Monday I received a message from Spencer Young from Grassroots Coffee, in Thomasville, GA on facebook, after an exchange of messages, I had coffee to review.
Drinking this coffee was a pleasure. I received the coffee while at work, very nice packaging by the way guys n gals. The coffee smelled quite good and I could not wait to break it out! Needless to say I paraded it around to my fellow coffee lovers at work, which almost got me mobbed!
Ethiopian coffee is known for a winy fruity flavor as is predominant in African coffees. Most coffees from Sidamo are wet processed. This batch was sun dried. This I do believe means it was dry processed. Or this could mean that it was let to dry in the sun after being wet processed. The Sun Dried on the bag is perhaps a bit vague. This processing will affect flavor (well at least some say, I do not thin my palate is quite that developed yet).
So let’s get to the coffee I received. It was a medium roast from the looks of it (point in their favor), there were varying shades of brown on the beans, not uniform. The roast date was the 11th of October. This was received on the 24th of October. So we at the edge of the two week window, just barely. Although I must say, if it was within say a week of roast, the smell would have been strong enough that the ladies at work would not have let me out without handing it over! Think that roast date was going to stop me? Think again! The aroma was still terrific. I could not wait to get home and grind it up!
Once home I open the package up and actually open the Sidamo bag. The smell of the beans is sexy as all get out. But that does not compare to what it smells like when its ground. Oh yes, once ground is when the aroma really starts to hit you, exciting those olfactory receptors; the anticipation hits.
I eagerly get my clever out and set everything up, weigh out my coffee and water. I like my coffee a little ‘heavier’ than most. Usually one sticks to a 16:1 ratio, water to coffee. I am a bit off that. For 250grams water I use about 30 to 35 grams coffee. It just tastes better to me. This is likely going to be too out of whack measurement wise for most, I suggest you stick to the 16:1 ratio. Back to the coffee.
So I start my water heating. When I judge there is about a minute before the water is done I grind my beans and put them in the filtered Clever (BAM nose candy once coffee is ground).
Pour water over the coffee stir a touch let it rest for two minutes. Stir, rest. This goes on for four minutes. Ok I want to go into a bit of detail here. When I stir the coffee in the filter I get the upper crust of coffee that forms back down into the water. I noted a lighter brown froth forming on top of the water. The coffee is letting loose all kinds of smells, this is all very good. Let us taste that coffee now, smooth, very smooth. I get the wine notes, a lively feel to the coffee. It is not too heavy on the tongue. As I swish the coffee around and let it settle, I feel a medium bodyweight, it has a good mouth-feel to it. At this point, I almost tasted something like brownies, but I will defer to calling it a rich warm chocolate note. Again, very good. Since the coffee was past that two week time, I wonder if the flavor profile would have been stronger? Maybe.
So after doing a second clever pour over tonight I got very similar results. Rich wine notes, chocolate notes and just solid gold. This means that the beans were uniformly roasted and quality was consistent. You could begin to know what to expect out of the coffee from cup to cup. In the morning I am going to grind up for some drip. Let’s see what different tastes come through. I will edit this post to let you know how that came out. If you are looking for a top notch coffee, something to really enjoy. Give the Ethiopian Sidamo from Grassroots Coffee a whirl. You will be glad you did.
Next coffee on the list is their Espresso Blend. Looking forward to it!
EDIT – The drip is a little heavier body; however you lose the wine notes. But its a coffee you can drink and think with or about. It kinda warms right up to you. Not sure I am conscious enough to write more about that at this time. Fridays are looong.
in the interest of full disclosure this coffee was provided free of charge. This in no way shape or form influences the opinion of the blogger. I will call it straight everytime. If you wish to have your coffee reviewed drop an email to SanitybyCoffee@Gmail.com
