aidabatlle wrote: Home rosters are as fascinating to me just as much as my rosters clients. You all are just as anal AF as I am. Haha But with that said, you all taking the time to be just as meticulous with such small volumes just like larger roasters are, it surprises me to hear you all have to sort through the green. It's one thing to buy full container loads where sh@t can happen but with such small quantities it shouldn't be an issue in my humble opinion. The green you receive is either personally vac packed by me or one of my siblings in Miami when I'm back home in El Salvador. This side hustle we've got going on is very small but we still want to make sure we offer the best we can.

This connection is what makes this such a unique and wonderful industry.

And as far as a book goes...if I were to ever write one, the tittle would be: "Coffee is a dirty, nasty, beautiful thing." Because it truly is and at the end of the day, we all pour our hearts, sweat and tears into it.

Your prep is excellent..probably the best in my experience in that I have yet to come across a defective bean. At this point I don't even bother checking your greens...just put them in the roaster and go. Such is quality of your prep.

What an intriguing title although I confess the first two descriptors never come to mind in relation any of your coffees. Beautiful...yes...but dirty and nasty...never. However such a title inspires even more curiousity on my part...hope you do write a book some day.

GC7 wrote:I have now had the opportunity to directly compare the Natural Process obtained from Roastmasters with Washed. I raved and still rave about the rich winey but citrus fruit forward cup as SO espresso or pourover. It's just delicious.

The washed process, however, is to my tastes, top of the lot. Its clarity, molasses sweetness with a bowl full of stone fruits and cherry suit me perfectly for espresso and pourover. It was very helpful to have them side by side. I just like the clarity of washed coffees and look forward to trying the others.

I will have my first try of the Burundi process tomorrow though it's not synchronized ago wise with the other two.

I put in another order today. I have resolved myself to be less impulsive in my coffee purchases and to spend more time enjoying quality. Aida's coffees are top shelf and will hopefully always be in my inventory.

Great minds think alike. I have found myself returning to the Washed over the last few weeks. Like you, the Washed is my current favorite. There is something very compelling about the flavor profile - even more so given that it is a washed. It would stand out even in the company of the most novel pushed to the limits style processed coffees. After tasting through so over the top processing methods, there is revelatory about coming across such a stunning example of what would be considered a rather universal (dare I say old school) style of processing.

Having made the above comments about over the top novel processing - let me clarify that in no way would I ever consider Aida's processing to ever be over the top. While they are iconic and original, I have always felt that the coffees themselves were first and foremost in order of importance. Each process is undertaken to show the effect of process on coffee...as opposed to done for the sake of novelty.

So when I speak of over the top coffee, please understand that I am not speaking of Aida's coffees but rather the other examples that abound where the quality is sacrificed in the name of novelty or perhaps reflect a lack of mastery and skill. Aida remains to me, a pioneer in agronomy and processing in that balance, harmony, and quality are never sacrificed even when undertaking the most novel of experimental processes.

I have stocked up on Aida's coffees...and will probably keeping ordering as they are that good. Hard to go back to mere mortals so to speak, when you can drink such superbe coffees like these. I also got a Panther subscription because their roasting provides such inspiration. The hardest part is drinking slowly enough to take notes and try and figure out how to best approximate their lovely roasts.

Thanks for the link...I enjoy Michael Pollan's writing and the book's subject is quite complex and tragic to say the least.

In that context the reference (dirty and nasty) makes perfect sense. All the more reason I am grateful for producers like Aida who produce beautiful coffee in an ethical manner.

mpdeem wrote: So when I speak of over the top coffee, please understand that I am not speaking of Aida's coffees but rather the other examples that abound where the quality is sacrificed in the name of novelty or perhaps reflect a lack of mastery and skill. Aida remains to me, a pioneer in agronomy and processing in that balance, harmony, and quality are never sacrificed even when undertaking the most novel of experimental processes.

I have stocked up on Aida's coffees...and will probably keeping ordering as they are that good. Hard to go back to mere mortals so to speak, when you can drink such superbe coffees like these. I also got a Panther subscription because their roasting provides such inspiration. The hardest part is drinking slowly enough to take notes and try and figure out how to best approximate their lovely roasts.

Mary, you are a poet.

To continue the theme, I believe Aida's coffees, properly roasted, reflect the best that is possible to get out of the bean.

My roast of the Burundi process took a day or two longer than the washed or Natural to shine. Today it expressed more sweet fruits without a small unidentifiable off taste. It's great and a bit more is on the way.

Maybe this belongs in another thread (actually it is) on anaerobic processing but given your poetic prose regarding Aida's processing methods I thought I would repeat it here. In a thread on predictions of what we might see or what might be gone in 20 years I wrote -"In 20 years - I can't believe they took perfectly ripe cherries from a prime origin and farm and let them ferment for a week with or without oxygen!". I am becoming turned off by "excess" manipulation of nature's beautiful ripe beans and hope its far less prevalent in less than 20 years. Finca Kilimanjaro does it just right.

GC7 wrote:Maybe this belongs in another thread (actually it is) on anaerobic processing but given your poetic prose regarding Aida's processing methods I thought I would repeat it here. In a thread on predictions of what we might see or what might be gone in 20 years I wrote -"In 20 years - I can't believe they took perfectly ripe cherries from a prime origin and farm and let them ferment for a week with or without oxygen!". I am becoming turned off by "excess" manipulation of nature's beautiful ripe beans and hope its far less prevalent in less than 20 years. Finca Kilimanjaro does it just right.

Thank you for the kind words...although I tend to be more long winded than poetic

You perfect express what I was trying to say - and a lot more succintly. 'Excess" manipulation is exactly what I was trying to describe. I predict the 'sangria washed cereal milk rinsed sun tan lotion dried" processed coffee to appear any day now. I can't help but wonder if such overdone processing is done to make anotherwise average coffee 'interesting". Of course that is not always the case but the emphasis on over the top manipulation lends itself -right or wrong- to that sort of conjecture, at least on my part.

Finca Kilimanjero does it just right...could not have said it better myself.

As for the Burundi....I will post my further impression on the Burundi thread...but will mention that this seems to be quite a versatile coffe in terms of roast level and flavors. Vascilating between brown sugar, day, honey notes (darker roasts) verus stone fruits honey a hint of strawberry and cream (lighter).

baldheadracing wrote:Just finished roasting a couple kg of the washed from 2020. Looking forward to cupping and pulling shots tomorrow, as I went all of January with no coffee/caffeine .

Would be interested to hear how the 2020 version tastes since I had the opportunity to try. As an aside how does one store coffee that long. I confess the idea of storing anything in my deep freezer is rather scary. Given my freezer is not dedicated solely to coffee, the chance for picking up off - non coffee flavors seems to be possibility. Maybe just paranoia on my part though.

No coffee for all of January??? You are tough. One month without coffee of any sort is bad enough...but to do it in the most brutal month of winter, now that takes courage.