Our amazingly talented roaster -John- took a break from his brotherly teasing to tell us about a very tasty limited supply roast we currently have in stock- just waiting for your eager devouring... or slow-but just as eager-sipping. Introducing... Ethiopia Yirgacheffe ECX Top Lot...DELISH!
Imagine sorting through literally thousands of different batches of Ethiopian coffees, just to find a relatively small handful of coffees that stand out. Then, of those outstanding batches, imagine tasting them over and over again, combining different batches together to find, finally, one particular combination that tastes like everything a classic Yirgacheffe coffee ought to taste like: A delicate but intoxicating combination of floral and citrus notes backed by a honeyed sweetness. If you think this sounds like a treat, then you ought to come in to Quills soon, because we certainly have a treat for you!
The fact that we have this coffee from Ethiopia is no mistake, but it's certainly not because we did anything to deserve it. You see, Café Imports, the kind folks who do the importing of the raw, unroasted coffees -- or, as we say in the roasting business, "greens" -- we roast at Quills, gave us a heads-up on this small but special "lot" of coffee they had a hand in creating. They were really, really excited about it, and were kind enough to hold a few bags of it for us while we roasted and cupped a couple sample batches. Needless to say, as our roaster, I'm thrilled to be roasting this for Quills, but I'm even more thrilled to be able to offer you, our wonderful customers, this delightful coffee.
As of right now, the Yirgacheffe is being brewed only on our manual pour-over devices, the V60 and the Chemex. A part of this is because we really want to be able to preserve the freshness and pop of those floral and citrus notes, but also because we feel that there's a certain level of customization that can come when we manually tweak the brewing parameters. If brewed one way, the sweet honey notes come forth and intermingle with a brown sugar-like warmth. If brewed another way, the citrus and floral notes dominate the senses aromatically, becoming a creamy-but-zesty lemon delight.
Still, we haven't "arrived" with regard to roasting or brewing this coffee, and we're excited to see how it evolves over the coming weeks. If you've not yet given the Ethiopia Yirgacheffe ECX Top Lot a try, please do yourself a favor and grab a cup or a bag -- or, better yet, both. We like to say at Quills that there's a story in each cup, and in the case of this tasty treat, it's a pretty neat story.