“City to Full City: Beautifully complex, Darjeerling tea, Mexican cocoa, dried apple, nectarine juice, lemon oil, orange blossom floral hints. Great for espresso.” -Sweet Marias
I posted about these beans back in July 2015, and I wanted to revisit these beans again this year, as it seems that this year’s batch was more complex. You can find the original posting here: Rwanda Karongi Gitesi
The first few sips are definitely complex, with the lemon oil and cocoa being upfront, and transitioning to the Darjeerling tea finish. They are all delicately balanced, none of them dominating the cup. There is a slight orange blossom hint, but it is very light, which is good, since I have an aversion to orange blossoms, since they usually signal the start of my allergy suffering, haha. The body is light, and the finish is clean, with maybe a hint of the Darjeerling lingering.
As it cools to a medium temperature, the dried apple note is noticeable, and the lemon oil seems to have gotten a little stronger, as there is a light citrus acidity that adds a little tang to the tongue, a little zest. There was a small hint of the nectarine juice in the finish, like a small flash of the flavor that lingered for a few seconds. The cup is a little sweeter, and the body is a little juicier as well. The tea finish is a little lighter now, with a light sweetness, and the citrus zest also seems to linger on the tongue after the finish.
Like the previous year’s batch, I liked the citrus oils in this roast. They added a light acidity, but also added a complexity to the cup, all the way through the finish. The cocoa and nectarine hints were light, but provided enough sweetness to balance well with the acidity. The orange blossom floral note was also interesting, and luckily it didn’t invoke any allergy response, haha. I enjoyed this roast, and I can see this being my first cup in the morning, with the light sweetness, and the lingering acidity. I am looking forward to giving this a go in the moka pot. As for the roasting details, the roast was done in the Gene Cafe roaster, with a heat setting of 460 degrees, for 15 minutes. First crack started approximately around 12:00 minutes and continued for about 2.0 minutes. Cooling was done in the Gene, down to 215 degrees, and then removed and cooled in a colander until room temperature.