Click the link to see the May Subscription coffee in more detail.
This month we are bringing in two new roasters alongside two returning favourites and also debuting our 'Dialled In Dark(er)' sub. For our new Dialled In Dark(er) subscription we are opening up with a strong pairing of the Wolfox 'Mr Wolf' blend (notes of Hazelnut and Honey, low acidity and a clean finish with hint of Cinnamon) and the Hundred House Coco blend (a chocolate bomb espresso, made for milk!)
First up for the incoming roasters we have Matthew Orchard and his new roastery 'Plot Roasting' (in Woolwich, South East London) who we met when visiting the London Coffee Festival. While the roastery may be new, Matthew certainly isn't new to the roasting game having been head roaster for Horsham Coffee for over 3 years, and then Kiss the Hippo as they launched.
The first coffee Matt and his Loring Kestral S35 roaster is providing is a filter-roast coffee from the Santa Rosa farm in the Minais Gerais region of Brazil. This is a great filter coffee with notes of Black Cherry, Berries and Chocolate - all our assorted and filter members will be receiving this coffee.
The second coffee that Plot are sending us is their Utility espresso, which is a single-origin espresso-roast coffee from the Cajamaraca region of Peru. This coffee tastes like a liquid black forest gateau with notes of Cherry, Chocolate and Caramel - all our espresso members will be receiving this coffee.
The second new roaster this month is Wolfox coffee from Brighton who were recommended to us by a few of our subscribers. We then accidentally stumbled across their Leeds coffee shop and found out that they put a huge focus on searching out organically grown and certified coffee for their customers to enjoy.
Wolfox are providing a washed coffee from the northern Quiche region of Guatemala and it comes in both Filter and Espresso roast profiles. This is a subtle coffee with notes of Milk Chocolate, Fruit & Nut and is Full Bodied with a Medium Acidity - All our assorted and espresso members will be receiving the espresso roast, and our 3x & 4x filter members will be receiving the filter roast.
Making a welcome return to the subscriptions are Hundred House from Shropshire. This time around they are providing a wonderful, omni-roast, natural process coffee from the Kochere region of Ethiopia. This coffee has notes of Strawberry and Cream, with a Floral nose and Grapefruit acidity. Our 3x & 4x assorted and espresso members and all our filter members will be receiving this coffee.
Finally, for our 4 bag subscribers the wonderful & socially responsible crew of Manumit Coffee in Cardiff are sending us an omni-roast honey-process coffee from the Katanda region of D.R. Congo. This coffee has a great Lime acidity with Dark Chocolate and Cherry notes. Plus, every bag that Manumit sell goes to improving the life people impacted by modern slavery, so make sure you head over and take a look at their website to see the good they are doing. This coffee has been commended by the high and mighty of the coffee world. The only thing that may stop us receiving this is that Manumit have just received their new roaster, which needs installing – we will keep you informed if there are any issues.
Dog & Hat Coffee Settings
This month we're once again providing the settings we used to test the coffee. We hope this will help you work out where to start dialling in the coffee.
Plot Coffee Brazil
Filter
We found this black forest gateau of a coffee worked best at our default starting grind setting of 4.0 and ratio of 13.5g to 200ml water in 2:15 mins.
Plot Coffee Peru 'Utility'
Espresso
To get the best out of this Cherry & Chocolate coffee we used our default starting grind setting of 1.7 with a ratio of 18g in to 36.5g out in 29 seconds.
Wolfox Guatemala 'Senor Mono'
Espresso
The espresso profile version of this coffee is roasted a little darker than the usual coffee in the subs, and we settled on a grind setting of 1.9 with a ratio of 18g in to 36g out in 29 seconds.
Filter
For the filter profile version of this coffee we used a slightly tighter grind setting of 3.9 and ratio of 13.5g to 210ml water in 2:15 mins.
Hundred House Ethiopia
Espresso
This was a slightly lighter coffee for espresso, but we got a pleasant sweetness to compliment the grapefruit when using a grind setting of 1.7 with a ratio of 16.5g in to 38g out in 23 seconds. If we'd had more coffee to test with, we think we'd have settled on a 1.6 grind setting.
Filter
To get the best out of this great Ethiopia natural on filter we used our default starting grind setting of 4.0 and a ratio of 11.5g to 150ml water in 2:15 mins
Manumit D.R. Congo
Espresso
Again, this is a slightly darker coffee and we tamed the lime notes to show off the chocolate and cherry on espresso with a grind setting of 1.9, ratio of 18g in to 38g out in 28 seconds.
Filter
We found this coffee worked best with a looser grind setting of 4.25 and a ratio of 13.5g to 200ml water in 2:30 mins
