Coffee is a shrub

[ChrisSchooley]

Howdy, RG!

Coffee is a multi-stemmed, gangly, awkward, diminutive shrub. CoffeeShrub is dimunitive too; a micro-seller of coffee serving small shops that roast. We sell nitrogen-flushed, vacuum-packed bricks of unroasted green coffee in amounts equal to 1/4 of a traditional jute bag, roughly. You have the convenience of thorough, descriptive reviews as a starting point for your own tasting notes, and farm images you can use to market the coffee. Look over our coffees and see if any of these offerings would compliment your current list.

www.coffeeshrub.com

I will be regularly updating RG here on new arrivals and projects, as well as links to helpful videos and stuff like that. Give me a shout if'n you have any questions.

[ChrisSchooley]

New offerings coming in the next week or so, but also wanted to let you all know about the Shrub's new bulk program. Besides our vac-pack bricks, we are now also selling most of our offerings at a 60lb volume packaged in Grain-Pro bags and then settled in jute and placed in sturdy boxes (we are re-using packaging to minimize waste). Take a look at our offering list to see if there is anything that you might be interested in. Also, please feel free to ask me any questions about the coffees.

https://www.coffeeshrub.com/shrub/blog/incredible-bulk

[ChrisSchooley]

Two new and incredibly capital S W E E T, sweet coffees are up on the shrub.

Colombia Finca La Carolina, Luis F. Rincon
http://www.coffeeshrub.com/shrub/coffee ... s-f-rincon

&

Costa Rica Cafetin San Martin
http://www.coffeeshrub.com/shrub/coffee ... san-martin

The producer of La Carolina is Luis F. Rincon, and it is a small, typical Colombia operation where the farmer picks, depulps, washes, ferments and dries all of his own coffee on the farm. The farm is in the area of Villa Maria, in the Caldas Department not far from Manizales. The farm manager is Leonardo Henao, and he used to work as a coffee cupper which is a rare quality in someone on the agronomy end of coffee. The cup has compelling yet balanced fruit throughout with stated notes of almond in a candy shell. An intensely aromatic cup!

Cafetin San Martin is a lot that arrived at the tail end of the '09 main harvest and was cellared in GrainPro bags. Now that we are breaking into this lot, it is an amazingly fresh coffee, just as it arrived. A testament to good storage as well as the fact that Cafetin is well processed and "rested" before export. A well balanced cup with ample floral character and a clear bright finish. I know that it sounds a little ridiculous, but the back-end of this cup is so sunny and makes me think of the Golden Hour, the time right before sunset when everything takes on that otherworldly glow.

[ChrisSchooley]

Ethiopia Organic Yirga Cheffe, Koke COOP

http://www.coffeeshrub.com/shrub/coffee ... -koke-coop

This coffee has amazing sweetness and brightness. It's a coffee where the flavor profile is heavily influenced buy the cherry selection in harvesting: this is what coffee tastes like when only crimson-red coffee cherries are picked. The dry fragrance is highly floral, with both rose petal and lemon blossom scents, and ripe cherry fruit notes. It has a candy-like sweetness that is underscored in the wet aromatics as well. An aroma of lavender, stone fruits and mandarin orange emerges, as wells as an amaretto hint. The cup has sweet fruited notes, floral elements, and a silky mouthfeel. Peach nectar, apricot preserves, sweet mandarin orange, almond, passion fruit juice; these are some of the delicate fruited notes that come from the lighter roasts of this coffee. Jasmine tea, rose hips and hibiscus notes come forward as the cup cools. And holy smokes, some amazing SO espresso from this coffee

We submitted this coffee into the COTY, which is sounding like it's going to be a really exciting year for that event.

Available now on Coffee Shrub!

[ChrisSchooley]

New Crazy Delicious Decafs! Pretty jazzed about them, lots of potential for amazing Dcf Espresso, and we are actually working on a Shrub DCF Exxpresso blend. Great for pour-over or single serve manual offerings. Give your decaf customers something to get really excited about.

Brazil Joao De Campos WP Decaf
http://www.coffeeshrub.com/shrub/coffee ... s-wp-decaf

We like this coffee for it's consistency and as a blend base or as a straight Single Origin farm level offering. It works very well for decaf or low-caf espresso. The decaf is a little different from the non decaf, perhaps a little more fruit accent in the cup. It can be roasted lighter (City+) for straight brewed coffee, but I like it best at FC to FC+ for brewed use, blend, and espresso. The dry fragrance has a lot of roast notes to it: both sweet-savory aspects and an interesting fruit-nut-chocolate compound scent. At City roast the aromas are malty sweet and lightly fruited, with a hazelnut note, but at FC+ they are much more aggressive and potent, with bittersweet chocolate tangy scents. Full City has the best cup, a nice balance between caramel and chocolate roast notes. The acidity is very muted, and the body thick, buttery, dense. Darker roasts are a natural for espresso base, and it would blend well with both brighter coffees, or fruity Decaf dry-process types from Ethiopia. It's a very versatile lot...

FTO Ethiopia Shoye Sidamo WP Decaf
http://www.coffeeshrub.com/shrub/coffee ... o-wp-decaf

The dry fragrance is very sweet, with strawberry and caramel aspects, and in the wet aroma a decaf savory scent comes out. It's a fantastic decaf cup, very sweet, caramel with melted milk chocolate notes, butter-rich body, mildly fruited layers of flavor. I found the creamy mouthfeel to be one of the most outstanding features, although it might not be the first thing you think of. It sets this part from other decafs and other non-decaf Ethiopia coffees as well. I can't write caramel and milk chocolate with enough emphasis. I get these sweet notes all through the roast range. Full City works especially well here, whereas my lightest City roast (barely through first crack) was a little mineral tasting. City+ roasts have more of a fruit-citrus accent, like a twist of bergamot and Earl Grey tea. There's a chocolate/alkaloid-like dryness in the long aftertaste initially, but as the cup cools the finish seems to be fade out with grace.

Sumatra Sidikalang WP Decaf
http://www.coffeeshrub.com/shrub/coffee ... g-wp-decaf

The dry fragrance has a spicy sweet quality, milky caramel, and some woody tones. Like many decafs the dry fragrance, where caramel sauce sweet scents dominate. It reminds me of Cajeta, a really delicious Mexican caramel sauce. There is also a mango and papaya fruited tone to the aroma, which also comes out in the cup flavors. The cup is a culmination of the aromatics; that same Cajeta sweetness, scented wood, mulling spice mix, ans slight fruit (papaya-mango) in the light roast. As it cools there's a banana bread flavor that comes out in the City + roast level. But it is the FC to FC+ that has that classic Mandheling cup; low acid, milk chocolate, body. And while the cup balances out towards body, and has low acidity, there is still a moderate brightness though the long finish. It's not your typical Toba area coffee, which can be herbal to an excessive degree. It has a slight banana peel dryness in the finish, and enough rustic funk to remind you it is a true Sumatra cup.

and we still have the Swiss Water Process decaf of our Guatemala Finca La Maravilla lot that we sent to Canada to decaffeinate and the Kenya Nyeri Ndiaini-Kiagundo WP Decaf which are both ridiculously sweet.

[ChrisSchooley]

New Shrub Offerings

Costa Rica Lourdes de Naranjo -Finca Genesis

https://www.coffeeshrub.com/shrub/coffe ... ca-genesis

The cup is vividly bright, with strong honey-lemonade flavors, red berry, toasted nut, and praline. It's quite sweet, but not in the typical wet-process Costa Rica way. The body is dense, thick. It definitely reveals itself as a true "honey coffee," a "miel" or pulp natural process. In that respect, the flavors are slightly more rustic, and the opaque body more pronounced, and a distinct "roundness" to the mouthfeel.


Ecuador El Guabo -Teofilo Jimenez Microlot

https://www.coffeeshrub.com/shrub/coffe ... z-microlot

Initially, light body, almond roast taste and a slight floral sweetness are evident. As it cools it really comes on; sweet ripe orange, hibiscus tea, almondy finish. It passes from sweetness to slightly savory-nutty finish as it leaves the palate, and enjoyable transformation. I returned to the cups when it was completely cool to find peach and apricot jam notes. I kept my roasts light to capture the subtle character of this coffee. I don't suggest anything dark here, not even Full City. Let it rest, and pay attention to the cup as it loses temperature, because that's when I think it really shows it's unique qualities. This is a great choice for vacuum brewing.


Sumatra Lintong Dolok Sanggul

https://www.coffeeshrub.com/shrub/coffe ... ok-sanggul

Surprising fruits come forward in the wet aroma, even a momentary whiff of citrus, pineapple, dried plum, fig. It's got great rustic sweetness, aromatic tree bark, cinnamon stick, black tea, and mulling spice in the finish. The body is a bit heavier than the Onan Ganjang micro-lot we have as a sister lot, even though they come from areas that are very close to each other. It also has less of the herbal notes found in other Lintong coffees, which I think makes it a better choice for use in espresso. In fact, the shots I have made from Dolok Sanggul have been really fantastic, like no other Sumatra I can think of ... but only when rested 5 days or more after roasting. It needs rest!

[ChrisSchooley]

There is a whole pile of new offerings over at shrub.

Brazil Daterra Farms - Sweet Blue

http://www.coffeeshrub.com/shrub/coffee ... sweet-blue

The dry fragrance has strong almond character laced with bittersweet chocolate. It has a mild blueberry note in the cup, but this is obscured quickly by chocolate roast notes. There is a nutty dryness throughout the roast spectrum, almond with that almond skin effect in the finish. Chocolate alkaloids create a pleasant bittering finish. It's not a super complex coffee, but has nicely integrated qualities, and the body has a nice slick, syrup texture.


Costa Rica Dota Tarrazu "Sangre de Toro"

http://www.coffeeshrub.com/shrub/coffee ... re-de-toro

The ripeness of the coffee cherry is definitely brought to bear the aromas and cup flavors of the Sangre de Toro lot. From light to dark roast levels, the dry fragrance has intense chocolate tones, with vanilla and fruit traces. It is in the wet aroma that indications of cup flavor reveal themselves; plum, apple, cinnamon bark, melted butter and caramel sauce emerge.


Ethiopia Grade 3 Dry Process Yirga Cheffe

http://www.coffeeshrub.com/shrub/coffee ... rga-cheffe

It's not common to ship naturals in GrainPro bags, and even somewhat risky, but the results here are truly great. The dry fragrance is heavily fruited, with intense lemon wafer cookie, apricot jam and berry scents, depending on roast level. At City+ the blueberry fragrance was amazing. The wet aroma is sweet like syrup, saturated with raw honey. It has peach and apricot in the lighter roasts, and more berry like at FC roast. Lavender and anise were also noted. The cup is fantastically fruited. Light roasts have apricot jam, hints of blueberry, passion fruit, red licorice, vanilla wafer cookie and anise. A bit darker on the roast and the fruits are more berry-like and juicy, with many of the lighter roast flavors still present to some extent.


Guatemala Finca El Tambor

http://www.coffeeshrub.com/shrub/coffee ... -el-tambor

The cup is a culmination of the various aromatic hints: Butterscotch and brown sugar sweetness with layers of tropical fruit, as well as apple and (again) tamarind. It's a big, round cup, with prominent acidity, bit not what I would call a bracing acidity, or one that gives a sense of structure. The finish tends toward bittersweet (just like the aromatics), and it's not exceptionally long on the palate. But as it cools the sweetness lingers, the brightness seems more and more malic (apple-toned brightness), the body more syrupy, and a cola sweetness comes out.


Hawaii Kona -Kowali Farm Typica

http://www.coffeeshrub.com/shrub/coffee ... arm-typica

In terms of cup character, the coffee reflects the Kona heritage (this is 100% Kona Typica, which was brought from Guatemala in the '20s) and the altitude. This cup is a classic Kona in all respects, with a big, sweet flavor that somehow matches the immense blue-green appearance of the coffee seeds. The dry fragrance has maple syrup, mild chocolates, and a floral nectar sweetness at lighter roast levels. I get floral qualities from the wet aromatics too, while a darker FC roast has milk chocolate. The body is light but has a nice silky quality. And it has the brightness that is lacking in so many low-grown Hawaiian coffees, and a floral accent to the cup.


Ecuador Quilanga Microlot Especial

http://www.coffeeshrub.com/shrub/coffee ... t-especial

The cup is marked by the same caramelized sugar sweetness evident in the aromatics, accented with vanilla. The lighter roast has mild stone fruits. Full City roast has an interesting savory quality, a touch of cedar, with a good sweet/bittersweet balance. It's not a super complex coffee, more straight-forward and with a "classic" restraint. The mouthfeel is syrupy but not overly sweet, and there is a bit of root beer spice accent in the finish as it cools.

so, like I said, piles and piles of new styles!