Today is day number 24, the last day of the CafeBox advent calendar.
Today we're brewing El Arbol, which is a Nicaraguan Geisha that was carbonic macerated natural.
So, weird region for Geisha and crazy processing.
Producer and basics
The producer is Claudia Lovo. Harvest is January-February 2025.
And the altitude is 1500 meters above sea level.
And this was roasted by Sloinge.
Brew recipe
- The ratio is 20/300 grams of water.
- 94C, 800 to 950 microns.
- We did 21 clicks on the Q-air.
- It's a 4-6 recipe, so they did 5 equal pours of 60 grams.
And our total brew time...rinished at 2:15.
Which seems good, because I was worried it was going to be over extracted based on the processing. But since we went very coarse, we shall see how it tastes.
Flavor notes and expectations
The flavor notes on this are floral, complex, candy, red wine.
So I'm hoping it's not too florally. And it has more sweetness.
Yeah, this looks like something I will enjoy immensely.
And we shall see how it smells and tastes.
Aroma and first sip
The initial aroma on this is not very intense. Even though it's carbonically macerated. Kind of just smelling like a Geisha.
I had the same feelings when I was grinding it. It wasn't a super intense smell. So we're going to wait for it to cool down a bit and see how it tastes.
The initial sip of this coffee is amazing. We're getting not so many florals up front, more of midway through. But it's extremely sweet, like candy. It's complex. And the red wine hits you right after the sweetness. So far, very, very nice.
Finishing the cup and scores
As I'm finishing this coffee, there's not much to say other than this is bomb.
You get candy, really, really sweet up front. Lingering red wine. Aftertaste of red wine. Not getting super florally, but there is some florals there. It's nice and complex. The acidity is beautiful. Fantastic coffee. This was a great way to end the advent calendar.
For the aroma 4/10
Acidity 8/10 though I could be pushed to a 9.
Sweetness was a 10/10, though it would be higher than that. I'd probably be like 12 out of 10 on the scale.
Body was a 7/10. Quite a bit of body, probably due to the processing as geshes typically have very little body
Flavor was a 10/10.
Overall, I gave this coffee a 9.5 /10.
A great way to end off the calendar!
This is day 6 of #100DaysToOffload
