Hits: 28
Beans: Wenago, Kudhume, Welisho, Dego, Yirgacheffe, Ethiopia.
Shop: Van Gulpen, Emmerich, Germany.
Van Gulpen: Background information.
The city of Emmerich, Germany, hosts one of the oldest coffee roasters in the world: Van Gulpen Coffee Roasters, roasters of this Wenago coffee.
This coffee company was founded in 1832 and is the oldest family-run roastery in the world. At the moment they have the 6th family generation at the roastery and of course they are proud of this. Above all else they are also a modern and progressive roasting plant with a preference for modern coffees, a great interest in the latest findings and processes and a strong need for new impulses and ideas. And so the old always meets the new. On the one hand, coffee knowledge is passed on from generation to generation. On the other hand, they always question themselves and constantly follow the desire to improve their coffee.
The Wenago coffee hails from the Wenago district in Yirgacheffe, Ethiopia. In this district we find the Adame Garbota Cooperative which plays host to 2619 smallholders of which 419 are women. Together they have provided the beans to this Wenago coffee. At an altitude between 1700 and 2000 meters above sea level the climate in the Yigacheffe area is great for growing coffee. The Wenago District has perfect microclimates which produces ideal circumstances for the heirloom varieties. In this coffee we find Kudhume, Welisho and Dego beans that have undergone a 48 hours underwater fermenation, then washed and finally dried on raised beds.
Van Gulpen – Wenago: Opening the package.
Van Gulpen sends his coffees out in carton packages with the coffee bag inside. The outside is grey and the color of the label signifies the origin of the coffee. In this case the color is a light green.
On the front you will see the Van Gulpen logo and the name and origin of the coffee. On the side you will find the history of the roastery in German and English. This clearly states the international nature of this roastery.
The back of the package has some amazingly beautiful art. In this case you will see a drawing of a piece of jungle or forest and it would be so nice if this was meant to give the consumer an image of the place where this coffee was grown. The bottom shows the roasting date and that is not all!
In side the package you will see a small card on which you will see information about the region, location, altitude, producer, variety, processing and tasting notes.
On the back of the card, Van Gulpen gives information on the coffee in more detail. Think about the cooperative of the coffee and other important information. It really gives you the feeling that you know where the coffee comes from. The package inside has a degassing valve but no ziplock.
When opening the package a soft sweet citrus aroma comes out. The beans are all evenly roasted and I could not find any defects. The bean is crispy and immediately gives off a tea like flavour. This turns bitter and salty before giving up a full on jasmine flavour. Wow, such freshness!
Wenago: The tasting.
I have reviewed this coffee on the Hario V60, Aeropress and Siphon. The grinding of the coffee was done with the Eureka Brew-Pro grinder.
Personally I found the results on the Hario V60 the best.
While brewing this coffee you will easily sense the lemon and Jasmin aroma’s. While brewing the lemon aroma is most dominant but as soon as the coffee rests in the glass, the Jasmin as well as apricot pops up as well. A touch of lavender can be noticed albeit very faint.
As soon as the coffee cools down in the glass, the aroma’s of vanilla and molten butter can be found to accompany the Jasmin, lemon and apricot.
As soon as you take a sip, you will notice the clear lemon note. This lemon note is easily perceived as a flavour and can be linked to the citric acidity which is medium to high.
When you slurp oxygen inside and swirl the coffee round, you will get a milky tea-like flavour with a hint of bergamot in the mix. The Jasmin note is strong and fits perfectly with the lemon note. The apricot slowly makes it’s way forward as the coffee cools down. The flavour evolves into a strong ripe full apricot flavour, this remains throughout the tasting and it’s super nice. As you can read, these notes are all very clean and obvious, making this a delicious and easy to drink coffee. But we are not done with the Wegano yet.
The mouthfeel is silky, smooth but does carry a lavender roughness to it at the same time. Together with this roughness is a faint hint of earl grey tea leaves when the coffee cools down even more.
The after taste has a light milky chocolate note that gave yet another nice touch to the coffee. Around midway through the tasting I got a Lychee note when breathing back via the nose through a closed mouth. I got this flavour in two out of three tastings but it was fairly light. The aftertaste lasted for quite a long time and the freshness of the lemon, bergamot and Jasmin was there throughout.
The Verdict.
Simplicity of a coffee can make it extraordinary to a consumer like me. Van Gulpen roasted the Wenago into a coffee that will remain in my memory for a long time. The thing that I love so much about this coffee is how clean and clear the tasting notes are. No matter how bad you think your skill in tasting coffee is, this coffee reveal everything to everyone. The lemon is clearly there, the Jasmin is clearly there, the apricot is clearly there. Underneath that is the bergamot carrying these notes. It is simple as that. The chocolate, lychee and molten butter might elude you, but that doesn’t influence the greatness of this coffee at all.
With a price tag of around nine euro’s, this is a coffee that is easily worth the price for sure. Thank you Van Gulpen!