Brewing San J

So, as I might have mentioned, Spot bought a microlot from Costa Rica, the San Juanille estate. We're finally getting around to brewing and selling it, and I'm pretty excited about it. Direct Trade might be a little out of our reach right now, but we can still grab some awesome microlots now and again.


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Buffalo has a few places now that serve good espresso, lattes, caps, etc. We definitely have a few cafes that take their atmosphere and customer service seriously... What we don't have is a cafe scene for high-end, brewed-to-order coffees. I'm pretty sure that once enough people get a chance to try some really phenomenal brewed coffee, it will pick up a momentum of its own. This San Juanille lot, I'm hoping, is a stepping-stone to that.

At least behind the counter, and over in the roastery, Michael's got us calling this batch “San J”, which I like. He's probably going to change the roast a little bit for the next batch, but I'm pretty happy with this as is. One of our baristas & shift managers, Matt Measer, is also a graphics dude, making a poster for the San Juanille, so we broke out the v60 to try the first sample Michael sent us.


Couldn't find my normal papers so I threw a Chemex filter in there. Worked just fine.

I really need to a.) develop my palate skills more, and b.) hire a super-taster or something to write up them fancy tasting note lists you see on high-end coffee. Still, definitely impressed with this coffee. It doesn't taste like what I've come to expect from Costa Rican coffees: lots of chocolate in the body, and I keep picking up a little bit of peanut-like flavor as well. There's some nice acidity with a little fruitiness that I can't quite pin down, but most Spotters tasting this coffee for the first time are describing it as mellow—the brightness isn't so dominant as in many of our other centrals.


Jenn did up some boards while we wait for Matt's graphics.

Lots of exciting coffee stuff coming up in the next few months, I've finally got a decent camera, so hopefully I'll be posting a lot of interesting stuff. If you're reading this and you're a Buffalo area barista, roaster, coffee/food enthusiast, etc., I'm starting to brainstorm for some kind of event in October or November, let me know if you're interested.