Hello Ruby subscribers, and thank you for joining us in the month of February. Many people are asking right now… is spring on the way? Or will it be a long winter? Well, we just got a few inches of snow (finally!), so I can’t say I’ve noticed any fresh spring smells in the air. What I can say is that the smell of fresh, new coffees is in the air here at Ruby! In this month’s lineup, we have Bolivia Taipiplaya and Don Joel Villa Sarchi for Roaster’s Choice subscribers, Don Joel Villa Sarchi for Rich and Sweet subscribers, and Ethiopia Chelbessa for Bright and Lively subscribers. Let’s get to it.
We are all stoked to have Bolivia back on the menu this year! Located in the province of Caranavi, Taipiplaya is the name of the community where this specific lot comes from. Many smallholder farmers from the surrounding area bring their coffee cherries to Taipiplaya to be processed as a community lot. We’re finding it to taste decadent, and sugary sweet, which is why we couldn’t help including chocolate truffle in our tasting notes for the bag. We’ve also noted white chocolate and fudge, but decided to settle on just one confectionary treat. If you want to try another Bolivian coffee, with a different type of flavor profile, check out Bolivia Finca Rosita, available on our website. Be warned - we only have a small amount of it, so get it while you can.
For those of you receiving Don Joel Villa Sarchi, there’s also more Don Joel coffee available on our website, so don’t despair if you want more coffee from this farm. This lot is just one of three that Ruby is offering from the Don Joel micromill this year. Villa Sarchi in particular is returning for its second year on the menu, and is named after a unique variety of coffee bean. Villa Sarchi is special in that it’s a natural mutation of the Bourbon variety, and is not commonly grown outside of Costa Rica. In 2023, team members Katy and Ashley were able to visit Don Joel, which is run by Allan Oviedo, and witness firsthand this beautiful farm along with all the hard work and care that goes into producing coffee there. This lot is honey processed, meaning that the beans are dried with some mucilige on, which may impart some more complex and sweet qualities. With notes like vanilla cola, and maple syrup, it’s safe to say that we’ve noticed some viscous, natural sweetness here at HQ.
Bright and Lively subscribers - this one’s for you! I hope you enjoy Ethiopia Chelbessa as much as we are this year. It’s our sixth year having it on the menu, so you may have had the pleasure of drinking it before. In each lot, I typically note stone fruit, especially peach, and this one definitely delivers on the peach front. But on an even more exciting front (in my opinion), are the floral notes. In fact, today, as we tasted a pourover, we all individually noted floral qualities! I find it to be such a delight to have floral notes in a coffee, as the chemical compounds that cause these flavors are delicate and can be easily roasted out. It’s our duty to roast each coffee so that it ends up tasting like the best version of itself, so it’s always a pleasure when the coffee reflects the efforts of the producers in the cup. When brewing at home, I’ve noticed that I may have to alter my water to coffee ratio to extract some flavors. Don’t forget to try this at home - you might be surprised by what you taste!
Thanks for reading, and have a great month,
Emily