It's hard not to dip back to PT's Coffee Roasting Co when they send you 25% coupons and run weekend specials quite often. (Be sure to get on their email list for new coffees and regional and farm specials.) This week I'm using their Muhondo from multiple sources in Rwanda. A Bourbon varietal washed coffee with tasting notes of "roasted marshmallow, fig spread, and purple grape."
All of those flavor descriptors sound absolutely killer to me, and describe what is sure to be a very sweet cup, and that it was. The coffee was also surprisingly heavy and mouth coating for a washed process coffee, as descriptor of roasted marshmallow and fig spread would lead one to believe. Even when brewed in my go to for transparency and clean cups, the 02 size Hario V60 Ceramic, the coffee was dense and syrupy sweet. The purple grape came on in the form of crisp, juicy acidity that was slightly drying. I don't know if it was the way I was brewing or just that this is such a densely sweet coffee, but I did wish I was able to get more transparency to separate out a fig spread from marshmallows. I tried to gain more transparency by increasing the ratio out to 1 : 17 and using brew times from 2:15 up to 3:00. Ultimately, I felt the best balance was at:
- 21 grams of finely ground coffee in the 02 size Hario V60
- 65 gram stirred bloom for 30 seconds using 202*F water
- Slow circling pours to 200 - 225 grams, stir
- Additional pours in 50 gram increments
- 357 grams yield in 3:00
This coffee required a really fine grind and slower pouring to keep it from extracting too quickly, but as I think I've made clear, it created a very sweet brew.
I do think I would categorize this coffee as being a filter-oriented lightly roasted coffee. Because of that, I found espresso shots through the VST precision basket to be a little too in your face with the acidity. The IMS Precision Double 16/20 gram basket did seem to emphasize the sweetness as found when brewed while keeping the acidity in check a bit more. Dosing 18.5 grams in to 33 grams out in 32 seconds at 202*F provided brightly sweet espresso with an even more pronounced grape juice acidity.
A very densely sweet and bright espresso shot in the IMS basket.
I didn't get to try this one with milk, and I think it would be 50 / 50 if it worked or not. Overall, I haven't had very many coffees from Rwanda, but after tasting how densely sweet this one was, especially for a washed coffee, I will be keeping an eye out for others. $16.50 for a 12 ounce bag, plus 25% off coupon through their mailing list and free shipping over $25 make this a very affordable for such high quality coffee.