Costa Rica Genesis Coffee from Transcend Coffee
This honey processed coffee is one that the guys from Transcend Coffee are particularly proud of. Described as "akin to a biodynamic wine", this Costa Rican coffee grown by Oscar and Olga Mendez in the Lourdes de Naranjo region is meticulously grown, picked and processed. Chemical free, grown essentially "wild", it is harvested at 1700m above sea level, which is quite high up, even by coffee standards. So how does it taste?
I brewed the coffee using four methods: press pot, siphon, pour-over and via the aeropress. Across the four styles of brewing, I got the most out of the cup with the press and siphon methods, but the coffee was fine using all methods.
The coffee is what I'd consider light bodied, but this is not a detriment by any stretch. There was still good mouthfeel and texture, but it was very delicate.
Transcend says there are notes of melon, apple, pear but also milk chocolate. I found the milk chocolate hard to find, but there was a definite bittersweet cocoa note to this coffee.
As far as the fruits go, pear was another stretch for me, but I'll be honest - I've read and heard pear used as a descriptor for coffees in the past but I've never actually tasted it myself. Maybe I'm unable to taste the delicate pear hints some coffees have - I like the taste of pear quite a bit, but have certain expectations of it too.
Melon and apple? Definitely there - especially the apple hints. The acidity in this coffee is also tied to that apple taste, which I find a lot more pleasing than citrus-like acidity.
What I especially liked about this coffee was a carry over of the cocoa flavours and a subtle spiciness (which I can't identify) into the apple flavours.
Roast quality was superb, along with the sorting and sizing of the beans. The bag aroma was almost heavenly - as soon as I opened the bag, I wanted to taste the coffee something fierce.
In the siphon, the coffee exhibited the most body (which surprised me a bit, since press pot tends to do that), and was my favoured way of brewing. I brewed the siphon this way: 350g water, 28g coffee ground normal drip grind fineness, raised 3/4 of the water in the siphon, added the ground coffee, stirred when all the water had raised. Stirred briefly halfway through the brew. Turned off siphon heat 85 seconds after the water had all raised. Stirred once more as heat was turned off.
This coffee isn't cheap, but isn't terribly expensive either - $17 for 12oz (CAD).
Highly recommended. This is a nice coffee experience, and I found the acidity quite unique amongst most of the coffees I've been tasting over the past few months.
