This column encompasses the past two meetings of Coffee Club. Two weeks ago, we featured three types of coffee from Heart Roasters in Portland, Oregon. In addition to the coffee, we offered sweet milk gelato from Morano Gelato. We served scoops of gelato paired with a shot of stereo espresso, creating an affogato. The stereo blend espresso from Heart Roasters had tasting notes of dark chocolate, bergamot and ginger snap, creating a blissful combination of hot and cold, chocolate and milk and sweet and syrupy.
Photo by Sally Kim
Unfortunately, we only ordered enough gelato for 30 affogatos and ran out within the first 15 minutes. The other two coffees from Heart Roasters were fantastic Ethiopian coffees with prominent notes of lemonade, oolong, rooibos, limeade and raspberries, leading one member to comment that the coffee tasted more like a fruity tea than coffee.
Photo by Sally Kim
Iced lattes were also served to those who requested them. This past week, we shipped up three different bright coffees from Ceremony Roasters, based in Annapolis, MD. First up was the Ethiopian Burboya, which is named after the washing station that receives coffee from over 700 local small-holder farmers, where it is then pulped, fermented, washed and dried. With traces of floral fruitiness and tropical fruit, the coffee was reminiscent of the little Dole fruit cups that people enjoy so much when young.
Photo by Mulin Xiong
The second coffee was a sharp and pointed Kenyan Coffee that had notes of grilled grapefruit, black tea and brown sugar. While brewing the coffee, notes of cedar and cranberry aromatics were a noticeable treat. We finished off the meeting with iced lattes and espresso shots using Ceremony’s Destroyer Espresso Blend which is well-balanced with complex notes of chocolate, tangerine and ginger. Next week, we look forward to a sampler pack from Dogwood Coffee, a club favorite. The sampler pack will be four surprise coffees, all from different countries, allowing us to sample many coffees in small doses.