Corduroy Espresso #38

Origin

• 🇧🇷 Brazil· Minas Gerais

Tasting notes

Character

• Bold
  50
• Funky
  20

Wow, how time flies! Maybe four or five years in, and this is the 38th iteration of our Corduroy espresso blendBlendCoffees from multiple origins roasted or mixed together for a consistent, balanced profile year-round — the traditional backbone of espresso menus.. I suppose having blends like Bird Dog that are seventeen years old keep this seeming “new.” Or maybe it’s just the premise, doing its job: a coffee with ever-changing components blended specifically with espresso in mind, in order to better acquaint ourselves with familiar coffees and flavor profiles, and to push our understanding of what espresso can be, within reason. But here’s a curveball: #38 is a single originSingle originCoffee from one traceable place — a country at the loosest, a single farm or lot at the strictest — rather than a blend of sources. coffee, and a naturally processed peaberryPeaberryA cherry that grows one round seed instead of the usual two flat-sided ones. Sorted and sold separately; some claim it cups brighter and more concentrated. from Brazil, to boot. That is, this iteration is not an attempt to see how we might be able to extract interesting espresso from something, as much as it is an acknowledgement of a coffee’s being perfectly suited for espresso. When we tasted it on the cuppingCuppingThe standardized tasting ritual — coarse grounds steeped in hot water, crust broken, slurped from a spoon — used to score and compare coffees. table–with all of its brandied dark fruit and chocolate and hazelnut accents–we said, “dang! Let’s Cord this so we can drink it ourselves for a couple of months!” The coffee was grown and processed by Marcelo Assis in Campos Altos, Minas Gerais. His farm is relatively large, with over 220 hectares divided into smaller plots. This lot is kind of a grab bag blend of paraiso, arara and IBC12 varieties, combining a handful of smaller lots, each with unique characteristics that contribute to the flavor profile. There is more “typical” naturalNatural processThe whole cherry is dried with the fruit still on the seed. Gives heavier body and big fruit flavors — think berries and wine — sometimes with a fermenty edge. coffee, along with a few lots utilizing extended fermentations. The resulting 5000 lb lot (of which we purchased about 2000) is a sweet and delicious concoction. It was also contracted at the top of last year’s coffee market spike, making it fairly expensive, especially for a coffee from Brazil. In our shops, we are using 19 grams for a 40ish gram yield, with a long (10 seconds) pre-infuse and a total brew time of 40+ seconds. (We are running Synesso Hydras in most shops, with ramp up and ramp down.) about the series: “Corduroy” is a term for a stretch of road or path built with small logs laid perpendicular to t