Lamplighter Daily Offerings

Now Pouring:

We currently have the El Salvador Cerro Las Ranas pulped natural at a medium city as our drip brew. When that runs out we will switch to the new Peruvian Chanchamayo. 

The Chanchamayo province in Peru is named for the River that runs through the Junin region. This area has become increasingly attractive to tourists who want to see the central jungle, coffee farms, orchid fields, ancient architecture, and El Perezoso Botanical Gardens. This lot of coffee is bought and sold through OLAM Specialty Coffees. Olam is an international trading house that has extended their reach in specialty coffee by creating a separate organization that invests in each origin. They provide farmers with state of the art equipment and training and are able to provide extremely consistent high quality coffees. 

In The Cup: This Peru is a great example of the well balanced, medium bodied, mild South American cup. A bright but not overpowering acidity, hints of nuts and milk chocolate, and a subtle rustic fruit note like raisins. 

Indian Mysore Chickmagulur A

This is the newest coffee to come to our retail shelf, available at a full city roast and taking the place of the East Timor Maubesse. That’s one long complicated name for a coffee! Here is what it all means: The coffee is grown in the Indian state of Karnataka, formerly called Mysore, in the southwestern part of the country near the Arabian Sea. Chickmagulur is the name of the estate and also the town which the estate is in. Translated into English Chickmagulur means ‘younger daughter’s town’ and is so called because the town was said to have been given as a dowry to the youngest daughter of a legendary chief.

In The Cup: This coffee has a very low acidity and sweet, medium to heavy body reminiscent of a Sumatra or Java, with fewer rustic or wild notes. There are subtle spicy notes and a round semi sweet chocolate flavor. 

Mike! Stacy!

Mike! Stacy!

Ethiopian East Harrar

This is what we will be serving on drip for most of the weekend. Here are my notes:

This Harrar differs a little bit from the Queen City Harrar we have had recently in that its flavor profile is much closer to the dry processed Sidamo we use for espresso. A winy blueberry note dominates the cup with dark chocolate and a sweet acidity through the body.

The Coffea Arabica plant was first found growing wild in the Kaffa forest in Ethiopia. From there it was brought to nearby Harrar, by way of a Muslim slave trade route that passed through. Harrar is about 300 miles east of the capitol city of Addis Ababa. Because this lot is dry processed it has a distinct wild fermented fruit note that comes from the fruit pulp being left on the bean to dry out in the sun.

New Beans!

Brought in a bunch of new beans this past week, the three that are new and exciting are the Honduras Santa Barbara Conquistador, Peru Chanchamayo, and Indian Mysore Chikmagulur. As we run out of some of our last shipment (the Papua New Guinea is about to be gone for a little while, so pick up a pound now!) I will rotate these into the shop.

Up for sale this weekend on our retail wall:

Brazil Alta Mogiana at a light city roast

Ethiopian East Harrar at a very light medium

Peru Chanchamayo at a true medium

El Salvador Cerro Las Ranas pulp natural at a darker medium

East Timor Maubesse at full city

Ethiopian Sidamo GR 4 Dry Process Espresso Blend

Honduras Santa Barbara Conquistador at a French roast

Mocha!

Mocha!

Om nom nom: gluten free breakfast sandwich and latte from Shannon.

Om nom nom: gluten free breakfast sandwich and latte from Shannon.

I am really excited about this East Timor Maubesse.  Dark chocolate and spicy pepper notes jump out at you at the first sip, followed by a creamy walnut body with subtler woodsy and herbal notes. It has all of the sweet chocolate notes of the other Indonesians like Java and Sumatra but is less rustic and has a more balanced, cleaner cup.  Timor is an island just West of Australia and east of Sulawesi. The coffee grown there is actually a native Timor Arabica varietal that is often crossed with Caturra to create the Catimor varietal. There are two major growing regions in East Timor, Aifu which is the lower altitude, and Maubesse which is higher. Part of the reason the Timors cup cleaner is that they are wet processed, unlike most Sumatras which are only wet-hulled. A little history: Although a single small island, Timor is divided into the independent state of East Timor and the West Timor which belongs to an Indonesian province. The island’s name is a variation of the Malay word Timur which means ‘east’ since it is the eastern most island of southeastern Maritime Asia. Timor was incorporated into trade routes between India and China in the 14th century and was settled by the Portuguese and Dutch in the 17th century who then fought for control of the island. It was finally divided by treaty with the western side becoming Dutch Timor and the eastern half Portuguese Timor. In 1949 Dutch Timor became Indonesian Timor when the nation of Indonesia formed out of the old Netherland’s East Indies. Eastern Timor remained a Portuguese colony until 1979. When the Portuguese pulled out Indonesia tried to gain control of the eastern half by bringing in approx. 35,000 troops who could not defeat the Eastern Timorese guerilla tactics. Finally in 1999 a referendum was held under the guidance of the UN; the UN set up a temporary government in Timor until 2002 when East Timor was granted independence as Timor-Leste. There is no real motion by any of the Timor people to form a unified Timor, in part because of a history of tribal enmity.  The production of specialty coffee in East Timor was started before independence by cooperative farming groups that were funded by USAID grants. The money from coffee sales goes largely directly back to the farmers instead of to exporters or brokers. 

I am really excited about this East Timor Maubesse.  Dark chocolate and spicy pepper notes jump out at you at the first sip, followed by a creamy walnut body with subtler woodsy and herbal notes. It has all of the sweet chocolate notes of the other Indonesians like Java and Sumatra but is less rustic and has a more balanced, cleaner cup. 

Timor is an island just West of Australia and east of Sulawesi. The coffee grown there is actually a native Timor Arabica varietal that is often crossed with Caturra to create the Catimor varietal. There are two major growing regions in East Timor, Aifu which is the lower altitude, and Maubesse which is higher. Part of the reason the Timors cup cleaner is that they are wet processed, unlike most Sumatras which are only wet-hulled.

A little history: Although a single small island, Timor is divided into the independent state of East Timor and the West Timor which belongs to an Indonesian province. The island’s name is a variation of the Malay word Timur which means ‘east’ since it is the eastern most island of southeastern Maritime Asia. Timor was incorporated into trade routes between India and China in the 14th century and was settled by the Portuguese and Dutch in the 17th century who then fought for control of the island. It was finally divided by treaty with the western side becoming Dutch Timor and the eastern half Portuguese Timor. In 1949 Dutch Timor became Indonesian Timor when the nation of Indonesia formed out of the old Netherland’s East Indies. Eastern Timor remained a Portuguese colony until 1979. When the Portuguese pulled out Indonesia tried to gain control of the eastern half by bringing in approx. 35,000 troops who could not defeat the Eastern Timorese guerilla tactics. Finally in 1999 a referendum was held under the guidance of the UN; the UN set up a temporary government in Timor until 2002 when East Timor was granted independence as Timor-Leste. There is no real motion by any of the Timor people to form a unified Timor, in part because of a history of tribal enmity. 

The production of specialty coffee in East Timor was started before independence by cooperative farming groups that were funded by USAID grants. The money from coffee sales goes largely directly back to the farmers instead of to exporters or brokers. 

New Beans

We have gotten a few new things in recently that you are going to start seeing for sale and on drip brew. The Rwandan CO-OP beans, East Timor Maubesse, Panama Chiriqui Volcan Finca la Florentina, and Honduran Cerro Azul SHG/EP. The retail selections right now are these:

Panama Chiriqui Volcan (that is the region) Finca la Florentina (the actual estate) at a light city roast

Ethiopian Yirgacheffe at a light medium city

Papua New Guinea Kimel A at a true medium

El Salvador Cerro Las Ranas also at a true medium

East Timor Maubesse at full city

Ethiopian Sidamo Espresso (which is a medium/full city blend)

Honduras Cerro Azul at French roast

and last but not least, the Lamplighter House Dark Blend which is a blend of three parts, one medium roast, a full city, and a French. 

Today the new Yirgacheffe is pouring as our freshly brewed coffee and the Panama is up next!