What I’m Brewing at Home
with Jake Hansen
Coffee roasters across the country continue to roll out high quality coffee in small batches and just when it seems like you hear about them, they’re already sold out. We here at Blanchard’s want to fill you in on what we are really excited about so you can make sure to grab a few bags before it is all gone.
Blanchard’s has had a long standing relationship with Finca El Ocaso in Colombia for a number of years now and they continue to provide us with some of the best Colombian coffees that we have ever tasted. The coffee that I would love to share with you is a blend of Tabi and Caturra beans that Finca El Ocaso has proudly given to us and is unlike any other Colombian coffee that I have ever tasted. El Ocaso has traditionally only produced washed coffees but Blanchard’s funded the construction of raised beds so that the farm could experiment with drying their coffees naturally. Santiago, farm owner Gustavo Patino’s son, is the overseer of the experimental drying processes and pays close attention to the coffee daily to ensure quality control is top priority. The result of strict harvesting, ideal drying, processing and importing is a green coffee that arrives at the Blanchard’s door smelling like ripe Granny Smith apples. We roast this coffee with a great amount of care in order to bring out flavors such as Winesap Apple, raspberry, pineapple, pear and a mouth feel that resembles champagne effervescence. This coffee is incredibly complex and a whole lot of fun to drink with friends. It is a coffee that creates conversation and is my top recommendation for any adventurous coffee drinker.
There are a lot of ways to brew this coffee and enjoy a fantastic cup but I’d like to share with you a few recipes that I find particularly delicious:
Kalita Wave
-25 g El Ocaso Natural Process coffee/400 g of hot water
-Grind medium (around 19 on my Baratza Encore)
-Apply 50 g of water and allow coffee to bloom for 35 seconds
-Apply 150 g of water and wait 10 seconds
-Apply second pour of 100 g of water and wait another 10 seconds
-Lastly apply 100 g of water and wait for brew cycle to end
-Brew should last roughly 3:00 minutes
Hario V60
-30 g of El Ocaso Natural Process coffee/480 g of hot water
-Grind medium-fine (around 15 on Baratza Encore)
-Apply 60 g of water and allow coffee to bloom for 30 seconds
-Apply 200 g of water and wait 10 seconds
-Apply second pour of 110 g of water and wait another 10 seconds
-Lastly apply 110 g of water and wait for brew cycle to end
-Brew should last roughly 2:45 minutes
