Espresso Workshop #36 - Subiramo

Workshop #36 is an "exotic" addition to the series, brewed coffee of the fruit-forward nature - berries, tropical fruit and cooked plum - with darker roasts folding in equal parts bittersweet cocoa roast tones. These characteristics are distilled in espresso shots, with flashes of baking spice and even a floral grace note. City+ to Full City+. Excellent for espresso.



Origin: Ethiopia, Tanzania, Rwanda
Roast Recommendations
If you're looking for dual-use roast, go for Full City; brewed coffee is nice as light as City+, and espresso roasts as far as FC+
Organic: No
Farm Gate: Some
Recommended for Espresso Yes
Description
This edition of our Workshop blend sees a mix of new-crop African coffees, together resulting in a flavor-profile that is much more characterized by exotic notes rather than the sort of classically-oriented cocoa and nut tones offered by many coffees from the Americas. It works well as brewed coffee and espresso, and the recommended roast spectrum is fairly wide appealing to those who prefer slightly "lighter, brighter" as well as those who like to develop a healthy dose of roast tones. For us, we found the most "balance" of flavors at Full City (though that term doesn't really apply to this blend!), even toward the outer edge, just beyond. The blend consists of equal parts Tanzania pulp-natural and Rwanda Mutovu Cooperative, as well as a dash of dry-processed Adado Salula. Only 1/5 of the blend is the dry-processed component, but that little slice makes a lasting, and fruited impression. From light to dark, this Workshop blend stands out, impresses. It's less about integration of flavors, and more about singling out the sweet and tart fruit notes high above a grounding sugar and cocoa bittersweetness (due-in-part to the heavy bourbon variety base). Why "Subiramo"? Well, in Kinyarwandan, it means something to the effect of "can you please repeat that", which in this case I'm using in place of "say what", an exclamation of sorts. Take a sip and you'll taste what I mean!

We roasted this blend to both City+ and Full City, and both performed really well in both brew and espresso applications. Though the dry-process coffee is only 1/5 of the blend, it's one of the loudest voices in the cup conversation. It's sensed immediately in the ground coffee, berry ripe plum tones, rustic sweetness followed closely by baking spice and brown sugar, the Rwandan coffee characteristics edging in. Wetting the coffee produces a very dense sweetness, blueberry pie and maple sugars. Full City has a deep chocolate smell too, a worthy challenger to the fruited competition. City is a bit too light for this Workshop coffee, the blending of washed/dry-process coffees finding equilibrium around-and-beyond a City+ level of development. Sweetness is much more realized at this level too, with a nice mix of red berry notes and dark sugar sweetness. You'll sense the highest level of acidity at City+ too, and upon reaching FC, flattens out a bit, ushering in complex layers of cocoa notes. Red berry and cooked fruit notes still sit way out on top, and the blend with bittersweet chocolate bar flavors is intense to say the least. Espresso shots at this roast level are stacked with cocoa roast tones, intermixed with bursts of fresh and cooked berry notes, guava chews ("guayaba" candies), fig bar, subtle flashes of warming spice and an every-so-slight floral grace note. Mouthfeel is very creamy drawing out the complex cocoa tones to a long bittersweet finish. It's always good to let your espresso roasts rest, and a profile like this will benefit from at least a couple days, try 72 hours for the best results. Your patience will be rewarded with a much more harmonious espresso profile.