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Beans: La Isabella, H15 Mundo Mex, Washed, Black Honey, Tres Rios, Costa Rica.
Shop: Coffee Tour Roasters, webshop, Seoul, South Korea.
Coffee Tour Roasters: Background information.
A few years back I was wandering the streets of Seoul, looking for a very hard to find coffee shop called Coffee Tour Roasters (creator of the La Isabella). After finding it I was welcomed by friendly staff and before I knew it I was drinking a wonderfull cup of coffee in a super small shop. During my stay, the staff had contacted the owner of Coffee Tour Roasters and he decided to meet up with me.
After a little chat we went to his roastery and I got a grand tour. The quality of coffee in Seoul has always been of high standard and Coffee Tour was no exception. Fast forward a couple of years and add a huge Corona pandemic to the recipe; I was Seoul-bound for work and realised that this could be my chance to review Coffee Tour Roasters. With help of the hotel’s concierge and the staff of Coffee Tour Roasters, I got the coffee delivered at the hotel and it was time to get cracking!
The La Isabella is a coffee from Tres Rios in Costa Rica. Grown at an altitude between 1450 and 1500 meters above sea lever, this coffee has undergone the black honey wahed process. With this process the farmer manually decides how much mucilage is left on the cherry during the process, ensuring a sweet and full flavoured coffee.
La Isabella is located in the central valley and is subject to a cool mild climate. The coffee is 100% shade grown which ensures a longer riping period on the coffee cherries.
Opening the package.
Coffee Tour has simple, yet elegant packaging for their coffee beans. A white package with a degassing valve and a ziplock makes sure the coffee stays fresh. On the front you will find a label with information about the origin, the region, the farm, altitude, process and varietal. You will also find the tasting notes and roasting date below all that. On the back is some information about Coffee Tour Roasters. This particualr label is colored orange and the bag comes in a 200gr quantity.
When opening the package, you will find nice big equally roasted beans inside the package. Biting down on a bean will give a faint fruity note before the flavour of tea leaves and a bitterness pops up. At the end you will get a full on raspberry flavour in the aftertaste of the bean.
Coffee Tour Roasters – La Isabella: The tasting.
I have reviewed this coffee on the V60, Clever Dripper, Siphon and Aeropress. The best results came from the Aeropress in my opinion, since the raspberry flavour popped up quickest in those brews.
The aroma that you will get when brewing this coffee is that of sugar cane and plum. The aroma’s are sweet but not overly so. After pouring the coffee in the glass, you will find the notes of caramel, leather eventually raspberry as well. For the raspberry you will have to wait untill the coffee has cooled down a bit.
When you take a sip of this coffee you will find the fruity noted of raisin and plum right from the start. After swirling the coffee round and slurping in oxygen, there is a hint of caramel and walnut popping up as well. Notice how the aftertaste has faint notes of cedar wood and leather on it? The walnut note is that of the mucilage of the walnut; a little bitterness but also a creamy aspect to the flavour.
As the coffee cools down, the awaited raspberry pops up and gives this coffee a fresh and sweet note to it. This note is very welcome since it gives the coffee the little extra it needed to stand out. Together with the leather/cedar wood note, the coffee now feels complete. In the aftertaste you can now taste the change from raspberry into a plum and raisin fruityness with an underlaying caramel touch. The walnut and leather are also very pleasant on the tongue. The overall body of this coffee is medium with a smooth and silky mouthfeel. The stonefruit acidity is on the lower side but does create a little juicyness when the coffee cools down.
The verdict.
Coffee Tour Roasters managed to form the La Isabella into a fruity coffee full of flavours and aromas that will please you if you want to step away from the light flavoured ethiopia’s for example. The plum, raisin, raspberry are notes that I enjoyed a lot. The leather, cedar wood, caramel, walnut notes create a depth that brings a little extra to the mouthfeel and body of the coffee. Focussing on the sweetness of this coffee while brewing will make the raspberry pop up a little quicker, making the coffee even more enjoyable.
Since the roaster sells it’s coffee via a third party website, I wont be able to place a link. If you are interested in buying the coffee, please go to the roasters website in this link and continue from there.