combining deeply fruity and fun coffees into a blend, yet so often it’s almost seen as sacrilege, that they must be a single origin special release, or else some green coffee buyer secret police will break in and confiscate the sacks back.
Yet who amongst us has not occasionally chucked the remnants of a special bag or two into the grinder, and found the result to be more than the sum of its parts? So in the full rebellious spirit of resisting pretentious coffee traditions, we’ve sought out the most uniquely fruity and fun coffees to feature in Colourful . There’s no denying that the funky, wild profile of an anaerobic or experimentally processed coffee might not be for everyone, or the sort of coffee you drink every single day. However, we believe in their ability to surprise and delight, with the objective to showcase the vibrancy and full dynamic range that coffee has to offer. Like a mug full of pick n’ mix sweets, coffee in full colour (not just black and white!).
So here we have it – Colourful. It’s a year-round celebration of colour and flavour, giving us the freedom to source, blend, or even to spotlight single origins under its banner. Colourful isn’t dictated by its components; instead, its essence is its flavour profile and the fun we have in creating and selecting for it.
Version 7:
Our autumn refresh sees new fresh crop lots drop it into Colourful.
We’re stoked to bring in two polar opposite lots to build this new version, but with producers both dedicated to quality and pushing forward their respective origins. We met Ashok & Divya Patre (the owners of Ratnagiri estate in India) at the recent World of Coffee expo in Copenhagen, and we knew from our discussions there that we definitely wanted to work together.
And we’ve been keen to work with Jose Lopez since we launched- we have long experience both with purchasing, roasting and brewing coffee from his mum’s (Paulina) plot at El Mirador in our previous coffee career, as well as spending time with him in Huehue when Alex visited Primavera in 2019. His coffee stood out on a blind table of excellent Huehue pre-ships, so it was really meant to be.
Ratnagiri has the vision of elevating Indian coffee onto the world stage, with a processing centre that matches any modern Colombian rockstar production.
India has some serious heavy hitters working on their production and it’s a nascent origin to watch, and one we’re very happy to bring into our sourcing portfolio. With a 60 hr carbonic macerated Catuai, this lot from Ratnagiri brings the funky vibes that underpin each version of Colourful
Matching this, we’ve got a washed Caturra from Jose Lopez in Guatemala. Jose is Primavera’s head of quality in Huehuetenango, and his deep experience in coffee agronomy and processing shows.
While it’s classically processed, this lot stood out on the cupping table with really bright, clean acidity and tropical fruits that show the best of the Caturra variety. This high elevation acidity really helps the more process-driven lower altitude flavours of the Ratnagiri lot, a real “mariage parfait”
