It’s shaping up to be a cruel, cruel summer here in Texas, but we’re here to help with this month’s featured coffees: our first ever summer blend and our first ever score from one of our favorite producer’s exclusive special reserve auctions!
Roaster’s Choice: LC Summer Blend
For this month’s roaster’s choice we decided to create something completely new. The summer is off to a brutal start here in Texas, and while there’s always cold brew, I, for one, will not give up my hot coffee that easily. So, by combining a blend of floral and citric washed Ethiopian coffees from Guji with a sweet, syrupy Brazilian pulped natural from the Cerrado region, we’ve come up with what I think is one of our most refreshing blends ever! Think Arnold Palmer with a little raw sugar and an aromatic jasmine tea-like finish. This limited light-roast blend will only be around during the summer months (which could be until November at this rate, ugh…), so get your hands on some while it’s hot! And yes, it makes a really good cold brew too.
Microlot: Santa Felisa “Blue Moon” Pacamara Natural (Reserva Especial Lot #11)
This month we are proud to feature a lot from 2023’s Santa Felisa Special Reserve Auction. Already one of our favorite farms and producers in the world, and one we’ve featured many times over the years, this is the first time we’ve been able to secure a lot from Santa Felisa’s exclusive and competitive annual auction. An event that showcases their very best and rarest lots from each harvest, this year’s auction featured top-shelf genetics including coveted varieties like African Gesha, Gesha 2722, Dwarf Gesha, Sudan Rume, Red Pacamara, and SL-28, and each of the 13 nanolots was enhanced through Anabella’s expertly executed fermentations. This year’s theme, “Coffee Morphosis,” celebrated the transformations that a coffee goes through from seed to cup and how careful processing at each stage of its journey influences the end product. From Santa Felisa:
“Santa Felisa’s 13th Reserva Especial online auction offers a deep sensorial experience for coffee connoisseurs interested in exploring the evolution of flavors. Our carefully cultivated exotic varieties and hand-picked cherries undergo a meticulous fermentation process to enhance their natural quality, resulting in a transformed and enhanced taste profile. This Coffee Morphosis is a testament to our commitment to innovation and the pursuit of the ultimate coffee flavor.”
The lot we purchased from the auction is a Red Pacamara, my personal favorite variety from Santa Felisa. Billed as “Blue Moon,” (did we mention that Santa Felisa is also really great at branding), this lot underwent a heap fermentation in which the freshly-picked cherries are placed on African beds in piles to ferment for at least 24 hours before being spread into thinner layers for slow, natural drying. The result of this fermentation often comes in the form of tropical fruit notes, according to Anabella, and she found this particular lot to be very papaya-forward. We also get a ton of dark dried fruits, grape soda, and milk chocolate from this one, and the syrupy body is complimented perfectly by a refreshing orange-like citric acidity.
