Nicaragua and Coffee Mathematics

The 32lbs. of Nicaragua Maragogype Las Nubes (the Clouds) from the Andrea Castro farm from the Matagalpa region will arrive tomorrow!

Why is this coffee so special? There are a plethora of reasons. When we cupped the coffee, we tasted notes of banana, peach, chocolate, marzipan, salsa, and much more. In short, it was like manna falling from the heavens. We also bought the entire crop of 38 lbs. The Andrea Costra farm is owned by women; the coffee is picked and sorted by women. The coffee is sun-dried or dry-processed/natural processed which helps bring out the crazy fruity notes . The coffee is strictly high grown (SHG) which means that it is grown above 1200 meters above sea level. It takes high grown coffee a longer time to develop, therefore increasing the tremendous flavor. Strictly high grown coffee beans and extremely fertile soil is a great formula for amazing coffee.

Why were women chosen to be the president, vice-president, secretary, and treasurer of the Las Nubes Cooperative? They were believed to be more prudent! My 38 lbs. was so precious that they did not use machines to sort out the bad coffee beans, they didn't want the good coffee to be damaged.

Why did Andrea Castro have such a small crop of 38 lbs? Some coffee farmers are so poor that they cannot afford fertilizer for their crops. The lack of fertilizer causes farmers to produce lower yields. Andrea Castro works on other farms to help support her family and to help sustain her own farm. The partnership with Gold Mountain Coffee Roasters, Las Nubes, and Chazzano Coffee Roasters is allowing Andrea and other coop members to receive the highest return on their coffee. Chazzano Coffee is hoping to continue to help Andrea and other farmers of this coffee cooperative produce higher yields and bring more money home to their families.

Roasting Mathematics:

Did you know that every pound of coffee that we roast shrinks 20%? I need to roast about 1.2 lbs. of coffee to produce 1lb. of coffee. When I roast 132lbs. of coffee from those huge jute bags, it produces only 106 lbs. of roasted coffee. Therefore, the 32 lbs. of green beans from the Nicaragua Maragogype Las Nubes Andrea Castro farm will produce, after roasting, only 25.6 lbs. of roasted coffee!

Nicaragua Maragogype Las Nubes (Cooperative) Andrea Castro (farm) Matagalpa Region:

$40/lb.

Large cup of this coffee: $4.50

Small cup of this coffee: $3.25

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Chazzano Mystery Blend

Many of our customers ask, how do you create your blends and why? The answer is that some of our blends are purely accidental. For example, six months ago, I accidentally mixed Decaf Peru with Ethiopia Harrar. The result was terribly bland. I left it languishing on my green bean shelves until Friday. I wanted to roast the Indonesia Bali and perhaps experiment with the roast profile. I placed about 5 lbs. of Indonesia Bali in the top hopper, forgot about it, and then placed the Decaf Peru/Harrar mixture on top of that. I realized what I had done, roasted the Indonesia Bali /Decaf Peru/ Ethiopia Harrar to full city, and cupped the result.

This blend is awesome when it cools- notes of raspberries, pineapple, and brown sugar. Ask for a cold brew of the Mystery Blend today and tomorrow. One of the best blends we've created, ever.

Mommy, where do coffee beans come from?

If you've taken a tour at Chazzano Coffee Roasters, you might have heard me talk about coffee cherries. You may have heard about my crazy hope that my coffee tree seedlings may produce coffee cherries. Above, you'll see the coffee cherries growing on Coast Three Coffee farm in El Salvador. There are two coffee beans in each cherry. The cherries are handpicked from the trees because it is highly impractical to machine pick coffee grown on mountainsides.

Then the coffee is milled and processed. Will it be dry processed or wet processed? How much water do you have around your farm? What is the preferred flavor profile for your particular coffee varietals? Below: The cherry and most of the outer layers of the coffee bean have been removed and the coffee beans are drying out in the sun.

Brewing Temperatures

Have you ever had an incredible cup of coffee at Chazzano Coffee Roasters, brought some beans home or to the office, opened the coffee bag, were astounded by the fantastic fragrance, ground it fresh, brewed it, and...it wasn't as fantastic as the coffee that you had at the cafe? Well, it could be your brewing temperature.

French press, drip, pourover, and vacuum syphon must all be brewed within the sweet spot of coffee brewing, between 195-205 degrees fahrenheit. If it's below 195 degrees, you will experience an under-extracted brew, and above 205 (near boiling), you'll experience an over-extracted brew.

Here are some hints to brew the best cup of coffee. For french press coffee, boil water and wait 30 seconds for the temperature to reach 200-205 degrees. For the usual cheap drip brewers, use this secret method. After you place the ground coffee in the brew basket, fully wet the grounds in the basket with hot water. This trick will help the coffee "bloom" and begin the flavor extraction process. When you turn the machine on and brew the coffee, the grounds will already have a head start. This will mitigate the usual lower brewing temperatures that make drip brewers my least favorite method of coffee brewing. In addition, make sure that the coffee is finely ground for the drip brewer.

Finally, enjoy the process. Enjoy life. Drink fantastic coffee.

La Nubes Andrea Costa Nicaragua Maragogype

You know that we have over 40 different single origin coffees available and another 15 blends. I look for the best specialty coffee available. Smart farmers sample different areas of their farms that may cup at a different level than the rest of the crop. Here's the problem: If a farmer has 50 hectares (2.471 acres) of coffee trees and discovers that 1/5th of the crop contains coffee that has a superior flavor profile, should the farmer seek to sell the portion of the crop at a higher price and possibly lower the quality of the entire crop? That's a tough question.

You've enjoyed some of our awesome microlots like Brazil Moreninha Formosa, Honduras Cup of Excellence, Yemen Mocca Sanani, and Honduras Finca Las Canas. We have now secured some incredible microlot coffees from Nicaragua. The first selection is an Andrea Castro Nicaragua Maragogype. They produced only 38 pounds of coffee and picked out (by hand) only the best beans for us! This is an extremely small offering, now, of 32 pounds. (Did you know that 32lbs. of unroasted coffee beans produces only 25.6 lbs. of roasted coffee.)

Maragogype is a large bean that is a mutation of a typica coffee tree. Each of the farms in the Las Nubes (The Clouds) Cooperative is managed by women. How cool is that?

Our 32 lbs. of coffee...

Just wait until you taste this coffee! It will become part of your bucket list.

Guatemalan Trio

We (Frank, Klaire, and Talia) just cupped three coffees right now:

1. Guatemala FTO

2. Guatemala COMAL

3. Guatemala Finca Sabanetas

Guatemala FTO: This has tremendous acidity, creamy and milky mouthfeel, oatmeal and maple sweetness. When it cools down, there is an explosion of chocolate that takes over the fragrance and flavor.

Guatemala COMAL: This is a limited edition coffee that is a huge favorite at Chazzano Coffee. There is a pronounced honey sweetness, oak-like woodiness, chocolate bark, chocolate mousse smoothness. This is a crazy bright coffee where there is a great amount of dancing on your tongue.

Guatemala Finca Sabanetas: The fragrance while still hot has every winter spice imaginable: cinnamon, allspice, nutmeg. There is low acidity (brightness) in this Guatemalan. When it cools it you'll experience malted milk balls and licorice notes.

I just cupped the Guatemala FTO as an iced pourover. It has a Kahlua and milk syrupy sweetness. We're going to try a 12-hour Cold Brew of the Guatemala. Come in and try it tomorrow.

We're One Year Old!

I'm roasting Costa Rica Tarrazu Santa Laura now. It's truly bringing a tear to my eyes, because it is the first coffee that I roasted 10 years ago. My wonderful mother-in-law always sends a nice check every October in honor of my birthday. Ten years ago, with that act of lovingkindness, I bought a small Fresh Roast Plus from thecoffeeproject.com, a great home roaster's site. After roasting a small 2-3 oz. portion of green coffee beans, I immediately ground them for French Press and tasted a coffee that was syrupy, chocolaty, and nutty. It was the best coffee ever-just like a fine glass of wine. Thus began my journey and my passion for coffee roasting.

I want to thank you, our loyal customers, for helping us to reach this one year anniversary. There is a blessing that Jews say when we reach a special moment in our lives - Praised are You, L-rd, our G-d, King of the Universe, who gives us life, who sustains us, and brings us to this (special) time.

Please come in today and tomorrow and say hello. If you find the coupon on the website, print it out, and we'll take 50% off of all of your purchases on Thursday and Friday (21 and 22). www.chazzanocoffee.com

Thank you,

Frank