Hits: 25
Beans: Barkume, Heirloom, washed, Guji, Ethiopia.
Shop: WOW Coffee, webshop, Oeiras, Portugal
WOW Coffee – Background information.
It was during my trip to Lisbon in Portugal that encountered WOW Coffee for the first time. I did see a few of their coffees pass by on Instagram but never pursued the roaster. This all changed when I visited Milkees in Lisbon; a small cozy shop that has a guest-roaster concept in which they offer coffees roasted by external roasters. The Barkume was on the menu and it was a delicate and amazing coffee. So I decided to review this coffee for you and bought myself a bag.
Barkume started in coffee production more than 20 years ago, and now manages several farms on 4 main sites of Guji, with 4 washing stations. Barkume also works with more than 700 farmers from whom coffee is collected and processed at different sites. The company is currently headed by Tadesse Edema, representative of the third generation of a family of coffee producers.
Tadesse has 29 brothers who, like him, grew up in the coffee growing and all remained deeply attached to this product.
Barkume farms covers 167 hectares and belongs to the family since 2003. It is currently managed by Eyasu Robe. Barkume produces an altitude coffee, which grows under the forest, whose wide variety of native tree species promotes a dense canopy and ideal shade for coffee trees, in addition to a rich vegetal covering for the soil, guaranteeing a consistent production of quality coffees.
The WOW Barkume Tadessa Edema is a coffee that comes from the Orome region in the Guji zone in Ethiopia. The coffee is a washed heirloom coffee that was grown between 1800 and 2200 meters above sealevel. The cherries were dried on African sundrying beds and were handpicked by the farmers. WOW Coffee roasted the coffee as an omniroast but I didn’t find the neccessity to brew an espresso with it when the pour-overs are this good.
Barkume – Opening the package:
WOW Coffee offers their coffee in a vibrantly colored package with a degassing valve and a ziplock to keep the coffee fresh. On the front you will find some info on the name, region, variety, process and alititude. There are also some tasting notes on the front label to give you a taste of what’s to come. On the back you will find a QR-code to their website and some info on where to find the shop and how to contact them.
When opening the package you will see evenly roasted beans and give off an earl grey, sweet aroma. if you inhale deeply you will also get a hint of peach and chocolate. Eating a bean reveals its a crispy roasted bean that gives off a salty flavour of earl grey, jasmine and peach flavours. This is starting off real good! Grinding the coffee reveals aroma’s of broth, tobacco and a fruity sweetness. Let’s brew!
Barkume: The tasting.
I have brewed this coffee on the V60, Aeropress and Clever Dripper. All three brewers gave off very fruity and floral results. The V60 did the most on the aroma’s for me. I brewed the coffee on a 93 temperature and used a 15/225 V60 recipe, a 20/250 aeropress recipe and a 20/300 clever dripper recipe.
When brewing the Barkume the aroma’s will not flourish just yet. Earl grey tea, slighlty sugared, and a floral jasmine aroma waft up from the hot brew. It is not until you pour the coffee into a glass that you will be surprised. As soon as the coffee opens up in your glass, a super intens sweetness comes forth. Raspberry, Peach, Vanilla and jasmin are all over the place. It’s even a little candy gum like experience that you get while inhaling the aroma’s. These amazing aroma’s will stick around throughout the tasting and add so much extra to your cup!
When the coffee is hot you will instantly get the citric acidity. Lemony, Lime-like with a thick velvety body that feels great in your mouth. Notice how there is a delicate peach flavour in your mouth while you slurp oxygen inside? You will also get a cedar note when the coffee is hot, but it will disappear quickly as the coffee cools down. Wait a moment before drinking the coffee again, let it rest for a moment to let the flavours develop a little more. Take a sip and slurp the oxygen inside, swirl the coffee round and you will find peach, raspberry and jasmin on the tongue. There is a hint of sweet plum when you swallow the coffee and this mix of flavours will stay with you for a short while. The aftertaste is that of fruityness, peach and a hint of caramel and chocolate. The vanilla undertone gives the coffee a delicate aspect, as if all flavours are in line and none is overly dominant.
I recommend you to once more smell the coffee since the aroma is so beautiful!
The Verdict
This was my first coffee from WOW Coffee and I have to say that the level of roasting surprised me. The way the Barkume develops in your cup in great and the aroma’s are just amazing. I will have to say that the aroma’s are what makes me so excited about this coffee. Raspberry, Peach, Jasmin and Vanilla are complementing each other and stick around throughout drinking this coffee.
WOW Coffee states on their website that this is a omni-roast so please let me know what the coffee is like as an espresso. I wasnt about to waste this coffee by adjusting my grinder and getting it all dialed in when the pour-overs are this good.
If you are in portugal, or in Lisbon, get this coffee! You will not regret it, especially not for 12 euro’s.
Below is a link to their webshop, this is a non-paid link and I do not make any money out of it.
Click here to visit the website of WOW Coffee.