When you think of speciality coffee made with an infusion of flavours like milk chocolate, grapefruit, orange, and other unique pairings, there is only one roaster who comes to mind -- North Star Coffee Roasters. This one of a kind micro-roaster is located in Leeds -- and now offers a cafe, general store, coffee academy, wholesale services and more! Both Holly and Alex (aka Krag), co-owners of North Star Coffee Roasters, have a heart for roasting speciality coffee that not only offers flavours full of complex pairings to make that perfect cup of coffee, but they also work tirelessly to …
Fazenda Conquista – Brazilian Coffee with Notes of Strawberry and Peanut Butter
When you think of coffee flavours, strawberry and peanut butter are not the first things that come to mind. But if you are drinking a cup of Fazenda Conquista -- that is what you will get, and friends, let me tell you -- this coffee profile is one you will not want to miss this month in your Blue Coffee Box subscription. The Fazenda Conquista coffee blend is grown and harvested on a farm in Brazil. Fazenda Conquista was established in 1910 and has always been one of the main producers in the Illicinea region. Initially founded by Mr. Juca de Oliveira it is who was always challenging the …
What is First Crack in the Coffee Roasting Process?
First crack -- what does that mean when we talk about coffee roasting? It is an audible cue of the moment your coffee beans are ready for that next step in the roasting process. While the first crack is what most roasters listen for in their day to day of coffee roasting, I am listening for the sound of that first cup of the day brewing in the kitchen and is always my preferred alarm clock. While I sip on my morning cup of coffee, let's dive in together and find out what all this first crack business is about, shall we? What is the First Crack? First crack, which often sounds like …
El Neto #2 – a Nicaraguan Coffee Touting Flavours of Orange Strawberry and Apricot
The El Neto coffee, which is grown in the beautiful mountains of Nicaragua touts flavours of orange, strawberry and apricot. The aromas that come from each fully roasted bag provides a lively, bright and complex flavour in each cup. How the Complex Flavours of the El Neto #2 Coffee Are Produced Ripe caturra cherries are handpicked and sorted between December and March. There is a wet mill on the farm where the ripe red cherry is deposited and weighed from each picker. The cherries then enter floatation tanks where ripes and unripes are separated by density. The selected cherries are …
How To Choose Your Perfect Speciality Coffees Part 2
In How To Choose Your Perfect Coffee Part 1, we were talking about how our speciality coffees are changing for the better and how sophisticated we have become. Speciality coffees are where the big changes are happening right now. Like with our wine, we all want to know how our coffee tastes as we know what we prefer. You can consider dark or light roast coffee in the same way you look at red or white wine. There are more levels and variations than a simple red or white. And it's the same with coffee. Let's Look at How We Have Been Conditioned to Choose Our Coffee in the …
How To Choose Your Perfect Speciality Coffee Part 1
I don't know if you noticed, but our coffee drinking habits are changing with the growth of speciality coffee. We are lucky to be in a special period known as the Third Wave of coffee. The First Wave was when coffee became available for the masses in the 60s and more of us took to drinking it. The Second Wave was when big companies and the likes of Starbucks dramatically improved the quality and started making it more of a pleasure to drink coffee. The Third Wave is where we've moved on to appreciate the quality, tastes and the production of a great cup of coffee. We can now choose …
