Week two with Ruby Colorful Coffees continues with a banger of a washed Colombian coffee. Described by Ruby as,
"A powerhouse, supremely balanced coffee from Inza, Cauca, at first taste this coffee has the familiar sweetness you've come to expect from our Inza coffees. Underneath those more comforting qualities lays an adventurous explosion of flavor."
The bag goes on to describe it as being fruit-forward with rich chocolate and red wine undertones, which I found to predominate the best cups. When brewed at the following recipe, the mouthfeel was light buy silky, with a strong chocolate aroma and a dark chocolate / cocoa flavor with notes of strawberry, with a crisp strawberry like acidity coming forward as the coffee cooled.
Lots of surface oils on this coffee using a very fine grind. The coffee was very light and silky while still having tons of flavor.
- 1 : 16 ratio in 02 Size Ceramic Hario V60 with 200*F water and a very fine grind.
- 3x coffee weight bloom for 35 - 40 seconds, stirred.
- First pour slightly shorter than my typical, for a 22.5 gram dose first pour went to about 200 grams versus my more usual 250g.
- Remaining pours in 50 gram increments
- 3:00 total brew time for the 22.5 gram dose : 360 gram yield.
As espresso, the coffee pumped up even more rich chocolate flavors and the red wine undertones came through with a full, oak-y, west coast Pinot Noir like finish to it. The coffee required good barista mechanics but rewarded as such with beautiful pours and balanced shots. Poorly prepared baskets, and shots short and long of the following parameters tended to be unbalanced, still drinkable, but definitely not as good as the good shots.
Good shots were really good, and this one was as tasty as it looks.
- 18 grams in 18 gram VST basket
- 34-37 grams out in 28 seconds
- 200*F water
Some coffees are forgiving enough that poorly prepared baskets will still pull pretty shots, and brew parameters outside of what the coffee likes will still taste good. This one wasn't undrinkable or anything when not pulled well, but did make itself apparent that it wasn't as good as the best shots turned out to be. The coffee held up admirably in milk, even making a tasty latte. To my surprise, the rich chocolate flavors actually dissipated as a cappuccino and more of the strawberry and red wine fruit notes came forward.
This coffee was big on flavor, packing more than you'd expect from a washed coffee that was also so delicate. Available for a very reasonable $15 for a 12 ounce bag when purchased as part of Ruby's 4 x 12 ounce bags for $60 shipped sampler pack.
