I recently had the pleasure of visiting Athens, the Greek capital, with my mother, who by the way has also become somewhat of a coffee enthusiast over the years. After we checked in to our hotel, she asked me: “Darling, where can we get a damn good flat white around here?” Lucky for her I had already made a shortlist of local coffee bars we had to visits, and Taf was our first point of call.
Founded in 2006 by local coffee god Yiannis Taloumis, Taf was at the very forefront of introducing specialty coffee to the Greek public at a time when even in places like Amsterdam, Berlin and Barcelona you were considered a wonderful curiosity if you talked to your friends about coffee varieties, origins and roast profiles.
Since then, Yiannis and his team have created truly special. A brand that doesn’t just personify Greek specialty coffee unlike any other as well as a blue print for how to engage in sustainability, direct trade, training and winning numours awards.
Their café near Omonia is less imposing than you might expect, but may also be testament to their low key approach that puts all of its focus on the quality and the taste of the product rather than distract you with fancy packaging and loud music. After taking a seat on the terrace and my mother sipping on her flat white while punched away at her iPhone I inspected the coffee shelf at the back of the shop to figure out which one of their exquisite single origin coffees could be a good candidate for our July ’17 coffee box.
Read our review of Taf Café here
Of the three coffees that I took back to Amsterdam with me and which were consequently cupped in our most recent blind-tasing session, their Colombia, Finca El Jordan with acetic fermentation was the clear standout and thus made it into our final three.
We’re incredibly pleased to have such a standout coffee in our July ’17 coffee box, because it comes from a very special farm project in Colombia. The German Penagos is part of the La Palma y El Tucan Neighbors and Crops program and cherries are picked by a very highly skilled team who choose only the most perfect cherries. Processing then takes place at state of the art facilities at the La Palma y El Tucan facilities that offer perfect ergonomy, uses solar energy and has an up to date mechanical drum to finish the drying of the cherries after they’ve dried on raised airbeds.
The acetic fermentation processing method is one a handful of methods that is receiving more and more interest from farmers across the Americas but requires a high degree of skill and knowledge to get it right. What it essentially means is that the coffee is fermented in concerte tanks up to a very specific point when the fermentation begins to produce acetic acids that are produced during the fermentation process when the murcilage is slowly removed by differnet enzymes. The acid is not just good for preventing mold growth during the drying process that follows but it also adds a vibrant acidty to the coffee that is highly regarded by coffee roasters like Taf.
This outstanding coffee completes our exciting lineup for this month’s July ’17 coffee box that also contains a mind-blowing Ethiopia, Gigesa Grade 1 natural roasted by Colonna and a gorgeous and elegant El Salvador, Finca Peña Redonda black honey by Sloane Coffee Roasters.
Don’t miss your chance to secure this exquisite coffee lineup!
Order our July ’17 coffee box by 15-07 / Ships globally on 20-7
