Hits: 40
Beans: Masitika, Heirloom, Kurume, Aricha, Yirgacheffe, Aricha.
Shop: Coffea Circulor, Gothenborg, Sweden, Norway
Coffea Circulor: Background information.
Coffea Circulor, the roaster behind the Ethiopia Masitika, is an international team of coffee professionals that, through inspiration, innovation and environmental care, wants to bring coffee to the public all over the world. Founded in 2010, Coffea Circulor has won many prizes including the Norwegian roasting championships in 2014. Founder Ivica Cvetanovski is a renowned coach to many prize winners such as Rubens Gardelli and Audun Sorbotten. Coffea Circulor has made it their mission to ensure that the planet understands, values and protects coffee in all it’s facets. But lets take a look at the coffee at hand!
The Ethiopia Masitika comes all the way from Aricha, Yirgacheffe. Most coffee lovers know the Yirgacheffe region very well because of it’s high quality, fruity and aromatic coffees. The Masitika consists out of the Heirloom variety and the, less known, Kurume variety. This variety is one we don’t often see around these parts. Kurume is an indigenous Ethiopian variety that’s smaller in size than other heirloom beans, but it’s very sweet and also gives a very aromatic cup.
The Coffea Circulor Masitika coffee is from a private mill. The lots are sourced from a large number of plots and the soil is volcanic and rich in nitrogen. The coffee cherries are harvested and then hand-sorted to remove unripe and overripe cherries before they are delivered to the sorting station. During the drying, the cherries are constantly stirred and they will be covered during the hottest hours of the day. The process is reiterated again at night to protect them against humidity. The coffee is dried for 15-18 days.
Ethiopia Masitika: Opening the package.
Once in a while you get a package that’s just like a piece of art. Coffea Circulor is one of those roasters that put a lot of effort into the design of the package. Obviously there is a ziplock and a degassing valve on the package to keep it as fresh as possible. Looking at the package, it isn’t weird that perhaps you didn’t even notice that. The ‘angel’ design on the front depicts a woman/goddess surrounded by coffee plants and holding coffee cherries in her hand. The way it’s designed makes it look as if she is offering the coffee to you personally.
On the package of the Masitika you will find information on the name, country and farmer. On the left side of the label you will find information on the region, altitude, varietal, process, lot size and trade. On the right side of the label there is a lot of tasting notes. Aroma, flavour, aftertaste, acidity, body and balance.
There is also a quality rating in the top right of the label, depicting the cupping score that this coffee has: 90.50pts.
On the backside of the coffee you will find a lot of information about Coffea Circulor’s values, mission, contribution and even brewing and water recommendations. Way to go Coffea Circulor!
The beans
The roast looks even and it’s pretty impressive when you think about the fact that the Kurume is smaller than the Heirloom beans. Where the heirloom bean is crispy and tastes like fresh lemon tea with a hint of sourness to it, the Kurume seems to bring more to the cup in terms of accidity. The reason im saying this is because the Kurume bean really makes my mouth water. The bite is even more crispy with full on peach sweetness. I’m already loving this!
When opening the package for the first time, be prepared to process a lot of aroma’s! There will be a tsunami of berries and strawberry calippo coming your way. There is a floral note to it as well and the big surprise comes afterwards. When you’re done sniffing the aroma, you will find a mushed banana aroma coming up as well. Yummy! During grinding there will be a broth-like aroma with strawberry and blueberry in the background.
Ethiopia Masitika – The Tasting:
The Ethiopia Masitika was reviewed on the Hario V60, Aeropress, Siphon and Gabi Master A dripper. This because each and every brewer brings a different aspect to the front of the brew. To me, the Hario V60 got the best results in terms of strawberry sweetness.
When brewing the coffee there will be a lavender and jasmin aspect to it. I could only find these notes during the brewing part of the tasting. After pouring in the coffee, the aroma’s were much different. When the coffee is hot, you will find sugared tea together with a creamy vanilla (much like vanilla ice-cream) and milky thick honey. After the coffee cools down a little, take another sniff to find peach, apricot and a hint of cherry…but all of these in a ‘Bubliciousgum’ sweetness. There is also a hint of strawberry in the background.
This coffee is very multi-layered as you already found out. Taking a sip will add yet another dimension to the layers when you will notice the intense strawberry Bublicious sweetness mingled with the milky thick honey, peach and, yet again, vanilla ice-cream. What stands out the most is that intense fruitgum sweetness. The reason I’m naming it ‘milky’ and ‘ice-cream’ is because those are the bedrock terms for this coffee. Although this coffee is an Ethiopia, and many would expect a tea-like coffee, this coffee heavily leans towards creamy and milky.
This is actually what makes the acidity so nice as well. To me the acidity is best described as a watery tangerine acidity. The package makes note of a orange acidity and this might be because there are so many different varieties of oranges and tangerines in the world. So it could easily be perceived as the same, yet named differently. The aftertaste has some interesting notes as well. The first thing will be warm coca cola mingled with peach. Let the aftertaste rest a little and a soft dry dark chocolate note will form in the back of your mouth. And then after waiting yet some more, while breathing back through your nose, via your closed mouth, you get a lemon flavour. Not the mouthfeel, but the actual lemon.
The verdict:
The Masitika is best described as a multi storied apartment building. Coffea Circulor roasted this coffee into a coffee that will keep your senses busy at all times. Be it the myriad of aroma’s that overlap each other in different temperatures, or the mix of spontaneous flavours that pop up at every moment. Apricot, strawberry, cherry and peach all wrapped in a Bublicious gum sweetness. The milky, creamy and ice-cream aspect of this coffee makes it even more unique. I have never tasted a Ethiopia with a structure like this before. The aftertaste completes this apartment building like a penthouse with so many beautiful flavours.
This was, yet again, a memorable coffee roasted by Ivica Cvetanovski. Thank you!
As a courtesy to Coffea Circulor, I have placed this link directly to the web page of the Ethiopia Masitika. This is a non-paid link and also a courtesy to you as a reader.