Normally I send my newsletter on Wednesdays... and this week I'm sending it on Thursday evening. I've been in Melbourne for the past couple of days on non-coffee business. The sign in the photo above was at a small cafe on the southern bank of the Yarra. I thought it was quirky and hope you like it.
This week I wanted to talk about Garage Roaster's approach to blends. Ever since I started roasting I felt that it was important to use the very best beans I could source for my roasting both in the context of single origin coffees as well as the blends. I am looking for all of the individually exceptional characteristics in each of the different coffees to exponentially multiply the pleasure that comes from the drinking. It's my understanding that this approach is almost exactly the opposite of what most large commercial roasters do in practice - that is blend together cheaper and lower quality coffee beans in a way which hides or reduces the impact of their weaknesses and maximises profit margin.
The Croydon Blend, Garage Roaster's first blend, is a combination of a super premium Brazilian coffee from one of the best producers in the country, Daterra Estate, a brilliant natural process Ethiopian Guji, and the best Indonesian coffee I have ever tasted. The Brazilian coffee provides classic coffee notes of nuts, caramels and chocolates, the Guji gives the blend tremendous lifted berry character and complex ferment flavours from the natural processing, and the Indonesian provides savoury notes with high viscosity and excellent mouthfeel. These three beans combine beautifully and I'm really proud of this blend that I've been consistently roasting over the last nine years.
I hope that each time you drink the Croydon Blend that you get a sense of the multi-faceted flavours coming from these wonderful premium beans!
To read about flat whites and extract chilling click here
To read about the Hario Skerton Pro hand grinder click here