What’s brewing this month at thump?

Once the season hints at warm weather, we get requests to start making our divinely refreshing cold brewed toddy. Most brewing processes use hot water and take a relatively short time, anywhere from 23 seconds to 6 minutes. Toddy however, requires cold water, a lot of coffee grounds, and patience, about 20 hours! The cold water does not extract acidic, or citrusy notes, like hot water. The result is a wonderfully smooth, ever so slightly sweet, refreshing beverage that's served iced.

Give our cold brewed toddy a try the next time you're in the shop and looking for an iced beverage. It will likely become your summer drink!

Click here to learn more about toddy coffee.

MAY:


Costa Rica Montes de Oro - Washed Processed

APRIL:


Ethiopia Yirgacheffe - Misty Valley (Organic)

From Kent:
“Misty Valley is back! Our favorite from last year has returned. It is a dry processed bean from the Yirgacheffe region of Ethiopia. This is unusual because most Yirgacheffes are wet processed. Stumptown describes it as: “Our Misty Valley shows fresh berry and red licorice in the aroma followed by flavors of fresh strawberry, lemon drops and crème soda.” To me it smells like Strawberry Quick. I get the strawberry, crème soda and a little chocolate, although not as chocolaty as last year.”

MARCH:


Guatemala Finca el Injerto - Pacamara varietal (Direct Trade)

From the folks at Stumptown Coffee Roasters in Portland: The Stumptown-El Injerto relationship is one of our proudest relationships. It’s our longest standing Direct Trade coffee and we feel like our efforts, combined with that of the Aguirre family, have improved the coffee year after year. Unfortunately, that’s not enough for us. We need more El Injerto!

Last year we brought you folks the Maragogype varietal for the first time and it sold quicker than a hoppy IPA at our ritual Friday ‘Mandatory Meetings’. This year, we brought in another El Injerto varietal family member: the Pacamara. The Pacamara is a hybrid varietal, created in El Salvador, from the Maragogype and Pacas varietals. Pacas is a mutation of the Bourbon. If the Marago is the young, punk rock brother, the Pacamara is his classy older sister. She’s bright but refined. She’s past-punk and delves into the darker toned underground. Finca El Injerto’s Pacamara varietal beautifully balances a delicate savory flavor with milk chocolate, orange pekoe tea, orange blossoms and violets.

FEBRUARY:


Visita de Colombia

“Visita” means “tour,” and that's exactly what our featured coffees will be this month - a tour of outstanding Colombian coffees Stumptown Coffee Roasters has made available in limited supplies (in some cases, they bought just one bag of green, unroasted beans!). They will roast and sell two different Colombian coffees at a time from their selection. Once they're gone, they'll move on to two more. Throughout February, we will feature these different Colombian coffees as they become available.

Asokwici: This is a silky textured coffee with notes of candied orange, vanilla bean and sweet pecan pie permeating the fragrance, followed by fruit flavors of maraschino cherry and tangerine.

El Jordan: Maple and meyer lemon flood the aromatics of this creamy-bodied coffee, while hints of pear, macadamia nut, vanilla wafer and malt appear in the flavor profile.

JANUARY:


Yirgacheffe Wondo Co-op

From Stumptown Coffee Roasters:
The Wondo Cooperative is comprised of 2000 members each of whom farms an average plot of land only about one acre in size. These farms are “garden-style” meaning that they have excellent spacing between trees which is a key factor in perpetuating outstanding quality. Located between 1800- 2300 meters above sea level, in the Gedeo region of Yirgacheffe, one would be hard pressed to find coffee farms at higher altitude anywhere in the world. The flavor of this coffee is close to perfection in terms of the ideal washed Yirgacheffe. Scents of jasmine, sage and cascade hops dominate the fragrance while flavors of sweet peach juice, apricot, mango, butterscotch and dutch chocolate tantalize your senses.

DECEMBER:


El Salvador Finca Kilimanjaro - Direct Trade

According to Stumptown Coffee Roasters, Finca Kilimanjaro is the first-ever grand prize winner in the history of the El Salvador Cup of Excellence: “Since her 2003 victory Aida Batlle has maximized the potential of her SL28 coffee trees (hence the reference to Mt. Kilimanjaro, one of the original planting sights of the famous seed varietal) through vigorous commitment to picking and processing. Her family's farm, purchased by her father Mauricio in 1973, is perched along the slopes of the Santa Ana Volcano in Central El Salvador.

With altitudes ranging between 1580 and 1720 meters above sea level, Finca Kilimanjaro truly soars to heights above the rest. Finca Kilimanjaro's silken texture overlays flavors of red currant, cherry jolly rancher and rosé with a delicate perfume aroma.”

Read more about El Salvador Finca Kilimanjaro, here.

To read more about Los Delirios and the Canales family, click Source Trips and choose Central America on the Stumptown Coffee Roasters site.

This straight up from the coffiends at Stumptown:

“Don Carlos Aquilera has proven the pedigree of this coffee with 4 top 5 finishes in the Best of Panama auction. Stumptown Coffee Roasters began buying Don Carlos' coffee four years ago and we've been loyal buyers ever since."

"Carmen Estate is situated in the Paso Ancho micro-region of Volcan, a sub-region of the Chiriqui province, at 1750 meters above sea level. Efrain and Carmen Franchesci first planted coffees on this plot of land in the 1950's and have since bequeathed the farm to their sons and grandson, Carlos, who maintains full control of the farm."

"Carmen Estate produces mainly Caturra and Typica varietals although there are also lots of Catuai in the mix. The coffee is depulped with Penagos technology, mechanically demucilaged and patio dried. Carmen Estate displays flavors of lemon zest, cardamom, baker's chocolate and English toffee with a blackberry finish.”

Explore the excellent Carmen Estate Coffee website here.

This month we dive into some of the new crop harvested in Central America in late spring/early summer. Near the town of Pueblo Nuevo in Nicaragua, the Canales family farm — known as Los Delirios because locals thought Daniel Canales to be “delirious” for buying this abandoned farmland 25 years ago — produces some of this country’s most highly prized coffees. This “micro lot” consists of beans harvested from the El Cipres y Ojo de Agua section of the Los Delirios farm.

Here’s what Stumptown Coffee Roasters says about this special organically grown coffee purchased directly from the Canales family for higher than Fair Trade prices: “Caturra, Typica and Bourbon varietals are all present in this lot, which grew between 1200 and 1400 meters above sea level. Candied orange, apricots and sugar cane are notes found in the Cipres y Ojo de Agua cup.”

To read more about Los Delirios and the Canales family, click Source Trips and choose Central America on the Stumptown Coffee Roasters site.

Just in time for the summer heat, we’ve got toddies for hotties! Come cool off with Bend’s only cold-brewed, toddy-style iced coffee. The cold brewing process eliminates much of the coffee’s acidity, lending it a smooth, rich, full-bodied flavor.

Click here to learn more about toddy coffee.