Pu’er Coffee

 “Coffee Tasting Banquet” is a kind of tasting experience created for coffee enthusiasts. For coffee shops, this format allows them to test market reactions and collect customer feedback through a sharing-based event. The concept itself provides an excellent setting for both tasting and discussion. At this particular event, they brought six outstanding beans from different origins. Taking advantage of this tasting session, I’d like to share some thoughts about these six coffee regions and the flavor characteristics of their beans. The first bean comes from Roble Estate in Colombia . The farm reaches elevations of up to 1,800 meters and is located in the town of Pitalito in Huila. The owner, Dionel, named this coffee sanctuary after a century-old oak tree that inspired him. The estate places great emphasis on precision throughout the processing stage. After handpicking, the cherries undergo flotation to remove defects, followed by a second manual sorting to eliminate unripe fruit. ...

 It’s been a long time since I last had a peaberry. So today, let’s brew a washed Kenya from Kindred Coffee in Australia. As many of you know, I spent a month in Australia not long ago. During that time, my café visits led me to discover more outstanding local roasters. That “shop-within-a-shop” experience—where one café introduces you to another roaster, which leads you to yet another—felt like a chain of delightful discoveries. This particular bag was an unexpected find during my visit to Exchange in Adelaide. Later, I realized that Kindred collaborates with quite a few local cafés; you’ll often spot their beans neatly lined up on retail shelves. So today, through this tasting review, I’d also like to share a bit about the roaster behind it. Australia is home to countless small-but-exceptional roasters. Regardless of their production scale, many of them rank among the world’s best in terms of green sourcing and roasting quality. Roasting, after all, is a process of revealing f...

 When you think of El Salvador coffee, what flavor notes come to mind first? Honey, caramel, brown sugar? Chocolate—especially milk chocolate—toffee, nuts? Many people are drawn to El Salvador coffees for their balance, softness, and layered complexity, which is why they’re often described as a benchmark for Central American coffee. If I had to summarize the core flavor profile of El Salvador coffee, I’d say it’s defined by a pronounced sweetness, gentle yet bright acidity, a rich and silky mouthfeel, and a satisfying sense of structure and depth. Today’s coffee, however, adds another dimension to that familiar picture. It sharpens your perception of El Salvador’s terroir at a more granular, regional level—almost filling in details you didn’t realize were missing. This is a bean with a strong flavor memory, and it’s absolutely worth a stop on your “origin-exploration journey” through El Salvador’s micro-regions. A great cup of El Salvador coffee rarely leans toward anything aggre...

 In a gold washed coffee, I tasted unmistakable notes of lemongrass and ginger. A few days ago, I shared a dedicated introduction to what gold washed processing is—a relatively new method that combines the strengths of both washed and natural processing. The first time I encountered a gold washed coffee was last November at the Shanghai Coffee Expo. At the booth of Direct Coffee from Kyoto, this particular coffee immediately caught my eye. That moment marked the beginning of a flavor experience that completely amazed me—one that has stayed with me ever since. I placed an order for the beans on the spot. This coffee is a Gold Washed Red Bourbon from Popayán, Cauca, Colombia. The barista at the booth was also the roaster of this very coffee, and the way he presented its flavors was incredibly impressive. It was the first time I had ever tasted such distinctly clean and vivid lemongrass and ginger notes in a Colombian coffee built on an innovative twist of traditional processing met...

 If you enjoy café hopping, you’ve probably noticed this: when you order a coffee—whether it’s espresso-based or pour-over—the barista often serves it with a small card. This card usually lists details such as the coffee’s origin, processing method, varietal, roast level, and even the story behind the region. It’s almost like an “ID card” for the coffee bean, giving you a clearer picture of what you’re actually drinking. Sometimes, when I’m sitting in a café, I pay attention to whether other guests read these cards—or whether they take them with them when they leave. Unfortunately, most of the time, people barely notice them. Some glance at them briefly and then set them aside; almost no one takes them home. Maybe it’s because I’m a bit of an “origin nerd,” but I always want to learn as much as possible about the coffee in my cup. Occasionally, some cafés—especially when it comes to espresso—don’t disclose much information. In those cases, I’ll taste the coffee first, form my own ...

 This was my first encounter with Father’s Coffee . Their full name is Father’s Coffee Roastery , a roasting brand founded in 2018 in Ostrava, the third-largest city in the Czech Republic. They are a family-run business—but not in the traditional sense of just parents and children. Instead, they see “family” as a group of coffee lovers brought together by shared values. They place a strong emphasis on coffee quality and freshness, while also deeply caring about transparency in sourcing. Father’s Coffee actively shares the stories behind each coffee, striving to build long-term relationships with producers. This mutual trust allows them to better oversee the entire process—from harvest and processing to export. Since 2023, they’ve also been involved in several projects that directly support coffee-growing regions. One such project funds a professionally equipped quality control lab in the beautiful Mount Elgon area of eastern Uganda. This initiative benefits not only the coffee pr...