Just moved to EU. Please recommend Ethiopia/Nicaragua coffees

Discuss flavors, brew temperatures, blending, and cupping notes.
maxmaut
Posts: 41
Joined: 3 years ago

#1: Post by maxmaut »

I have just recently moved to EU (Czech Republic). I am completely new to the scene.

My previous two favorite coffees were Nicaragua Los Pinos and Ethiopia Worka Wuri, both by Ukrainian boutique roaster Mad Heads.
The roasts were both quite light, 'scandinavian style' light. Worka Wuri is naturally processed, so was Los Pinos, so I guess I'm into that.

My favorite flavors are fruit compote, grape juice, plums. Los Pinos was super heavy on grape juice and I just loved it.

I heavily dislike 'burnt wood/charr' taste and I feel it really stands out to my taste buds.

I brew Hario Switch in combo mode (first half immersion, second half percolation), but occasionally do pure V60 and French Press. Grinder is 807 lab sweet. Papers are hario tabless japanese 02 bleached, from carton boxes.

I lived in Austria for the past few months and got recommended a lot of local roasters, and their 'light filter roast' is what I would call medium/dark. I found out they typically do omni roasts and they were too dark for me. Same thing happens here in Czech Republic - most of the local stuff roasted in Prague is too dark for me, and quality so far is not great - roast variance in the bag is huge, flavors are really muted.

I would appreciate any suggestions (I guess excluding UK due to VAT for all imported goods).

Thank you!

coffeeOnTheBrain
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#2: Post by coffeeOnTheBrain »

Since you are in Czech Republic check out kofio.cz
They have a lot of roasters and have nice option to filter the results to your preference.
I ordered from them a couple of times.
They sure have a lot of roasters that are super light, however I am not sure if you will find something you fancy.

coffeeOnTheBrain
Posts: 626
Joined: 4 years ago

#3: Post by coffeeOnTheBrain »

PS: I personally like all the washed filter roasts from https://www.jbkaffee.de/ in Germany.

Could not be light enough for you as I would recomm 94-96C but I like them very much.

ojt
Posts: 837
Joined: 6 years ago

#4: Post by ojt »

So many options if you are willing to buy online. Some of the ones I've liked are as follows (not from CZ though).

My recent usuals:
- La Cabra (https://www.lacabra.dk), DK. I have had their subscription going on-and-off. Good stuff, light enough a roast for me, in one occasion too light (clearly under developed) so they seem to be edging on the extremes of light roast.
- Nero Scuro (https://en.neroscurocoffee.com), IT. I like their coffees usually and in my opinion the quality / price ratio is good. The beans tend to be denser than elsewhere, perhaps due to the roaster the use?
- Gardelli (https://shop.gardellicoffee.com), IT. Pretty famous roaster, good overall but lately I feel hey are roasting a tad bit darker.

Other options I have liked but haven't ordered from lately, just to mention a few:
- The Barn (DE)
- Bugan Coffee Lab (IT)
- 19 Grams (DE)
- Morgon Coffee Roasters (SE)

Unfortunately I do not know of any Czech roasters. All the ones I listed aim for a light roast, which is my preference also.
Osku

coffeeOnTheBrain
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Joined: 4 years ago

#5: Post by coffeeOnTheBrain replying to ojt »

Not that I should be the judge of these recommendations, but please allow me to comment.
The Barn is as light as it gets in Berlin if I haven't overlooked anyone in my home town, dare I say underdeveloped, but I would not consider 19grams nordic light. I like 19grams espresso though :)

ojt
Posts: 837
Joined: 6 years ago

#6: Post by ojt »

coffeeOnTheBrain wrote:The Barn is as light as it gets in Berlin if I haven't overlooked anyone in my home town, dare I say underdeveloped, but I would not consider 19grams nordic light. I like 19grams espresso though
I never said 19 Grams was a "nordic light" :) I liked some of their roasts, filter roasts. It was more in the "omni roast" regime maybe but still very nice. Did not have the same experience with the Barn as you, at least what came through the subscription. It was light but not verging on under developed, and mostly very very easy to extract. Some of their coffees I liked, some not. To be expected of course. Have liked the La Cabra subscription more for example.

I'm probably not a good judge on the subject of how light or medium light, or "nordic", a roast is. I can spot a clear dark roast and a medium. Personally for me as long as there are no roasty taste notes and smell, it's light enough :) After that it is up to the roaster to find the best roast profile for each bean.

Anyway, just wanted to give some options to try.
Osku

coffeeOnTheBrain
Posts: 626
Joined: 4 years ago

#7: Post by coffeeOnTheBrain replying to ojt »

Seems like we have the same taste :)
Maybe I was just unlucky with my choices at the Barn.
I just mentioned the 19grams roast level as that was the profile that was asked for and I agree with all others roasters you mentioned (that I know) to be called nordic light: La Cabra, Morgon, Gardelli, Barn

maxmaut (original poster)
Posts: 41
Joined: 3 years ago

#8: Post by maxmaut (original poster) »

Thanks for the recommendations. Omni roasts did not work well for me at all. I am not opposed to order online of course, and would give a shot to few of the suggestions straight away.

Thank you!

isido993
Posts: 24
Joined: 3 years ago

#9: Post by isido993 »

Some roasters I can recommend based on my experience (only light roasts, all have coffees that match you criteria for being fruity):
- Tim Wendelboe (https://timwendelboe.no/) - incredibly consistent, never had a coffee that I didn't enjoy from them. Tim is ofter referred to as the best nordic style roaster in the world which I can't be more agreed with. But since Norway is not in the EU you have to pay import taxes and deal with customs every time you order, which is a PITA. Another thing to consider - they almost never have natural processed coffees (though it makes sense given that it's super hard to find a natural with clean flavours)
- Substance (https://www.substancecafe.com/index.php/boutique/) - I can definitely recommend it if you're looking for 90+ coffees, Joachim is an incredibly talented barista and roaster, the best coffees I had were roasted and brewed by him
- Koppi (https://www.koppi.se/shop) - also never had any consistency issues and always enjoyed their coffees. But they recently switched over to a new Diedrich and I've not ordered from them since then, though I'm pretty sure they handled the transition very well
- April (https://www.aprilcoffeeroasters.com/) - they always have a great selection of coffees, but I have to mention I once had coffees with roasting defects (not significant though) from them

Other roasters to look at: Drop (https://www.dropcoffee.com/), Coffee Collective (https://coffeecollective.dk/

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bringyoutomyhell
Posts: 179
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#10: Post by bringyoutomyhell »

Hello fellow proper light filter roast lover

You will not be disappointed by
https://friedhats.com
https://manhattancoffeeroasters.com

Also good
https://rumbaba.nl
https://nomadcoffee.es
https://keencoffee.com

Neroscuro as already stated is very good (I'm italian and I know them well). Morgon good too, and Tim Wendelboe, but as many Scandinavian roasters, there's a lack of natural/anaerobics offerings

https://www.threemarkscoffee.com from Spain are also very good but the shipping is quite costly outside of Spain

Instead I find Coffee Collective, La Cabra, April, Koppi, Drop, Slurp, Prolog, Meron, CoffeeLab, HAYB, Bugan, Gardelli, Gearbox definitely too dark. All Germans (Barn, Fjord etc.), French and English, and most polish probably and many Eastern Europeans are also too dark. Casino Mocca on the verge. Netherland is a very good country for light roast coffee. Yeah you must avoid UK, with VAT and customs you easily end up paying double.

Clever Coffee I heard it's light, but never tried it. I tried Talor Made but were definitely too light for me (dare to say underdeveloped? Maybe, or maybe it was just a bad batch).

Honestly, it's hard to find other ones... and I've been trying for years..

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