Coffee of the Week: Shadow Play

Happy Labor Day Weekend all,

Starting Monday, we will be featuring the newest member of our year-round lineup as our coffee of the week in all of our retail location.  Shadow Play made its debut earlier this year and the response was immediate.

We refer to Shadow Play as one of our two house coffees, in other words, a steady-as-she-goes daily drinker that will always walk that line where origin character begins to give over to roast flavor.  We specifically search out coffees for Shadow Play that work well at this roast level.

The base of what we're serving next week comes from farms near the municipality of Cosautlan in the Mexican state of Veracruz.  This coffee comes from a region that only recently has been recognized for producing quality.  Though the elevations aren't especially high, the remoteness of the region and difficulty of the terrain has forced many producers of this region to bulk their harvest into larger, anonymous regional lots.

We were able to find this coffee through our neighbors at Red Fox Coffee Merchants who have built out a strong sourcing network in Mexico, building relationships that are able to find quality producers in even remote communities.

This coffee brings a lot of body to the Shadow Play with flavors leaning toward dark chocolate and nuts.  The Cosuatlan presents a classic mild acidity profile that works wonders at this roast degree. 

To the Cosautlan, we added a heathy portion of coffee from the Costa Rican community around Santa Maria de Dota.  Hundreds of producers from the area belong to the Cooperativa de Caficultores de Dota, or CoopeDota which is responsible for processing their coffees.  Since the 60s, CoopeDota has been leading in ecologically minded coffee processing, having transitioned to a carbon-neutral model and using water-efficient eco-pulpers to remove coffee mucilage from the seeds.  

The Santa Maria de Dota in Shadow Play is the same that we're serving as a single origin in out cafes. In the blend, this coffee brings a big chocolate sweetness, especially at this roast level, with hint of fruited acidity.  

Together, these coffee from Mexico and Costa Rica create a pleasantly sweet and bodied cup.  The roastiness will be there, but you should still be able to taste the nuttiness from the Cosautlan and the mild fruit character from the Santa Maria de Dota.

Enjoy!