Our first coffee
After three months of waiting for all bureaucratic processes to be completed and an intense period of getting everything off the ground, last Friday was finally the big day - it was time to roast our first coffee: Gitesi Peaberry and Espresso.
After three months of waiting for all bureaucratic processes to be completed and an intense period of getting everything off the ground, last Friday was finally the big day - it was time to roast our first coffee: Gitesi Peaberry and Espresso.
Co-roasting in our neighborhood
We roast our coffees at Communal Coffee, a co-roasting space in Berlin Neukölln, just a 15 minute walk away from us. The concept of Communal Coffee is to enable small coffee roasting companies to share the use of roasting machines and other expensive equipment, that would make it cost prohibitive to roast on a small scale.
Determining the right roast profile
We started in the morning with a tasting of three different roast profiles for each of the two coffees. Mars Ng, the head roaster of Vote Coffee and Communal Coffee, who was doing the production roasting for us guided us through the tasting.
Mars had prepared small amounts of the coffee at different roast levels. The test coffees were then prepared according to the Specialty Coffee Association standard protocol for cupping, that is coffee tasting: coffee is prepared in different cups and then slurped from tasting spoons.
The Peaberry that the team of Gitesi Coffee produced in Rwanda has a delicate sweetness reminiscent of ripe citrus fruits. For us, these aromas shine the most in a lighter roast. We also pretty much all agreed instantly on the roast profile of the Espresso. We wanted a medium roast that fits the clear and full aroma of the washed Red Bourbon coffee beans.
A careful roast to let the coffee shine
Following the selection of the roast profiles, Mars started the production process. In a Probat drum roaster, she roasted small batches of the green coffee. The gentle drum roasting process creates a very uniform roast and conserves the aromas of the coffee well.
The result is a wonderful filter coffee. It can be brewed using a coffee dripper like the Hario V60, but also with a French press, moka pot or filter machine. In any case, it will provide for a moment of joy sipping your daily cup of coffee.
The Espresso is a medium roast. We love it as a cortado, flat white or Cappuccino. The sweet taste notes of peach, mandarin and brown sugars harmonize great with steamed milk. What we love the most is also that it does not have any of the bitter notes commonly associated with coffees roasted for Espresso.
You can now order both coffees in our shop!