Seattle Coffee Works

Still buzzing from the caffeine and the high of such a beautiful array of coffees–the first unofficial cupping of 2010 was a success! With a variety of Indonesian coffees and a few excellent Peruvians, a small group gathered in the roastery to schlurp and sip our way through 13 coffees from seven countries and two growing regions.

Highlights?

Bali. 

The Bali Organic Kintamani Natural definitely stole the show. The roasted beans looked like the color of light milk chocolate and showed such outstanding fruitiness. The Bali began with notes of deep, wild berry and that blossomed into a natural pungent sweetness. An instant hit.

Schlurp. “Woah!”

Schlurp. “Holy cow!”

Schlurp. “Wow! It’s SO sweet!”

The Balinese coffee definitely presented the most interesting fruit-forward profile and didn’t digress into an acidic tang after it cooled a little.

Of the three Sumatras, the Mandheling DP “Rona Bkahti”  pleased quite a few palates with rich malty body, notes of maple and sweet tobacco. Just complex enough and not aggressively earthy.

The Flores Organic Bajawa A/WP-1 gave us a velvet mouthfeel with light floral notes and a hint of melon and citrus.

The two from Papua New Guinea offered deep floral and herbal tones.

The FTO Peru Cepicafe offered the most complexity of the three Peruvians. Enough high notes with some light peppery spice, but not so much as to overpower the smooth, earthy body.

What a treat to sample a variety of under-explored Asia-Pacific coffees that offer more than the usual lineup of smoky, dark and rich flavors.

More coffee cuppings coming soon, so keep your palates ready for more schlurping!

Photo Credit: http://media.news.com.au/travel/lp/images/BN2140_2.jpg

Last week we had a pleasant surprise when Sebastian Pinzon and Juan Villegas came by the cafe to check out our Colombia Huila Monserrate. In the picture Sebastian (left) and Juan are enjoying a cup made in the Chemex. We were excited to present them with what we thought is the best our Colombia Huila can be.

Sebastian and Juan often travel to the town of Monserrate. They are responsible for the super-premium segment at one of Colombia’s largest (if not THE largest) coffee exporter, Racafe.

While enjoying some coffee - we also sampled a great vacuum pot of our Tanzania Blackburn Estate - we had a great conversation about what has made the brand of Colombian Coffee so strong: a relentless focus on quality by the all powerful Colombian Coffee Growers’ Association.

How to Brew a Good Cup of Coffee from Ben Helfen on Vimeo.

Thanks to our friend Ken Wagner, who likes the burnt stuff, for passing this along!

What a year 2009 has been!

From moving our café to inaugurating our very own roasting operation; from a website re-launch to appearances on many national media outlets including NPR and ABC (and soon, CNN); but mainly from excellent coffee to excellent coffee.

We’ve had a good year. Our team and our business grew more in 2009 than we could have hoped for. While we may have disappointed some who are missing our original concept of having ten different espresso blends “on tap,” we have had quite a few encouraging reviews, including more than one calling us the finest in coffee roasting Seattle has to offer.

We know that it’s a privilege and honor, and an obligation!, to be roasting and making coffee in the epicenter of the coffee world. While we feel flattered by all the wonderful feedback we’ve received, we also have a list of about one million things we’ll work on in 2010. Please stay tuned!

But before we turn the page, a huge thank you to all members of the Seattle Coffee Works crew, past and present, who have worked their hearts out to take us to where we are now. We’re very lucky to have a team of such dedicated and talented people. Thank you!!!

We would have not survived the year without a lot of help! Thank you to all the brilliant people who contributed to our build-out! (The health inspector’s jaw dropped when we turned our new space around even faster than a very well known coffee chain in town which threw an army at the effort.) A million thanks to the good folks at Green Tortoise Hostel who are the best neighbors anyone could wish for.

And, oh man, what would we have done without the indefatigable family members and close friends who were there for us during this past year, at every step of the way??! Thank you!

Happy New Year to all!

Picture Source: http://www.flickr.com/photos/dancingwithwords/4046704573/