To compare the Chaicoffski filter with the Sowden SoftBrew, we followed the same procedure. The brewing process is simple. Just put the Chaicoffski filter in a cup, add ca. 14 grams of ground coffee, and 250ml of water, stir well, and leave to steep for ca. 3 to 4 minutes. After that, the filter can be removed from the cup, and the coffee is ready to enjoy.

The finer mesh of the Chaicoffski filter, only 60 micron, was certainly noticable. We saw significantly less sediment in the cup compared to either a Sowden SoftBrew, or a press pot.
According to Mr. Bersten, the Chaicoffski filter can even be used to brew coffee with espresso ground coffee. Although it should be possible to use a much finer grind than we did, we have not tested this yet, but a 2 minute steep should certainly be feasible.

Needless to say, the Chaicoffski filter can also be used for making tea. As an extension of the line, the Chaicoffski filter is now offered with a variety of cups. In addition, a larger version of the Chaicoffski filter with carafe is available for brewing 6 to 8 cups.

Looking at our experience with the Kinto Faro drip brewer, there seems to be an optimum between the fineness of the filter, the clarity of the brew, and the usability of the brewer.
Siphon coffee makers can handle finer grinds, because the pressure forces the water through the coffee grinds. The same holds for machines that employ mechanical methods, such as the Clover, Trifecta, and Steampunk machines.

In brewers that -at least partly- rely on the force of gravity, such as the Kinto Faro and the Chaicoffski filter, the filter is more critical.
A filter that is too coarse will leave too much sediment in the cup, but on the other hand, brewing is more prone to stall if the mesh is too fine. The Kinto Faro’s filter is close to the “too fine” side, and we initially experienced a few problems with it. After adjusting our methods and grinding range, we are quite happy now.

The Chaicoffski filter strikes a better balance. The filter is much easier to use, and has not given us any problem. Compared to the Sowden SoftBrew, the increased size of the filter relative to the amount of water might give a better extraction. Although there is some sediment in the cup, that is hardly noticably and does not interfere with the flavour. Using coffee ground for filter drip, the Chaicoffski filter makes an excellent cup of coffee with very little effort.
That sounds like a winning combination.

Musallam Trading, one of the largest exporting company in Yemen sent us a sample of their coffee. This Raimi coffee is one of the finest prepared dry processed arabicas we have seen in a long time. With less than five defects per 300g, this is Specialty Grade by any measure. The fairly small coffee beans are a mixture of native Yemeni cultivars. The coffee is sun dried.

Dry processed coffee is basically picked off a tree, and laid out to dry on screens, patios, or, in Yemen, usually on the roofs of houses. This old processing technique yields a mixture of unripe, ripe, and overripe coffee cherries. In addition, the drying both causes interesting flavours, but potentially also defects. And all these defects have to be picked out later.
This coffee was excellently sorted, with very few ‘bad’ coffee beans remaining in the batch. We tasted this coffee using a number of brewing methods. These are our cupping notes.

The cup opens with a buttery, caramel aroma with chocolate, and some sweet flowery notes (vanilla/orchid-like). Layered underneath that is a complex mixture of wild aromas that is hard to put your finger on; leather, tobacco, perhaps even peat.
The cup displays a pleasant mild acidity, akin to that of dry red wine.
Even at light roasts, this coffee has a smooth, buttery mouthfeel.
The coffee has a very complex cup. First, there is the sweet buttery flavour, somewhat like fudgy caramel. There is also a milk chocolate touch. The flowery notes are quite apparent at light roasts, as are the complex leathery, tobaccoey flavours.
In the aftertaste, the caramelly/chocolaty flavours last a long time, with the wild notes beautifully layered underneath.
Light roasts are great for filter drip. It will also well work for espresso, if you prefer a slightly brighter cup. As espresso, this dry processed coffee produces a beautiful long lasting crema.

At darker roasts, the acidity is still present, although more subdued. The body becomes even heavier, and smoother. The caramel and milk chocolate flavour changes towards dark baking chocolate, or perhaps cocoa powder. The flowery notes are more subdued, but still come out as the cup cools. Similarly, the wild flavours are still there, growing stronger in the cooling brew.
The aftertaste is long with many of the complex flavours recurring.
We feel darker roasts are perfectly suited for vacuum coffee makers (siphons), and single origin espresso. Adding a little hot water to the espresso (Americano-style) will bring out more of the complexity.

Such wild notes are characteristic terroir for Yemeni coffees. In this Raimi coffee, the flavours are fairly mild. While that may disappoint some, we feel it blends in well with the overall flavour. It makes this an excellent, complex, yet very accessible and beautifully balanced Yemen coffee. We recommend this Yemen coffee for all brewing methods, for filter drip, siphon, and espresso. Don’t add too much frothed milk, as it will lose much of the complexity of the cup.

We found Musallam Trading an excellent partner, and a reliable source of great coffees. The coffee we tasted is by far one of our favourites of 2011 (harvest of October – December).

Coffee tasted: Yemen Raimi (Dry Processed Arabica) from Musallam Trading

Aroma: caramel, chocolate, sweet flower (vanilla/orchid), leather
Flavour: fudgy caramel, chocolate, vanilla, leather, tobacco/peat
Body: heavy, buttery
Acidity: mild, enjoyable, like dry red wine
Aftertaste: long, with recurring flavours
Overall: complex cup, great terroir, well balanced

For further reading about Yemen and Yemen coffee, do refer to the SweetMaria website for Thompson Owen’s writings and his 2007 Yemen traveloque.

What we like

• Very stylish
• Excellent quality materials
• Stainless steel lid
• Avaiable in various sizes, styles, and colours
• Quite affordable

What we don’t like

• Infuser a bit too small

Bottomline
Not perfect, but very good – Recommended

Apart from being made of high quality, heavy porcelain, another good feature is that the lids are made of stainless steel. That’s at least one part that will never break.
The Zero Japan teapots also come with an infuser insert, but we feel it is a bit on the small side. This is a common problem with many teapots. You’ll get a better extraction by putting the leaves directly in the pot, and not using the infuser.
On the upside, these teapots are less likely to become clogged with tea leaves, because of the position of the spout. On the whole, we like these Zero Japan teapots.
Available in a wide variety of sizes, styles and colours. In Europe these are sold via Zero Japan Europe and J-Port.

30 of the country’s top baristas will compete to win the title of UAE Barista Champion, at an amazingly competitive event this year, with the winner going on to represent UAE at the World Barista Championship at Vienna in 2012.

The Conference offers a learning opportunity for entrepreneurs, franchise owners, coffee shop operators, retailers, roasters, importers and other business segments within the coffee and tea industry. The Middle East Coffee & Tea Convention will also host a series of Certified Skill-Building Workshops where The Specialty Coffee Association of America (SCAA) and World Coffee Events (WCE) will provide hands-on training through four industry fundamental courses taught by qualified industry leaders.

Anselm Godinho, Managing Director, International Conferences and Exhibitions (IC&E) organisers of the event, says: “Recent studies show that the coffee and tea trade is becoming an important revenue source for the national economy and this certainly is opening up new investment and business opportunities in the region. The convention in its entirety will provide information, knowledge and technical expertise that will aid in the robust growth of the distribution, retail and trade of coffee and tea.”

Sunalini Menon, Founder & Managing Director of Coffeelab Limited – India, and Rohantha Athukorala, Head of National Portfolio, Sri Lanka & Maldives United Nations Office, Colombo – Sri Lanka, will be two featured presenters at the conference among a larger panel. Sunalini Menon’s presentation entitled “From Small Beginnings” will trace the journey of the coffee bean and tea leaf from the past to the present and what needs to be done to ensure the sustainability and growth of the coffee and tea industry and businesses in the Arab region.

The title of Rohantha Athukorala’s presentation is: “Activating a communication strategy globally using the Ceylon tea experience as business model”, where he will present insights in developing cutting-edge marketing strategies, understanding how stakeholder participation can be orchestrated, learning the process of conducting an advertising pitch, and selecting and working with global PR agencies.

The Skill-Building Workshops program will include 2 courses on the art of preparing an espresso, ways to identify the features and faults of a prepared espresso, recognizing and employing international definitions of espresso, step-by-step espresso preparation instructions, understanding the basics of dosing, distribution and tamping, and identifying espresso equipment component parts. The courses will also include the preparation of milk and other cafe drinks according to World Barista Championship standards and how to independently manage a coffee work station.

Included is a course dedicated to “Milk & Latte Art”, where participants will learn how to relate to the basic concept of the makeup of milk and how milk is prepared for latte art, understanding the important supply and equipment considerations and pre-requisites necessary to pour latte art, and maintaining milk texture to enhance visual appearance of drink design. Participants will also learn the four basic pouring techniques of latte art design as well as other techniques to develop their own style.

The fourth course is about the “Essentials of Customer Service”, which will teach trainees how to identify simple yet effective ways of improving customer service, and show examples of habits that lead to a disappointing customer service. The course will also show how to formulate strategies to improve customer service interaction that builds customer loyalty and identifying staff strengths and defining roles within a working cafe environment.

For the first time ever, trainees in the UAE will have the unique opportunity to apply for the Barista Guild of America (BGA) certification examination conducted onsite at the Middle East Coffee & Tea Convention, which will provide them with an internationally recognised qualification.

More information can be found on the website of the href=”http://www.coffeeandteaconvention.com/”>Middle East Coffee & Tea Convention

In recent years, Kinto launched a series of new drip coffee makes styled by the renown Japanese designer Kosei Shirotani. The series is named “Faro”, Italian for lighthouse, the obvious source of inspiration.
All parts of the Faro series are in a clean, form follows function style, without unnecessary decoration. We certainly appreciate that. The series consists of a coffee pot, a mug, and a cup. The cup is a double wall design that keeps the coffee hot, while still remaining cool on the outside.

The Kinto Faro Grande is a slightly larger derived version, available only as a cup set, or the slightly larger mug set. While the original Faro series is available only in white, the Faro Grande series is also available in stylish, toned-down blue and brown.

What we like

• Very stylish
• Excellent quality materials
• Permanent filter, so no paper needed
• Makes great coffee
• Almost no sediment in the cup
• Very affordable

What we don’t like

• Fine grinds can stall brewing

Lets look at the good part first. The main elements of the Kinto Faro are made in high quality glazed porcelain, that can simply be cleaned in the dishwasher. When making coffee it is best to first preheat the porcelain with a little hot water. The porcelain keeps warm for quite a long time, an indication of quality.
The filter is of stainless steel with a neatly finished fine wire mesh. It is best cleaned with a special coffee cleaner (eg. Urnex), because it is in close contact with the coffee mixture.

The heart of the Kinto Faro series is the ceramic filter holder with its stainless steel insert. Most popular drip coffee makers of today (Chemex, Kono, Hario V60) use a large exit hole, and have a high flowrate. These can be seen as pure percolation brewers. The brewing time is primarily determined by the grind size, and the amount of agitation provided by the pouring technique.
The Kinto Faro is different. Its filter holder has a relatively small single hole in the bottom. This reduces the flowrate, and increases the contact time between the grinds and the water. This largely determines the brewing time, and makes the Kinto Faro somewhat of a combined percolation and infusion brewer.

Using the Kinto Faro is relatively easy. For best results, we recommend preheating the ceramic filter holder. The filter itself has marks to indicate the amount of coffee, and the amount of water needed to make one cup of coffee. Put the filter with fairly coarse ground coffee in the filter holder, and pour a little water (ca. 50ml) to wet the coffee. After ca. 30 seconds, pour on the rest of the water, and stir two or three times during brewing. We recommend using 60g to 65g coffee per 1000ml. The total brewing time in the Kinto Faro coffee makers is about 4 to 5 minutes for a single cup (230ml – 260ml).
With a proper grind from a good grinder, the Faro coffee brewers can make a truly excellent cup of coffee.

Paradoxically, the only problem of the Faro coffee makers is a result of the good filter. The fine wire mesh filter stops the fine coffee particles, resulting in a clean cup with very little sediment, but there is a trade-off.
Too much fine particles in the ground coffee can clog the mesh filter, causing the brewing to stall. This is only a problem when using coffee that is ground too fine, or ground in a poor grinder (eg. blade type). Stirring the mixture in the filter reduces the chances of difficulties, and will improve extraction.

Conclusion
We certainly like the styling, and the quality of the Kinto Faro coffee makers. We also like the coffee, and clear brew with almost no sediment. The design makes this an excellent drip coffee maker for use at home, or at work.
Apart from personal use, we feel the Kinto Faro coffee makers would also be quite suitable for horeca use. The units are stylish, made of excellent materials, and provide a fairly unique way to offer coffee at the table. On top of that, these drip brewers require very little staff overhead.

Overall, we are happy to recommend the Kinto Faro series of coffee makers.

Kinto is imported in Europe by Roxxor international.

The Cornwall-based startup micro-roaster sent us a sample of their espresso blend “Lusty Glaze”. The name comes from a small, picturesque beach on Cornwall’s west coast, not from an oily dark roast.
The coffee from Hands-On Coffee Roasters comes in a plain paper bag with a roast date stamped on the back, so if you buy the coffee you will know how fresh it is. Few roasters bother to do this, so we are impressed on this point.

As said, Lusty Glaze is not a dark roasted blend with beans covered in a layer of oil. Hands-On roastmaster Paul Travis kept a finger on the pulse, and rightly stopped the roast in time. The coffee is roasted a few notches into second crack, but far from overroasted.

The cup opens with a distinct aroma of dark caramel, toasty notes, vanilla, and one of us noted a hint of lemon zest. In the cup there are flavours of toasted bread, wood, malty notes, black tea, and dark bakers chocolate. The mouthfeel is very heavy, and creamy. As in most dark roasts, this blend is limited in acidity. We only noted a slight puckering on the tip of the tongue, not unlike a strong black tea. The blend has a long aftertaste, with recurring notes of wood, bakers chocolate, and a hint of hazelnut.
In all, we find Hands-On’s Lusty Glaze a very well-balanced blend.

It seems to us that roastmaster Paul Travis has put an Indonesian coffee in the limelight here. It is a less obvious choice, but as it turns out an excellent one. Although perhaps a slightly unusual blend, it is both easy to drink and thoroughly satisfying. The restrained roast, and excellent choice of coffees make this a great blend that pours an espresso with a thick, persistent layer of crema. It’s heavy, balanced, and interesting.

On our espresso machine, we feel the blend tastes best at ca. 94°C where we find the most sweetness and depth. A few drops of hot water may make this heavy blend easier to appreciate. For espresso based drinks, Lusty Glaze will not disappear in larger amounts of milk. It is great as a straight espresso, but also makes a very enjoyable cappuccino, or even a tall latte.
Although the Lusty Glaze blend was designed for espresso, the blend also does fairly well as brewed coffee, for a Cona, a press pot or as filter drip.

The only problem with such a blend is that it may be difficult to recreate with new ingredients, new batches of coffee. We hope Hands-On Coffee Roasters, with their proven skills in sourcing, blending, and roasting good coffee, will be able to solve that problem.
For now, we are happy to recommend Hands-On Lusty Glaze blend.

Aroma: dark caramel, toasty notes, vanilla, and lemon zest
Flavour: toasted bread, malty notes, wood, black tea, dark bakers chocolate, balanced
Body: very heavy, creamy
Acidity: low, slightly puckering (like strong black tea)
Aftertaste: long, with recurring wood, bakers chocolate, hint of hazelnut

Fifteen years ago, if you had asked me about filter drip coffee makers, the only name that would have sprung to mind would have been Melitta. In Europe, filter coffee was virtually synonymous with Melitta.
There were also Chemex brewers, but in Europe these were little known, and had never acquired the same status as the Melitta filters.
For a while, it had seemed as if filter coffee was going the way of the dinosaurs. Espresso was the main interest for specialty coffee. For home use, single cup brewers with push button ease looked like the future of brewed coffee.
Somewhat unexpectedly, that changed in the past five years.

Perhaps it was the Clover machine that brought about the change. Suddenly, there was a brewing device on which all brewing parameters could be set and adjusted on the fly. It did cost a staggering USD 11000, but then it could make an excellent cup of coffee in a matter of minutes.
And then, in a blink, it was gone. Starbucks bought the Clover company just before the 2008 crash hit the global economy, and Howard Schultz’ plans for the Clover were put on halt.

Avant-garde baristas, however, had developed a taste for brewed coffee. Now, they were looking around for Clover alternatives to satisfy their appetite. They didn’t have to search very far. Melitta and Chemex were still around, and these could be used to brew an acceptable cup. The question on the coffee table was, what else was there, and how would that perform?

It didn’t take too long to find the Hario V60 series of drip filter coffee makers. Launched in 2006, Hario was actively promoting their new filter brewer. It was different from drip brewers known in the West. Its shape was different from Melitta’s cut-off cone, and the paper was much thinner than the Chemex’.

Although launched as revolutionary, the Hario V60 was in fact derived from Toshio Kono’s work in the early 1970s. Hario added the curved ribs, and developed the ceramic and glass filter cones. The shape and size of the filter cones, and choice of paper were still the same as the Kono Siphon Coffee company had been selling since 1973. Kono filter coffee makers like this model TF-40 are very popular in Japan, but little known in the West.

The Torch Donut dripper is an odd shaped filter coffee maker. Compared to most other drip coffee makers, it is much deeper than it is wide. It basically looks like a tall mug with a hole in the bottom. The Donut’s name presumably comes from the wooden ring used to hold the filter cone on a cup or carafe. The dripper takes Melitta Nr. 4 size filters, which need a little folding to fit comfortably.

Lastly, the Hario Caféor is a slightly different concept, consisting of a stainless steel mesh in an ABS shell. Similar coffee drippers have been manufactured by Hario for a long time. The Caféor is a small, lightweight 1-cup drip filter, that can easily be taken to the office, or on hiking trips.
It is somewhat like a Swissgold KF-300, or a single cup version of the Bodum Kona.

As with every coffee maker, it takes time to get the best results with the various filter drip brewers shown in this post. I’m working on it…

The first thing that struck me about the Sowden SoftBrew is its style. It does have a certain understated elegance. But there’s more to it than just appearances.
The SoftBrew consists of a porcelain coffee pot, called the “Oskar”, with a large stainless steel filter, the “SoftBrew” part. The combination is similar to an old “sock pot” or biggin. These were early type infusion coffee maker, in which the grounds were put in a cotton sock, and submersed in the water to separate the two. The Sowden SoftBrew is different in that it uses a large stainless steel “sock”.

The choice of materials has some pros. The porcelain not only looks good, it is also neutral, easy to clean, and helps keep the coffee fairly warm.
The patented filter is made of fairly thin stainless steel that flexes a little under pressure. The holes are not punched, but presumably laser etched. Although the holes seem minute (the patent mentions an “ideal diameter of 0.15 mm”), the filter lets more sediment pass than the Coava Kone filter. I would rate the SoftBrew’s filter on par with a Swissgold filter.

The SoftBrew is basically a simple infusion brewer, much like a press pot, but without the “press”. All you have to do to make a good cup of coffee, is: 1. preheat the pot, 2. put ground coffee in the filter, 3. add water of the right temperature, 4. stir well, 5. let the grounds steep for ca. 3 to 4 minutes, and you’re ready to pour the coffee.

Kevin Sinnott’s review includes some useful tips for getting the best out of the SoftBrew. He recommends using a fairly fine grind, what he calls a filter grind. Looking at my own experiments, I think that would be about right. Kevin prefers the Sowden SoftBrew for dark roasted coffees, whereas I like it best for light roasted, fairly bright coffees – probably a matter of taste. I’ve not tried his suggestion to heat the brew water by microwaving it in the SoftBrew’s coffee pot. It could give better results. Needless to say, you should remove the stainless steel filter, before putting the coffee pot in the microwave.

In a side by side test, using the same coffee, equal grind and steep time, the Sowden SoftBrew and a press pot gave similar results. The amount of sediment in the cup was the same, and the flavour of the brew was almost identical. I wouldn’t have been able to distinguish between the two in a blind cupping. In coffee quality the Sowden is as good as a press pot.

The Sowden pot does have a few benefits though. In a press pot, you need to separate the grounds from the brewed coffee by pressing down a filter. In the Sowden SoftBrew, the grounds are already separated from the start, and contained in the stainless steel “sock” filter.
That makes the SoftBrew easier to use, because you don’t have to scoop off the floating grounds, and you don’t have to press down a filter. It also makes the Sowden easier to clean. Take the filter from the coffee pot, turn it upside down in the sink, give it a few taps and most of the grounds will come out. A little rinsing will do the rest.
Lastly, it keeps the coffee warm for a while. Even after fifteen minutes the coffee was still at drinking temperature. I tried the coffee, and although I had expected a terribly astringent, overextracted cup, it actually still was quite tasty.

Still, the SoftBrew does have some downsides. One issue is the lid, which is made of the same thin porcelain as the rest of the Oskar coffee pot. In addition, the lid sits rather loose on the pot. Unlike most teapots, there are no lips to lock it. On top of that, the porcelain lid does get pretty hot after a few minutes. That means that carelessly pouring the coffee might result in a broken lid. Many modern Japanese teapots, such as made by Zero Japan, use hinged stainless steel lids for this reason. I would have preferred one on the Sowden pot. Ideally, the lid would be insulated stainless steel, and easy to attach to, and remove from the filter.

The thin porcelain makes the coffee pot fairly fragile, and doesn’t keep the temperature very stable. In a controlled experiment, a preheated pot filled with 500ml of water drops from 94°C to about 79 °C during 4 minutes of brewing. After 10 minutes, the temperature has fallen to 68°C, and after 20 minutes it is below 60°C. Extraction obviously does continue, but is significantly reduced when temperature gets below 85°C. That is partly why after fifteen minutes the coffee still isn’t horribly overextracted.
Thicker porcelain would make the SoftBrew sturdier, and would also improve heat retention. Another option, one that I would like, is an insulated collar similar to the one on the Eva Solo coffee brewer.

The question then is, how do the pros and cons add up?

One way to look at it, is to see the Sowden SoftBrew as a press pot for lazy days. It makes the same quality coffee, but it’s easier to use, and easier to clean. In that view, it certainly gets a thumbs up.
If you prefer a more clearly defined, crisp cup, look at insulated brewers such as the Espro press, Bodum Columbia, or the Eva Solo coffee brewer. Or better still, try a siphon brewer.

The bottomline, as a basic infusion brewer, the Sowden SoftBrew does a good job, and it’s very stylish to boot.

Apart from home use, I can certainly recommend the Sowden SoftBrew as a coffee maker for use in more high-end restaurants. For customers, the stylish presentation and the quality of the brew are commensurate with the quality of the food – depending on the choice of coffee, of course…
On the other hand, the SoftBrew is light on staff involvement. Setup and cleaning are easier than conventional press pots.
The only possible downside, as far as I can see, is the issue of the lid.

Anyway, the Kone is a stainless steel filter with laser etched holes. The main difference with the usual paper filter is that it lets everything extracted from the coffee pass, without trapping the oils and the flavours.
In a way, the Coava Kone is like the Swissgold filters for the Melitta cone, but the Kone pretty much behaves like the Chemex filter papers. Coffee drips through the filter slightly quicker than through paper, but not as bad as the Swissgold filter.
A downside is that it doesn’t quite catch all the fine particles, leaving a very small amount of sediment in the cup. The sediment is more than paper filter, but not remotely as much as in a press pot.

The Malawi Mzimbi Geisha from HasBean is great for drip brewing, and one of the first I tried in the Kone filter (which btw Steve also sells). This is a shot taken halfway brewing, roughly one minute after the first “blooming” pour. What you see is the last of the second pour dripping through.

A propos, for those not in the know, Malawi is a beautiful southeast African country and a fairly unknown producer of specialty coffee. Gesha (or sometimes Geisha) is a coffee cultivar.

Roughly four minutes after the first pour, the coffee is ready for drinking. Coffee percolates a little faster through the filter compared to Chemex paper, which means the beans must be ground slightly finer. Note that the grounds have not crept up the sides of the filter. The coffee in the filter isn’t like an crater, but almost the reverse; a slight dome shape. This is a result of proper pouring, but also of the way coffee percolates through the Kone filter.

What is interesting to note is that the Kone filter leaves only very little sediment in the cup. It’s a better solution than other permanent filters. More importantly, the Kone filter makes a clearer, more transparent cup than the Chemex paper. In a way the coffee is somewhat like a siphon brew, in which the various tastes and flavours are easier to distinguish.

Despite the cost, I find the Coava Kone filter worth the investment. My only gripe, I wish Coava would also make one for the smaller CM-1 Chemex, the 3-cup brewer that I would normally use most of the time.

Hanover’s roasting suits the coffee though. Although the beans are a little darker than most artisan roasters would dare to go, there is only a hint of a toasty note. The roastmaster has also done well to keep the character of the cup.

The smooth, melted butter caramelly flavour is the most pronounced feature in this cup, with a fresh flowery note in the background. When the cup cools, the caramel flavour comes out stronger.
There still is an enjoyable mild crispness to the cup that can be described as somewhat sherry-like. It blends well with the caramelly flavour.
This Costa Rica has a fairly heavy mouthfeel, leaning towards buttery. Again, that is quite extraordinary for a Central-American coffee.

Hanover’s Costa Rica Tarrazu is an unusual Central American coffee, not at all the classic cup. We suspect this is a Costa Rican bourbon, which has a different cup character than the usual varieties. Overall we find this coffee well-balanced, and enjoyable.

Greg at Hanover Coffee recommends this coffee for French press. We enjoyed that too, but feel that filter coffee is an even better choice. We brewed this in a Chemex, which makes the character come out best.
You could try this coffee as espresso, but skip the milk. This is a coffee that should be enjoyed as it is: pure.