Earlier this year, I had a chance to visit my first ever coffee expo! Having moved to Melbourne nearly two years ago, it was an exciting opportunity to get a chance to attend MICE, one of Australias biggest coffee shows.
The same week we were purchasing tickets for the event, we got an email from Cafe Imports Australia about an exclusive cupping they were holding for the Best of Picorana lots. I hadn’t ever heard of this auction, but knowing I would be in town, and LOVING Peru coffees this year, I decided to attend the cupping.
Best of Picorana is an annual auction/competition held by Picorana Coffee Roasters in Jaén Peru, at the end of the harvest season. Local farmers are able to bring their microlots to be assessed and put up for bidding to exporters and coffee roasters. Cafe Imports was involved in the auction this year, which allowed them to buy nearly a dozen lots. I asked if any of these Best of Picorana coffees made it to Europe or North America, but Joe from Cafe Imports Australia has led me to believe that Australia got the full availability of these particular coffees.
There were plenty of geshas and bourbons on the table, mostly washed. I was immediately floored by the tropical aromatics on Finca El Platanos coffee, and took some photos of the lot number. As the coffees cooled, Finca El Barejon opened up to a tremendous sweetness, as well as having a similar tropical character.
These were two very small lots, 2 bags from each harvest. We were able to secure ‘slack bags’ of them both, making it a no brainer for us to add to the line up this season.
Having received these the same week as Danche, I was interested to apply a volume based charge protocol to them. They actually measured quite high density, but the bean size is what drove me to reduce batch size to slightly lower than Danche.
Being that they’re the same cultivar, from basically the same place, I chose to profile these coffees nearly identically. With a 1.3kg charge weight, we chose a 209c charge temp, decline quickly through the middle of the roast, and dropping at a 30 second development time. With Barejons roast profile dropping just a touch more heat before FC.
After spending several weeks with the coffees, checking the cups as they rested. We decided to iterate a slightly lighter roast on the production batches. Just shaving off 10 seconds of development time, to highlight the tropical and vibrancy of the aromatics. While we also reduced batch size, we also reduced the airflow settings throughout the roast, which slightly extended the dry time, but has had positive impacts on the flavor.
Finca El Platano Roast
This coffee ended up being my favorite of the two, just slightly edging out Barejon in terms of aroma. This one definitely has some "Inca Gesha" SL-9 vibes, with a big tropical fruit notes, but in a clean way. Quite floral as well, with orange blossom and white flowers in the cup when hot. We have been lowering airflow through the roaster, as I think that was possibly influencing more "brown" and Maillard flavors through having more flame. Cutting heat in the middle of the roast, going for speed to emphasise the florals and aromatics. This roast above had a 9.32% reduction in weight after roasting.
Platanos Gesha seems to show a bit more density, taking on heat easier. Requiring less input adjustments to the heat towards the end of the roast.
Finca El Barejon Roast
Finca El Barejons Gesha shows a lot of balance. Structured acidity, vanilla and pastry like sweetness. It’s got a delicate flavor like Kiwi and Starfruit, very yellow. This one was a little less loud, and harder to put our finger one with the tasting notes. Certainly a beautiful coffee, I think it will benefit with some extra rest after roasting. This roast above had a weight loss of 9.29%.
With these two wrapping up our season of Peru coffees this year, I am loving the profiles we achieved. Next year I’m hopefully we will see more southern Peru in Australia, and I'm working on trying to be able to offer some SL-9 on the menu.
I reached out to Cafe Imports buying team, as well as Picorana themselves, to ask about processing methods for these lots. No one had any specific information, but I will update this blog if there's any further information provided.
Overall, we are very happy with these coffees and we're very thankful for Cafe Imports and Picorana for providing for us!