I don’t have tons of experience with really light roasts, nor super high elevations. This is my first for both.
This is a single origin Ethiopian landrace varietal grown in the Oromia Region in the Guji Zone as high up as 2350 MASL. These beans are then sorted in a float tank and naturally processed, leading to a very strong strawberry flavour. This is the strongest single tasting note I’ve ever noticed in a coffee, it is so extremely strawberry forward. I’m really excited to do a bean review episode on this bag in the near future.
Here’s the back of the bag, including a QR code to read more if you’re interested:
I’ve not tried that one from Pilot, but I’ve tried “Strawberry Sundae” from Pirates of Coffee, which I’ve mentioned to you before (not affiliated with them - just a fan). Might have to do a side-by-side. There’s also Fruit Bombe from them, as another weirdly fruity cup.
I’ve been wanting to try something from Pirates of Coffee, maybe I’ll look for that one.
I haven’t had this particular one, but I have had some high altitude Ethiopian beans that were extremely blueberry-forward. I wish I remember the exact region and varietal, it was years ago. Was delicious, though.
I’d love to try something like that too. I definitely want to experiment with more high altitude Ethiopian now.
Yirgacheffe in particular has blueberry as a benchmark flavor note. Other Ethiopian coffees get it sometimes, as well.
It’s an absolutely delight when that blueberry note shows up. The acidity is in a sweet spot where the coffee is quite juicy.
We’re always searching for that next blueberry-bomb. Chasing the dragon.
If you like Pilot might I also recommend Java Roasters out of Toronto or Bows and Arrows from out west. If you’re in Quebec, Nucleus is very very good with a Pilot-like variety of roasts and origins.
IMO the current cream of the crop of Canadian roasters is Quietly out of Stirling Ontario but that’s just my preference.
Getting Quietly’s coffee at home used be a challenge (limited stock releases once a week at 11am EST) but they’ve opened up their webstore releases to two days a week. Still very hard to grab their decaf - which is consistently some of the best specialty coffee decaf I’ve ever had.
I’ll look into all of those, I appreciate it. A couple times a year I visit some family that doesn’t live too far away from Stirling so maybe I’ll visit Quietly the next time I’m in that direction.
Coffee’s an interesting lens for how taste works. Not many foods or drinks get flavor notes. Wine, of course, and spirits and beer. Vinegar. Coffee and tea. Very few solid foods; sometimes good dairy, which is often grassy. Chocolate. That those foods contain so many different chemical compounds we can perceive, enough that we actually point toward other foods, is a delight. I wonder how many people realize how fortunate we are to have that ability.
I’ve never gotten strawberry out of a pure coffee before, but I’d love to. I have had strawberry coferments that were good but had the grace of a sledge hammer. I’m sure this tastes more integrated.
I love your insight, and wholeheartedly agree. The fact we can pick out flavour notes of other foods that aren’t actually in there is truly amazing.
This is a very elegant coffee. Sledgehammer, it is not. I think you might like this one, just judging from your comment. If you get the chance to try it, I’d say do it.
Ethiopia in general seems to have coffee beans figured out.
These aren’t my first Ethiopian but they’re my first like this. Everything from there has impressed me so far, these are just the most impressive yet.
I went to a coffee tasting event (a cupping if you’re fancy) once, and the barista gave us this spiel about how it’d be different from a wine tasting because coffee varies wildly in flavour depending on climate and processing. I was rolling my eyes, because espresso is espresso right? He served up a light roasted Ethiopian single-origin like this one and it blew my mind. It’s a shame so much coffee is dark roast (or worse, French roast aka burnt to shit).
QR code points to ->
That would’ve been a good idea to include in my post, it seems. Thanks for commenting it.
Pilot is my regular coffee brand, some of the best coffee I’ve ever brewed at home. I have an auto order setup for a couple of their medium roasts.
I’ve been looking into a subscription service for coffee. I was going to go with Hatch but I’m now considering Pilot too.
Strawberry coffee? Glad you’re enjoying it, but I’m going to stick with my usual blend.
It wasn’t bad but it was full on watermelon flavor. Like intense levels of watermelon
Taiwan coffee culture is very big on light roasts. One of my adult english language students roasted her own beans and she had a light roast ethiopean that she served chilled - it tasted like drinking juice, it was so damn fruity.
Yeah that’s like this one too. Thinking of it now, this would probably make a really good iced coffee too.
Well if it’s at all like that one, i definitely recommend letting it cool down to room temp and trying some!
I probably will with the next brew!
Ethiopian coffees do tend to have the most flavorful profiles. I’ll keep an eye out for this one
I love Ethiopian coffee, so good
Around 5 years ago I got the Ana Sora from HasBean in the UK, and it was the most intense blueberry bomb. It made the absolute best espresso I’ve ever experienced. Way better than anything I’ve had in a cafe. These days they’re not really hitting that blueberry note, but always worth a try.
I did an espresso shot after making this post and it was incredible. Among the best for sure. Better than a cafe is sort of my benchmark now that I’ve dialed in my tastes and gotten good at buying good coffee, but this far exceeded that bar.
