- Beans: Uganda (single origin; Arabica; 12oz)
- Roaster: Tehila Coffee (Baltimore, MD)
- Origin: Uganda
- Roast level: Medium
- Roast date: Unknown
- Process: Washed
- Purchase date: 11/29/2025 at 12th Annual Sykesville Holiday Market in Westminster, MD
Freeze date: week of 12/1/2025
Thaw date: 2/2/2026 - First cup: 2/3/2026; last cup: 2/13/2026
- Tasting notes: Earthy (aroma)/Fruity/Chocolate
- Pour-over with Ode grinder:
- 20g coffee / 300g water (1:15)
- Ode: 2
- Water at 99°C
- Size 2 V60 or Size 3 Switch
- Recipe: Single Cup V60 Pourover, 60g bloom water and 60g pulses. Switch: bloom with drain closed, open drain at end of bloom – finishes around 03:15
My wife picked a bag of this up at the Sykesville Holiday Market back in late November. From the roaster’s Facebook page: “I’m a specialty coffee artisan devoted to crafting coffee with purpose and passion. Every bean we source is hand-selected for its flavor, quality, and story — because great coffee starts at the origin and deserves to be honored all the way to the cup.” I brewed one or two cups around the end of November, but didn’t take any notes. I then froze the rest, as I was about to go out of town, and had a surplus of beans at the time. To make a long story short, I finally took them out of the freezer yesterday. I brewed them with the same settings I used for a recent bag of Tanzania Peaberry beans, and it was a good cup. It had a smooth, round mouthfeel and good body. As with a couple of other African coffees I’ve brewed, I didn’t detect much fruitiness, in spite of the stated tasting notes. I’m wondering if a different brew method would bring more of those out. I might try a cup or two in the Switch, but probably won’t experiment much more beyond that.
2/5: Tried the Switch this morning, with drain closed for bloom phase (3x coffee weight for 45 seconds) and then pour-over with drain open. I think I liked it a little better than straight V60. Hard to put a finger on it, but with some African coffees, the full-immersion bloom step seems to do something to bring out a slight amount of acidity/complexity. Of course, it’s also possible that I’m imagining things.
2/13: I ended up brewing all of my subsequent cups with the Switch, and all of them were smooth with just a tiny hint of acidity. My final cup was a little bit stronger, as I had 21g beans left, and forgot to add extra water to keep it at 1:15. I liked this a lot, and I wonder if I’ll have an opportunity to buy the beans again at some point. I get the sense that it’s a one-person roasting operation.
