During our most recent blind tasting session, which you can watch over on our Facebook page, we cupped (tasted) a huge array of incredibly interesting coffees. Samples came to us from all corners of Europe and we made sure to put on the table a wide range of origins, processing methods and roasting styles to pick out the three most exciting coffees to go into our upcoming September ’16 box.
Find out more about the roasters who will be making an appearance in our next box right here.
#1: Gardelli
Gardelli, owned and run by Italy’s superstar roaster Rubens Gardelli, is returning to our coffee box for a second time after previously having made an appearance in our previous tasting box format in 2015.
Rubens, who was crowned Italy’s coffee roasting and brewers cup champion several times, has made great strides towards bringing specialty coffee to his coffee-obsessed home nation. Italy, which is more famous for its darker roasted espressi, is slowly starting to develop a taste for beautifully roasted and carefully prepared single origin coffees, and this is largely thanks to people like Rubens and his team.
The team at Gardelli source most of their coffee directly from selected producers or work with renowned green coffee importers. Rubens uses only a single roast profile for all of his coffees, believing in the strength of finding the perfect roast profile for each coffee, independent of the final brew method.
We’re proud to welcome Rubens and his team back to our coffee box with an exquisite coffee from Ethiopia, one of the clear winners during our most recent blind-tasting session.
Our selected coffee from Gardelli:
Ethiopia, Teklu Dembel
Kochere, 1,850 – 2,200masl
Mixed heirloom
Omni roast – suitable for both espresso & filter
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#2: Nømad
Similar to Gardelli above, Nømad is regarded as one of Spain’s earliest specialty coffee pioneers, taking coffee to new heights in its native Barcelona. Headed by similarly much awarded Jordi Mestre, Nømad has achieved somewhat of a cult status amongst Barcelona residents and visitors, often posing for pictures outside its iconic first shop on the fringes of Born.
Since its founding, Jordi has opened a few new spaces, including a dedicated coffee roastery in Poble Nou and its so called ‘Everyday’ in Sants, each space with it own character and feel.
Nowadays, Nømad’s coffees can be enjoyed in many specialty coffee shops across Europe and the team continues to hunt down the finest single origins to served in a myriad of ways including its own bottled cold brew, nitro and as spectacular espressi and pour overs.
While Jordi continues to be one of Barcelona’s most recognizable coffee personalities, he doesn’t shy away having one of his coffee presented in our beautiful coffee box. We’re proud to also welcome Nømad back for a second installment following their 2015 debut in our previous tasting box format.
Our selected coffee from Nømad:
Kenya, Tegu AA
Nyeri, 1.750 – 1,900masl
SL28 & SL34 – washed
Filter & Espresso
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#3: Right Side Coffee
The third coffee roaster to make an appearance in our September ’16 box is another Barcelona native who was practically born with coffee in his cot. Joaquin Parra, founder of Right Side Coffee, comes from a family of coffee importers who figuratively speaking planted a seed for his future at a very early age.
His fascination with coffee was sparked by the cupping process and the incredible breadth of flavours that can be found in coffee. Fast forward a few years and Joaquin began roasting coffees more as an experiment rather than a full time vocation but having teamed up with Javier Garcia and supplying him with a batch of his roasted coffee somehow ended up being a winning combination that saw Javier take the Spanish Barista Championships in 2011.
Today, Right Side is one of the leading specialty coffee roasters in the Barcelona region, continuing its close relationship with local coffee legends Satan’s Coffee Corner, who practically act as Right Side’s retail outlets. Joaquin prefers to focus on the sourcing and the roasting, traveling the world in search of great coffees and building long-lasting relationships with farmers.
We’re very happy to welcome Joaquin and the team at Right Side to our coffee box and cannot wait to share their gorgeous natural Ethiopian with our customers.
Our selected coffee from Right Side:
Ethiopia, Heleana’s Secret
Aricha, 2,200masl
Mixed heirloom – natural
Filter & Espresso
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Don’t miss out on our upcoming coffee boxes!
Every month, we feature three spectacular coffees from the likes of: La Cabra, Drop Coffee, The Barn, Koppi, The Coffee Collective, Tim Wendelboe and more.
