Hits: 21
Beans: Scrimshaw, Villa Sarchi – Guatemala, Sidamo – Ethiopia, Bourbons and Sarchi Morarara – Brazil. Greenway, Houston, Texas, USA.
Greenway Coffee – Scrimshaw: Background information.
Greenway Coffee from Houston wanted to create an espresso blend that represents a new beginning and an understanding to the past: the Scrimshaw espresso blend. With this in mind they started looking for a mix of beans that would give the end result of a full bodied and fruity espresso that also had a ‘darker’ aspect to it. The result is a blend of beans from Guatemala, Ethiopia and Brazil. The Guatemala comes from Los Volcanes, a project that works with the Vila Sarchi varietal. This varietal does not yield much cherries and so is not widely used. The Ethiopia is from Daye Bensa and is a Sidamo that was grown at an altitude of 2100m above sea level. The beans have undergone the washed process and give of a beautiful sweetness to the coffee. Last but not least is the Brazil from Fazenda Barinas out of Cerrado Mineiro. These beans were grown at an altitude of 1100m above sea level and have undergone a natural process.
Greenway Coffee: Opening the package.
Greenway has some very nice metalic looking packages; the Scrimshaw comes in a metalic blue version. The package has a degassing valve but no ziplock. There is, however, a sticker that will allow you to re-seal the package after each use. The beans inside have been roasted seperately as the colour of the beans clearly indicate and there are no defects to be found.
On the package you will find the name of the coffee and the name of the farms. On single origin coffees, Greenway Coffee also has some tasting notes on the front as well. The side of the package contains the roasting date, the most important piece of information to the consumer. When opening the package, a soft dark chocolate aroma comes forth. More importantly is the background aroma of fermented cherry that lingers a bit in the nose as well. In order to smell that aroma, you have to inhale slowly. Let’s grind the coffee!
Scrimshaw: The tasting.
I review this coffee on my Rocket Giotto Evo R and my Fiorenzato F64 Evo. I use the standard 18 grams of coffee for my espresso; using less coffee will not do the coffee justice because you will want to get out all the flavours you can get…hint!
As the coffee flows into my cup I can clearly see the beautifully marbled dark brown shades. The espresso already looks thick and creamy with a beautiful crema on top of the brew. I sniff and get a nose full of warm milk, cherry and dark chocolate on the nose.
Taking the first sip, I notice how creamy and full bodied this coffee is. The slight chocolate bitter is right there from the start. Swirling the coffee round in my mouth gives way to a cherry sourness on the sides of my tongue. I love this combination of dark chocolate and cherry and when I swallow that coffee, the flavors come together. Sour, sweet, bitter mingle with dark chocolate and cherry. It reminds me of a chocolate ‘bonbon’ that we have here in The Netherlands: Mon Cherie, which is actually a sort of cherry syrup inside chocolate.
This blend is also excellent as a foundation for a latte based drink. The cherry and chocolate flavour come up quite nicely, even in a latte. If you like latte art, this is also a nice combination since the colour of the crema is also pretty dark.
Greenway Coffee: The verdict.
Greenway Coffee has created a very good blend. The combination of chocolate and cherry is always a good one, but with coffee even more so. I love how the sourness, bitterness and sweetness come together and mingle. I got lucky and pulled a god-shot with this blend: all the flavours were perfect, the texture was perfect and the aroma’s top notch. It is with shots like these that you can really appreciate what the roaster has created. Are you more of a latte fan? Don’t worry; this blend is perfectly suited to act as a cappuccino, latte or macchiato. If you are living in the USA, you gotta try this blend for sure. Below I have created a link to this specific coffee so you can try it out as well. (a non-paid link as a courtesy to you: my follower!)
Click here to go to the webshop page of the Scrimshaw Espresso blend.