Hello Subscribers,
We apologize for the delay on this month’s coffees. The ship that was blocking the Suez Canal disrupted the customs clearing process overseas so our coffees sat parked in Oslo for an extra week. Nevertheless, they’re here and are well worth the wait. I’m very excited to introduce Langøra Coffee Roasters and welcome back April Coffee Roasters to the subscription.
April Coffee Roasters [Copenhagen, Denmark]
I owe much of my fascination with nordic style roasts and international coffee to the founder of April, Patrik Rolf. Patrik contacted me back in July of 2015 as the head roaster of Five Elephant Coffee [Berlin, Germany], which has been a staple here at Pour since then. Patrik found our little shop in Cleveland through Instagram and offered to send us samples. I was not familiar with Five Elephant but was excited to try coffee roasted in Germany. I don’t remember what my expectations were at the time but to say I was completely blown away would be an understatement. That cupping opened my eyes to a whole new world of coffee that I had never experienced before and lead me to being a pioneer in bringing in internationally roasted coffees into the US.
Patrik grew up in Sweden and worked for several notable roasters around Europe before deciding to start his own roasting company. We were the very first shop to bring in his coffee into the States and it has been a pleasure to see his company blossom and his roasting style come more into focus. Patrik was proud to share these two coffees from Pillcocaja, Ecuador with us. The washed process Typica varietal is a great coffee. It has a rich, chocolatey, velvety texture with subtle pear and honeydew acidity to give it some depth and keep the cup interesting. This is one of those great gateway coffees, in my view, that has those familiar coffee flavors/qualities but is clearly at a higher echelon. The development is very well executed leading to a crisp clean cup that you can drink all day.
FOUR COFFEE SUBSCRIBERS: Patrik offered our four bag subscribers an interesting juxtaposition of varietals and process. The second coffee from April we received is a red honey process Ethiopian varietal. This coffee has a lot of the same characteristics and qualities of the washed typica but is notably fruitier and juicer (the body is lighter and less creamy). I think this coffee is more interesting flavor wise (there’s more going on) however I think that I prefer the washed coffee in this case. What do you think?
Langøra Coffee Roasters [Stjørdal, Norway]
Langøra contacted us about getting a feature at the beginning of the pandemic and I’m glad that I was finally able to fit them in our lineup. I had several good exchanges with Kristian Helgesen, part owner of the rural Norwegian roastery. Kristian spent some time living near nordic roasting icons, Tim Wendelboe and Supreme Roastworks. Kristian’s background was in photography (if you check out their website they have stunningly beautiful photos and video of their hometown) but grew to appreciate the beauty in coffee and decided to move back to his rural hometown and open his own roastery.
I decided to go with two coffees from the same origin with Langøra as I did with April, bringing in two lovely Rwandan coffees. Rwanda is never top of mind for me personally when it comes to my favorite origins but I think some of my favorite coffees have come from Rwanda. Typically, when I think of Rwandan coffees I think of their intense sweetness, dark fruits and viscous body with an underlying unique minerality. They’re not earthy (in an unpleasant way) but I feel like the terroir is always more apparent in Rwandan coffees. I was excited to see Langøra had sourced a couple of Rwandans utilizing the increasingly popular anaerobic fermentation on a natural process. The Impano has a delightful lactic acidity that reminds me of a strawberry milkshake. Its very fruit forward without the fermented taste that can occur with lower quality naturals.
FOUR COFFEE SUBSCRIBERS: Ireme has a similar lactic quality but its not what stands out about this Rwandan. This coffee is much brighter with a more prevalent citric acidity. Although both of these Rwandans are on the fruitier side I think the balance of both coffees is impeccable.
In Closing
As always, I greatly appreciate everyone taking this journey with us and I look forward to brining you more amazing coffees in May! Feel free to reach out on the site, on socials @pourcleveland or via email, hello@pourcleveland.com.
Cheers,
Charlie Eisenstat, Owner & Curator
If you're not currently a subscriber, check it out here.