El Tolú

Published by Bill Glover on

This post is part of the Advent of Coffee series.

Day 1

NameEl Tolú
GrowerManuel Duarte Orduz
OriginColumbia
VarietyCastillo
ProcessWashed
RoastLight
AcidityOrange
MouthfeelSilky
Hints ofLavender & Honey

Preparation

Time: 11:00

Washed the filter, warmed the mug and prepared hot water. Water temperature was 95.6ºC. Measured 21g coffee and poured 25ml over the coffee to wet it. Waited 30s and pured over a further 250ml water, keeping the filter funnel about half full.

Observation

Smelling the coffee when wet I was instantly reminded of Chinese food which I couldn’t quite place. I eventually settled on something that reminded me of roast meat accompanied by radish. A description that, if it appeared on the side of a bag of coffee, would almost instantly put me off buying it.

When the Smelling the coffee in the cup was completely different. I picked up on a slight spice with floral hints that I couldn’t place. No roast meat here.

Stand out characteristic of this coffee was how little friction there was in the mouth. There was no jarring flavour or bitterness. I’m reminded of a wine paring that is almost (but not quite) perfectly matched so that it just disappears in the mouth. The coffee was light, slightly earthy. Towards the end of the mug I thought I picked up on slight sweet notes.