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Tasting Blog: Ethiopia Sidamo Haile Selassie by La Grange Coffee Roasters
Written by Lee Sill on Jul 7th, 2010
A few months back we came up with the idea to start writing regular blogs that would feature different roasters from around Louisville, the Midwest, and even nationally that we felt were doing great things in coffee. Like we stated in the first blog, we hope that we are able to bring exposure to these roasters, and we love tasting new coffees!
La Grange Coffee Roasters is the work of Chris Cockrell of La Grange, Kentucky, an historic railroad town in Oldham County, just outside of the metropolitan area of Louisville. The folks here at Prima know Chris very well, as he stops by the office from time to time to talk roasting, brew methods, or to kindly drop off a bag or two of coffee!
You can find Chris and the crew of LGCR at the La Grange Farmers Market every Saturday morning from May through October in downtown La Grange. What is so great about what LGCR is doing is the focus to educate the community on coffee, from the farm to the cup. I remember Chris telling us stories of letting folks taste a freshly roasted coffee just days off roast, and comparing it to a several month old coffee, and noting the difference. You will also find examples on the table of green coffee, and the same coffee roasted, so that people can get a visual of coffee beyond the dark fines of store bought coffees they may be accustomed to at home.
We have had several of Chris' roasts either in the office, at home, or at the Bashes in town. Most recently we were able to enjoy some dry processed Haile Selassie from the Sidamo region of Ethiopia, taken to probably around a City + to Full City roast. We first brewed for the office in a Chemex, at 60 grams to a liter, at around 200 degrees. This was an incredibly sweet coffee, a classic Sidamo. The aroma was one of the more enjoyable I have experienced, with sweet cinnamon and nutmeg, like a fresh baked pie. This coffee had notes of cardamon and fructose sweetness in the beginning, but as it cooled strawberries, peaches, and various dried fruits came to the forefront.
We had a great time with this coffee. We had some great syphons with parameters of 370 ml to 28 grams at 202 degrees that brought out more spice from the coffee; I tried an aeropress at about 20 grams to 300 ml with a 45 second dwell time which produced a very clean cup with more clarity on the fruit notes, and we pulled some excellent shots of espresso about six days off roast that were surprisingly great shots; fruit bombs, yet not too bright. We were also able to test out the Bunn Trifecta using the Haile Selassie, and after some tinkering to find the right parameters, really enjoyed our cups.
La Grange Coffee Roasters is a great representation of the exciting things going on recently in Louisville coffee. If you haven't had the chance to make it out to La Grange on a Saturday morning, do yourself a favor and grab an iced v60, perfect for a hot Kentucky summer morning! For more information about Chris and La Grange, check out their website here.
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As the interest in specialty coffee continues to increase, so does the interest in brewing methods that best compliment the quality and ideals of specialty coffee. Up until this point there have been limited options when it comes to pour over brewing devices that offer both a small learning curve as well as excellent results. Garnering praise for both their calculated design and ease of use, the Kalita line of pour over brewers are helping that small list of brewers grow. The Kalita Wave Dripper is being offered in both small (1-2 people) and large (1-4 people). The small size is offered in both glass and stainless steel while the large size is offered in glass, stainless steel, and ceramic. For an overview of the unique style the Kalita Wave Dripper brings to the pour over method, a feature chart that overviews the design, technique, and advantage can be found below.
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Small, lightweight, and portable, the Skerton is the ideal hand grinder for the traveling coffee enthusiast, or the home enthusiast on a limited budget. The Skerton employs adjustable conical ceramic burrs for grinding any of the wide range of grinds employed in today’s coffee market. It can easily handle anything from fine espresso to a coarse French Press setting. The Skerton’s detachable 100 gr. glass jar is perfect for collecting the grounds, and in combination with the plastic screw-on lid (included in order) can even double as a storage unit for whole beans on those long trips. After grinding is finished, cleaning the Skerton is as easy as placing the unit in the dishwasher since the entire grinder is dishwasher safe. Whether you desire a quality, handy grinder for the road or enjoy the fine art of manual coffee preparation, the Hario Skerton is the ideal candidate. For an even more portable hand grinder from Hario, check out the Mini Mill (for a more detailed comparison of the two grinders, check out this blog post: Hario Skerton vs. Mini Mill).
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For most companies it's hard to find motivation for pushing out new products if you find yourself on top already. This is not, however, the case with La Marzocco. The Italian based espresso machine manufacturer continues to push the envelop when it comes to innovations in espresso machine technology. The newest line from La Marzocco continues their progression in the specific areas of temperature stability and pressure profiling. We've discussed the Strada Electronic Paddle version in detail in our Strada EP blog post and listing for the 2 Group Strada EP. The Strada Mechanical Paddle employs technology similar to the Mechanical Paddles on other La Marzocco models but with a few new features including individual pressure gauges, digital PID control, and dedicated group boilers.
Customer Reviews
Thanks for the way cool write
Thanks for the way cool write up Lee. You guys are the best! keep up the good work!
Anytime man! We love what
Anytime man! We love what you guys are doing!
Lee - I can't say enough
Lee - I can't say enough about the increase in web traffic because of this article. I do truly thank you for the thoughtfulness and kindness shown to my wife and me and our little business. We are getting closer to making the big leap every day...