Finca Los Placeres Nicaragua Matagalpa

In the house : a mighty Maragogype from the Los Placeres Estate, San Ramon Matagalpa Nicaragua.

The maragogype bean is very popular in Belgium. It's the favourite bean of our grand mothers and still roasted in all 130 roastery's in Belgium.

We are not so found and rate most of the margagogypes as too expensive for it's quality, but this one is different.
Not the country ; Nicaragua is famous for their margagogype bean.

Special is the size :
It's a huge 19+ screened marago from the Mierish family, who also produced that great Nicaragua Limoncillo we had before (and still one green box waiting on the shelf!).

And the taste :
As velvet as it can be. Medium body. Sweet. Almost mild as a white tea. And super clean.

Soon we'll give it a go for espresso, but now only for filter. I think it's even too light for the Aeropress.
At the shop for €5,00 per 250 grams. A steal. :-)

Tamp Control

This item comes back once a year.

Last week I read a great article about it.
I don't think I have a better explanation so I'll just link it.

One more top tip to add : buy a naked portafilter to master your tamping technique. This is the easiest way to see where you're at.

Dorito

Dorito stands for DOuble RIstretTO.

These days in specialised bars in all English speaking country's they mostly serve you this kind of drink when you order an espresso.
It's a very concentrated double shot, barely larger then a one ounce 'classic' espresso.

We at Caffenation use a naked portafilter to pull these kind of shots. It enables you to master your dosing and tamping technique. And believe me ; here it is where you can seperate the boys from the men, if you know what I'm saying.

Of course you need the right coffee and a sturdy machine.
And a grinder well adjusted.
We mostly use our House Blend, an Anfim Barista grinder and La Marzocco Linea machine. The shot is undoubtedly very syrupy with lots of dark brown crema, so you have to stir it well before drinking.

The problem with most double ristretto's is that the coffee gets too bitter and harsh, so you're desperately looking for a glass of water to rinse your mouth. And here, I think, we're delivering a good job. I've tasted 2 Dorito's yesterday and twice it was very strong, but not harsh, but velvety and with a very smooth aftertaste.

So, a happy Antwerp Barista is greeting you.
(and by the way : this ristretto photo is not mine, but one from Gimme).

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Roastery Diary

Three weeks on the run with our own roasts and time for a first evaluation.

Reason for starting up our own roastery was triple.

First we wanted to upgrade our coffee's. We thought that a new Giesen roaster with computer on the side, better roasters tasting buds and new roasting techniques should do the trick. And yes, this is already going really well. Still things to improve of course, but a general good level.
Mostly we have been roasting our coffee's a tad lighter than before. More taste is our reward.

2, we wanted control over the greens. In the past we bought some bags and made recommandations to our roasters, but now we have full control over this part we notice considerable improvements. If you compare for example a low budget Brazil Santos Fancy 17/18 with a Brazil Daterra Montecristo Fairtrade...... So no more.

3, the fun. It's a whole lotta fun to do. And anti-stress compared to the hectic Barista life behind the Caffenation bar.

Most disapointing beans so far : Papua New Guinea. Sometimes you see a good bean go to the devil in no time. This Papua is one like that. At once it was all over. Plus it's PSC A/X grade and as a non-roaster - at the time of cupping/buying - I underestimated the importance of a stable screening.
Also the Harar Star performed not to our liking, although a different roasting profile can maybe help us here.

Most liked beans were the Daterra, Ethiopia Sidamo, Mexican Decaf, Kenya Gethumbwini on filter roast (hell of a F press this morning), Honduras San José and the new crop Peru Altomayo.

This week we hope to improve our air control and start roasting larges batches.

Soon we'll open doors for all people interested to have a peep at our pride. Let u know soon.