Coffee Review: Esmeralda Leon from Klatch Coffee

I've recently had the pleasure of drinking some Esmeralda Leon from Klatch Coffee.  From their website, the growers separated this lot due to its "multi-layered and complex" flavor, which is validated by a 96 score (highest I've seen) from Coffee Review (great website btw).  Hit the jump to see how I feel about it!

Pour Over Guide with Kone & Chemex

With the popularity of pour over coffee at 3rd wave coffee shops ever increasing, I thought it'd be a good idea to write up a guide for anyone wanted to try it themselves.  For this guide, I'll be using the Chemex and Kone filter.  I will writeup a guide later using a paper filter.  While the general idea of pour over is similar to you automatic coffee machines, pour over provide much greater control over flow of water, brew time and temperature, and it allows a preinfusion stage. Join my after the jump to get started!

Review: Coava Kone Filter

Coava Kone

  Today, I'll do a review on the Coava Kone metal filter.  It's designed to be used in a Chemex pour over (more on chemex soon).  It's a single sheet of stainless steel with laser etched holes folded into shape and provides a reusable solution for pour over filter. With introductions out of the way, let's brew a cup!

Coffee Review: Colombia Hacienda El Roble

Colombia Hacienda El Roble straight out of packaging

Yesterday I got the Colombia Hacienda El Roble from Stumptown Coffee Roasters. It's a direct trade, single origin coffee and marks the second coffee I've bought from them.  The first one (forget the name) wasn't bad, but it didn't stand out at all. However, I kept on hearing good things about stumptown so I gave it another try - Let's see how it does this time around

Current Drinking: Carmen Natural Panama

Carmen Natural from Kuma

My new coffee came in same time as my AirScape canister, talk about good timing! Anyways, it's called Carmen Natural Panama from Kuma Coffee online coffee store. On their website, they say "Story:  Our friend Carlos Aguilera only prepped 20 bags worth of his natural processed coffee this year..." so basically because it sounded like limited supply, i bought one (yes im a sucker).  Find out if it can live up to the hype..

Rancilio Rocky pour over

111 was totally an coincidence

First morning with my new rocky grinder, I made some pour over in the Chemex V60 with a Kone metal filter per daily routine.  I find that the pour over (or drip if you will) brew method gives me a cleaner and smoother cup than french press, making it the preferred morning coffee routine.  What you see there is the initial pour, where the coffee should bloom to around the 1 minute mark.  I was supposed to pour to 100g... but wasn't really awake yet so.. we got 111.  After bloom, pour in rest of water (I used 24 g coffee with 400 g of water) which should take you to the 2 minute mark and let coffee flow through til 2:45 -  3:00.