Smashing Filter Coffees in 2010

Not a Top 10 for filter coffee's, but a general overview.

It was a break through of the slow movement. Abid Clever Dripper, Aeropress, Chemex, Hario V60 and other manual coffee brewing systems were the biggest change at our bar this year.
It even became an addiction for me and it was very often unbelievable to taste how a certain bean behaves totally different on filter, compared to espresso.

Generally spoken we used lighter roasts for these brewing devices, although it wasn't always easy to find the right profiles.

For the first 7 months we bought a lot of beauties from Knopes Coffee Roasters Luxemburg. Thinking of the Guateamala El Bosque, Bolivia Colonia, their Cup Of Excellence and Guatemala Tecuamburro.
I didn't like their Maragogype coffee and I didn't really ours either. This is a very expensive bean, but is lacking character. Very mild and silky yes, but nothing more to please me.

It was a year with some very prominent Kenya's. Knopes deliver 3 beautiful ones the first months, all sources by Mercanta. Tonloads of sweet fruit and creamier then ever, with the Kenya Tinganga as our favourite bean.

We had a lot of filters of the week from all over the world, but Ethiopia still gives the best value for me. Almost every Sidamo and Yirgacheffe filter of the week were very very good. Nice tea accents, sweet, mostly complex, easy going and very remarkable on the lower temps.

My 2 most loved filters of the year were :
Tim Wendelboe's Cielito Lindo from Honduras. Peach, berry's, nice mouthfeel and the cleanest cup of the year.

And a Kenya Kangocho AA. Tonloads of Blackcurrent, sweet and more complex then most Kenyans.

Next post : Top 10 espressos of 2010.