Man Vs Machine

The month of June was quite a remarkable one. We featured Man Vs Machine from Munich, Germany!

For the month of June we sent coffee from the different origins. Maria Suyapa La Flor from Honduras, Yobani Ramos from Colombia and exclusively for our Tasting Box customers - the beautiful Jaguara PB from Brazil. This was the very first time we shipped a Brazilian coffee!

JAGUARA PB
Origin: Brazil, Minas Gerais
Farm: Jaguara
Varietal: Yellow Catuai
Processing: Natural
Altitude: 1.040 m
Cupping Notes: Toffee, Sweet, Creamy 

YOBANI RAMOS
Origin: Colombia, Huila
Farm: Finca La Fuente
Varietal: Caturra
Processing: Washed
Altitude: 1.800 m
Cupping Notes: Nectarine, Lemon, Delicate

MARIA SUYAPA LA FLOR
Origin: Honduras, Poso Negro
Farm: La Flor
Varietal: Catuai
Processing: Washed
Altitude: 1852 m
Cupping Notes: Fruity, Juicy, Lime 

If your not yet a member - don't miss out on our next box!

Neues Schwarz

Let us introduce our February’s roaster Neues Schwarz from Dortmund, Germany. We have had an interview with co-founder Benedikt!

What’s the story behind Neues Schwarz?

I found my interest and passion in specialty coffee in Nürnberg almost 7 years ago. I was still working as an urban planner and lived next to a specialty roastery. After a while I made friend with the owner and started working for him as a barista and roaster. I learned a lot about the business, the roasting and expertise of specialty coffee. As my wife and I always planned to go back to our hometown we decided to build up our own business. My brother joined the adventure as head of finance and as a team of three we started elaborating our business plan. In March 2014, after 3 month of rebuilding a former furniture store, we opened our Specialty Roastery & Café in Dortmund.

Two years later we’re blessed with a great team of 10, very open-minded and cherishing clients, while still living our dream :-)

What are your thoughts and philosophies when roasting?

In general we’re dividing between espresso & filter roasts. The filter roasts are always as light and fruity as possible, for the espresso roasts we aim to develop them more balanced. That makes it a bit easier for our conservative customers to drink our espresso roasts.

What is the vision for Neues Schwarz?

At Neues Schwarz, we set ourselves several different goals. First, our aim is to express our appreciation for the farmer’s work through fair payment. Second, we value the diversity of aroma that different geographical areas and processes promote. Third, we want to give the possibility of choice to our clients by providing coffee from a single origin. By building a direct, fair coffee trade company, we could strengthen our efforts in achieving our aims. 

Where do you see yourselves in 5 years?

Still sourcing fantastic coffees, helping farmers building a sustainable business & still developing a new coffee culture in Western Germany

What is the most rewarding part of roasting?

While roasting I imagine the aromas I want to highlight. However, of course every bean has different potentials, different characteristics and you can never exactly foresee the final coffee. So the next reward for me is the first sip of the current charge – to discover the aromas that I have developed by roasting. But, the most rewarding is maybe to see our customers during the open cuppings we offer: how is the coffee perceived and accepted? Luckily, we have very open-minded customers who value diversity.

Is there any project you are working on right now that you are extra excited about?

Right now we’re working on a ‚cup project’ with a german/japan design combo. They just started their own business creating minimalistic cups produced in Japan. We’re always looking for interesting, unique & highest quality products that fits our own concept.

Would you mind sharing your favourite brewing recipe?

I prefer V60. Here’s our receipt:

- 16 g coffee

- 250 g water (95 C°)

- brewing time 2:00 – 2:30

1. clean the paper filter with hot water

2. pour 30 g water as preinfusion for 30sec

3. pour slowly up to 150 g water

4. pour in two more steps with 50 g water each

There are many of our subscribers who are trying Neues Schwarz for the first time. What can they expect?

Three coffees with quite diverse cupprofiles, all of them sweet and fruity, but different.

We hope you have enjoyed the coffees from Neues Schwarz. Be sure not to miss out on March's box, get you subscription going now! :-)

All photos shot by Tobias König

September's Shipment

For the month of September we shipped coffees from the German roaster JB Kaffee! We hope you will enjoy them just as much as we did. These are the coffees we sent.

LA LUCHA
Origin: Colombia , Antioquia (Jardin)
Producer: Los Andes Coop
Process: fermented for 36 hrs, washed and sun dried
Harvest: 2016
Soil:
Altitude: 1800m
Varieties:  Caturra & Colombia
Tasting notes: grapefruit, lemon, thick

Included in the 250g coffee box

LAS LAJAS PERLA NEGRA
Origin: Costa Rica, Los Angeles, Sabanillas de Alajuela
Producer: Chacón Solano Family
Process: natural
Harvest: 2016
Soil:
Altitude: 1300 – 1500m
Varieties: Caturra
Tasting notes: dried tropical fruit, sweet, smooth

Included in the 2x250g coffee box

NYERI NDAROINI AA
Origin: Kenya, Nyeri County, Central Kenya
Producer: Gikanda Farmers Cooperative Society
Process: Fully washed & dried on African beds
Harvest: 2015/16
Soil:
Altitude: 1600 - 1700m
Varieties: SL28 & SL34
Tasting notes: stonefruit, apple, gooseberry

Only included in the 3x100g tasting box

THE BARN COFFEE ROASTERS

For the first time ever, we’re shipping coffee from Germany! Let us introduce you to July’s roaster, The Barn Coffee Roasters from Berlin, Germany. We are thrilled to have them onboard! We have spoken to Ralf, founder of The Barn.

It all started when Ralf moved back to his home country, Germany, to Berlin after living in London for 10 years, working in both finance and acting. Ralf was still looking to combine his work and passion. Whatever he did before he enjoyed, but not in a passionate way. When he moved to Berlin he discovered his love for hospitality. He worked in a “fresh food place”, just to try something different from what he had been working with before. Ralf really enjoyed preparing food and serving people, but also to see their instant reaction to what they tasted.

He worked there for 1,5 years until he felt he was ready to do something on his own. The year was 2010 and Ralf noticed that there were now specialty coffee roasters in Berlin as well. There were no beans of high quality, the coffee was not traceable and there was no light roast. There were blends, but no single origin coffees.

Photo: Thnattaporn

Ralf was inspired by the quality and freshness of the food at Borough market in London, close to where he used to live. The concept of The Barn was to make everything by hand with fresh and regionally sourced bread from local artisan bakeries together with homemade cakes. They also wanted to serve the best coffee they could find. At this time  Square Miles and Tim Wendelboe supplied beans.

“That’s how The Barn was invented, putting everything I liked into one concept.”

Only a year later, in 2011, Ralf started thinking about roasting coffee on his own. He wanted to be involved in more levels of the value chain. Not just brewing and serving the coffees, but also sourcing and roasting them. For Ralf there were no second thoughts about not having the best quality that they could deliver.

“I’m really obsessed with quality and attention to detail.”

Photo: Marta Greber

The Barn is always looking at improving their product. Whether it might be the roast or the brew or the drink. Ralf explains that he never really looked at the market or at what people wanted.

“I think that if you really believe in something and you focus on it, and try to make it better and better there will be a lot of people that understand you, you don’t have to think about what they may want. If I had done that in 2010 then I would probably serve really dark roasted coffee because that’s what everybody wanted.”

The Barn does not blend any coffee. They want the coffee from the farms they work with to speak for themselves. That is also why all of their coffees are named after the farm they come from. The baristas are fully integrated in the roast work, they write down feedback of what they taste and what recipes they are using every day so that they can track every coffee that they roast. This gives them a lot more control of their quality. They not only roast and cup the coffees, they also see how well their coffees deliver in their cafés.  

Photo: Marta Greber

Today The Barn has got two cafés in Berlin. Looking ahead they will continue making great coffees, and keep improving their product.

In July we’re shipping coffee from The Barn Coffee Roasters. Get your box of coffee - join our subscription. We can’t wait for July.