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Beans: La Palma & El Tucan, Gesha, Natural, Cundinamarca, Colombia.
Shop: Sumo Coffee Roasters, webshop, Dublin, Ireland.
Sumo Coffee Roasters: Background information.
Talking about a new player in the Irish coffee scene: Sumo Coffee Roasters was founded in the summer of 2020 by Daniel Horbat. To people in the Irish coffee scene, and fans of coffee competitions worldwide, Daniel ain’t a stranger at all. Since 2016 Daniel Horbat has been competing in domestic and international championships alike, resulting in the 1st place of the 2019 World Cup Taster Championship.
As Disney already stated; ‘It’s a small world after all’ and, although Sumo Coffee Roasters was founded a year ago, the name and fame of this roaster quickly caught my attention. Two seperate sources, one in Dublin and the other in Panama, made me aware of Daniel’s new project. This was a roaster that I really wanted to try out. I got lucky and managed to get a hold on two very special coffees: this natural Gesha from La Palma & El Tucan and the washed Gesha from El Obraje.
In this review I will discuss the natural Gesha from La Palma & El Tucan. This coffee was grown in the at an altitude of 1800 meters above sea level and has undergone a natural process. La Palma & El Tucán is a finca, a washing mill and coffee eco-tourism destination tucked in the mountains of Zipacon, Cundinamarca in Colombia. The finca’s name indicates the concept at the core of their operations: symbiosis, where actions are mutually beneficial; the Tucan lives in symbiosis with the palm tree. La Palma & El Tucán approaches the coffee ecosystem through sustainable production, innovative processing, two things that are well known at the public nowadays.
La Palma & El Tucan – opening the package.
If there is one thing to say about the package of Sumo Coffee Roasters, it’s that the design is just beautiful. The front of the package is adorned with a design of a palm leaf and a feather. Underneath the name of the finca, you see the sub-title of the coffee: Heroes series nano lot. Obviously the logo of Sumo Coffee Roasters is depicted as well, showing a Sumo wrestler ready to pounce his opponent. On the back of the package you will find all the information about this coffee. The region, variety, process, altitude and harvest. Sumo Coffee Roasters also add a special card with the coffee on which you will find the tasting notes as well. This card also holds the same great art that Sumo uses on the package.
Opening the package reveals equally roasted beans with no defects at all. The sweet fruity and strong aroma that comes out of the package is amazing. Strawberry and apricot syrup mingle with a faint hint of cotton candy. When eating a bean you will notice how subtle the flavours are. It is crispy, not bitter for a while, and after chewing for several seconds the fruity character of the coffee appears in your mouth. When grinding the coffee these fruity notes become even clearer and the apricot is easily noticeable together with fruity sugared earl grey tea.
The Tasting.
For this review, I used the Aeropress, V60 and Clever Dripper. Unfortunately the Siphon is out of order but I am sure that the results would be great as well. My favourite brewer for this coffee is the Aeropress because the brew really highlighted the sweetness of the fruity notes of this coffee.
When you brew this coffee the aroma’s are mixed and only the apricot and soft white blossom aroma’s stand out. Don’t worry, when you pour this coffee into your cup the party will start. As soon as the coffee opens up in your cup you will be able to smell the aroma’s of apricot mingled with sweet strawberry. Inhale slowly to also smell white chocolate, galia melon and a hint of milkyness. The strawberry will become stronger and mid-range temperature reveals a strawberry syrup/gum like aroma.
Take a sip of coffee and slurp some oxygen inside, swirl the coffee round and gently swallow. Watery tangerine and apricot flavours that are carried by a citric acidity reminding of lemon and tangerine. It is what you will find when the coffee is still hot. Now let it cool down a little to discover the super sweet mango flavour growing in your mouth. This is not the overripe mango near the pit, it is the flavour of the mango near the green peel. What a great note to have in this coffee. We are not done yet because as the coffee cools down there is a sweet pineapple popping up, mixed with strawberry yoghurt gum. It is at this moment that you can ‘feel’ a freshness in your mouth when you swallow. The freshness can best be desribed as the ‘minty and cool sensation’ that you have after brushing your teeth. In the background there is a faint cocoa/chocolate note.
The aftertaste holds all these notes, albeit a bit less strong, plus a gentle lavender as well. have you also noted the velvety body of this coffee? In combination with the citric acidity, the velvety body feels just right and will let you drink this coffee all day long would you so choose.
Sumo Coffee Roasters – La Palma & El Tucan: The verdict.
Once in a while I get coffees that are just too easy to review. That means that the beans are farmed perfectly, that the roasted has done an awesome job and…that my brews were spot on as wel haha.
The La Palma & El Tucan Gesha natural is a bomb of fruits with superb notes of white chocolate, cocoa, milkyness and florals. The fruity notes in this coffee go so well together; galia melon, strawberry and apricot on the nose. Pineapple, strawberry, apricot and mango make up the flavours as this coffee gets better with each passing second.
What else can I say? This is one of those coffee’s that you should try eventhough it’s not cheap. Thank you Daniel, for roasting this coffee to perfection.