As mentioned a few weeks ago, I'm really excited to get my hands on four coffees from Black & White Coffee Roasters:

• Gaharo – Lot 4 from Burundi
• San Sebastian – Colombia
• Akusi AB – Kenya
• Gesha Village – Ethiopia

I'm nearly through all of them and as expected, these guys know what they're doing.  All of the coffees seemed very skillfully roasted, consistent, predictable, and quite tasty.  The Gesha Village Natural that I was really looking forward to was maybe the only one I couldn't really get to sing, but that's not to say it wasn't very good.  I guess I was just expecting a big flavor bomb since it was a natural, or some delicate flavors because it was a Gesha Village coffee.  Instead it was sweet, rounded and balanced profile, that was very drinkable, but I wasn't able to get to wow me.  

The Akusi AB Keyan was very tasty, as Kenyan coffees have been this year.  Really big fruit flavors that defies the light and delicate stereotype of recent vintage Kenyans.  My favorite recipes for it are listed above in the caption.  

Gaharo Lot 4 from Burundi was another that defied convention.  This coffee was subtle, light and transparent in the flavor department, while having pretty good body and mouthfeel.  This coffee was good as filter, but I preferred it as espresso where I was able to get a bit more transparency and intensity of flavors.  Best shots were 18g in to 34g out in 28s including 2s preinfusion at 199*F.  

San Sebastian Colombia has been exceptionally good, showcasing just how good, good Colombian coffees are.  This one tastes like stewed, sugary fruit syrup as espresso, with just a hint of chocolate in the finish, and a chocolate malt like flavor as a cappuccino.  Nearly the exact same shot parameters as the Gaharo had this one tasting great.  It provided even more transparency and was just overall very well rounded and balanced as brewed coffee as well.  Interestingly, I switched burr sets on my Baratza Vario partway through and it got even better.  More on that next week.  

I also want to give a shout out to a new coffee B&W has, Peixoto Estudo N.01, using coffee from the Peixoto family farm.  This is the same Peixoto that's local to me and I featured a few months ago.  It's really cool to see roasters on opposite sides of the country collaborating.  

Next up, I'm really excited to start in on Ethiopia Reko Koba from Theodore's Coffee Roasters by way of Crema.co.  I'm really excited for this one because not only is it my first coffee using Crema.co but, Emily McIntyre, the founder of Crema.co actually sourced this coffee, in her other job travelling to Africa to source coffees for great roasters like Theodore's.  Between her enthusiasm for this coffee and the tasting notes of blueberry lemonade, strawberry, and jasmine, this washed coffee from the Gedeo region should be quite tasty.  

I'm also excited to try Theodore's Coffee Roasting for the first time, by way of Crema.co.  Theodore's is clearly a passion filled company based out of Michigan, that I've heard a lot of good things about.  Check out last week's post for my first impressions of using Crema.co and a coupon code for $10 off your first order.  

If you're interested in tasting along, I also have Kenya Nyeri from Dapper & Wise Roasters queued up to ship out next week, also from Crema.co.  With tastings notes of grapefruit, peach, and honeysuckle, if this one's anything like any other Kenyan coffees I've had this year, it's sure to be good.