ACT | Guatemala Acatenango, Peru Cajamarca and Costa Rica Tarrazu
Classic Profile | Medium roast
Tasting Notes: Vanilla, Cinnamon, Baker’s Chocolate
IT ALL STARTS AT THE COFFEE FARM
Since starting Driftaway, each month we’ve roasted four distinct single origin coffees as each flavor profile. This month, we’re excited to share a different approach: profiles as blends!
Instead of picking a single coffee that comes as close as possible to each flavor profile, we chose coffees that come together to build the best Fruity, Classic, Balanced or Bold flavors that we can imagine.
Learn more about our strategy for choosing the blend components here, and read on below to learn about each coffee, and what each one brings to this Classic blend:
Guatemala Acatenango
This coffee comes from the La Danza women producer's group in the Acatenango region of Guatemala. You might remember the La Cometa in the Classic profile last year - it was a coffee from a group of farmers in this same region, Acatenango. This year, we have a coffee that was built from a select group of farms in Acatenango that are only owned by women.
This coffee is super sweet, and definitely gives this blend its complexity.
Peru Cajamarca
The next coffee in this blend is from the Cajamarca region of Peru. It’s a collection of coffees from several farmers in and around the San Ignacio province, up north in the Cajamarca department on the border of Ecuador. These farms have an average farm size of just 2 to 3 hectares, or about 6 acres.
Like many Peruvian coffees we’ve had, this one is extremely balanced and adds that sweet, chocolatey base note to the blend.
Costa Rica Tarrazú
This coffee comes from several smallholder producers growing coffee on the slopes of the San Marco de Tarrazú mountains. Costa Rica actually has 8 major coffee growing regions, and the Tarrazú region is known for producing the most consistent, high quality coffees.
Its contribution to the blend gives us a dense sweetness and baker's chocolate base notes.
TRACEABILITY
COUNTRY
Guatemala, Peru, Costa Rica
PRODUCER
Various smallholders of the La Danza Women Producer's Group; around 300 small-scale growers, Several smallholder producers
REGION
Sacatepéquez/Acatenango; Cajamarca; Tarrazú
VARIETAL
Catuai, Pacamara, Typica, Caturra, Bourbon
PROCESSING
Washed
ALTITUDE
1280 - 2100 meters
DID YOU KNOW
The first recorded coffee blend was the Mocha Java, dating back to the 1600s. The word "mocha" doesn't actually mean that the blend tastes like chocolate (although, it definitely can!) - it actually refers to the port of Moka in Yemen, where unroasted African coffees were loaded onto ships to eventually be brought to Europe to be roasted. On the way there, ships regularly stopped at the island of Java in Indonesia to pick up more coffee: that coffee was mixed together with the African coffees already on board, and were then sold as one coffee blend! Nowadays, though the spelling has changed, roasters still choose a fruitier African coffee to blend with a more earthy coffee from Indonesia, and name that blend Mocha Java.
PRICE TRANSPARENCY
$3.85, $2.50, $3.03
Price paid by Driftaway (per pound avg. across this months coffees)
$1.40
Fair Trade price per pound
$1.83; $1.51
Coffee C-Market price per pound
$0.05
Driftaway's World Coffee Research contribution per pound
The Guatemala Sacatepéquez/Acatenango coffee travelled 5,243 miles, the Peru Cajamarca travelled 3,318 miles, and the Costa Rica Tarrazú travelled 6,492 miles to the Driftaway Coffee roastery in Queens.
Love the coffee? You can share your compliments & tasting observations with the farmers.
WHY DID WE SELECT THESE COFFEES FOR THE BLEND?
All of these coffees are really well balanced, and all of them contribute to the lovely, chocolate-like sweetness. They combine to make for a complex and interesting blend.
AVERAGE CUPPING SCORE
85.5
/100
85.5
SCAA Cupping Score
20, 6, 25 x 69 kg
Bags purchased
2, 1 and 1 years
Length of producer relationship
100% (in 2020)
Transparent coffees purchased
HOW DID WE ROAST THIS COFFEE?
This coffee is being roasted by Ian T. from 12th September to 06th October in Long Island City, Queens. We typically use the Loring Kestrel roaster for this profile. We have strict guidelines for each of the coffee profiles, and this roast has to pass the development time ratio test as measured in real-time by the roasting software, Cropster. Once it does, it is approved for production.
QUALITY CONTROL
We perform Quality Control via a process of coffee tasting called cupping on all of our production roasts once a week from home as per our Covid-19 shelter in place guidelines. Each cupping is conducted by our roasting staff Kieran D. and Ian T. using standard equipment, and is logged by our Q-certified cupper Ian T. All coffees are evaluated on a scoring scale of 0 to 3.
- 3.0 = exceptional roast - exceeds expectations
- 2.5 = on par with profile - matches expectations
- 2.0 = good roast, but 1 or 2 elements could be improved - needs improvement
- 1.5 or lower = failed - do not ship
AT YOUR HOME
Brew this coffee with your favorite home brewer and enjoy the taste of incredible coffee! Here are a few tips on how to make the best coffee on each brewer.
View other posts about how to make better coffee at home on our blog Coffeecademy.