Colombia La Riviera Nitro Maceration

Preparing for travel to the coffee desert that is France, I always pack my pour-over kit: a 1Zpresso ZP6 Special Coffee Grinder, a handful of Cafec T-90 filter papers, a clear polycarbonate Hario VD-01T Coffee Dripper, my Acaia Lunar scales, a cheapo non-powered gooseneck kettle, and some beans.

Having tried the Ashfield Blend, Croydon Blend, and Pour Over (washed Kenyan), I thought I'd take a punt and buy a bag of Colombia La Riviera Nitro Maceration along with a backup bag of Pour Over.

Even though the product page says that it's roasted for Espresso, these beans are amazing when brewed as pour-over! The tasting notes are spot-on, with big honeydew flavour and long, super-sweet finish. I loosely follow Lance Hedrick's recipe, grinding 14g, starting with boiling bottled water (waaaay too much calcium carbonate in the tap water in France) doing a 50mL pour for a 45 second bloom, then pouring in one go to make 250g with the dripping tailing into single drips at about 2m30s.

I tried James Hoffman's recipe (loosely), doing a 50mL, 45 second bloom, then 50mL pours with 10 second pauses to make 250mL. However, this resulted in the beautiful honeydew/melon flavours being really muted.

I will definitely buy these beans again, and I prefer them over the Pour Over beans by a mile, probably just because of the flavour profiles.

Admittedly, I didn’t realise that my wife had changed the beans in the hopper to the Colombian brew. I made my usual brew and thought “wow this tastes amazing!” thinking it was the wonderful SummerHill blend. Take nothing away from the brilliant Summerhill blend but this particular one is quite spectacular. Notes of Christ knows what but it really does taste special. Treat yourself.

My first reaction to the Colombian Nitro was “wow”. It was everything I hoped for in a Colombian coffee bean, for which I had generally a preference. Getting the right grind dialled in with a stepped grinder (30 settings, with 15 being nominal for espresso) took a few tries. Eventually settled on 11, but sometimes 12, possibly on account of relative humidity. The beans have a broad range of acceptable taste profile. While generally better at a finer grind setting, anywhere from 10 to 15 yielded acceptable taste results, I did not venture further at either extreme. I did not make any brew temperature changes, but may do so with future purchases.

If you like cofermentation and fruity floral coffee you have to try this bean. It is super fragrant and sweet. It’s mind blowing how it can be so sweet but without any sugar. Definitely a must try. Garage roasters is super nice and speedy too.

This is our go to bean - the flavour/aroma really is mind blowing. Ground fine for the Moka Pot, is great with or without milk. We also like to blend it 1/3rd to 2/3rds Mexico Decaf for a 'low caf' option.