Monthly Subscription Letter - January

Hello Subscribers,

I hope your 2021 is off to a good start so far. Still lots of work to be done to get back to life as we knew it, but I hope this subscription is still a small bright spot for you each month. For January we brought back a favorite and introduced a newcomer to the subscription family. Let's get to it...

Morgon Coffee Roasters [Göteberg, Sweden]

Morgon, the Swedish word for “morning,” was started in 2017 by three veteran leaders of da Matteo. We were honored to be the first shop in the US to import and serve their coffees. They’ve come a long way in those three plus years. These are the best executed roasts I’ve tried from the trio of Christian Gulbersson, Gabriella Runesson and Markus Vestergaard. One thing I appreciate about their approach is a commitment to their producer partners. The menu Morgon works with is tight and focused on a handful of producers they continue working with year after year. They source many of their coffees with our longtime roast partners at Koppi. The benefit of this is becoming deeply familiar with the crop, the terroir, the beans, the cultivars and how that effects the roast. The first coffee we sourced from Morgan is from Ferney Cruz [Tarqui, Colombia]. Again, I think this is the best executed roast I’ve had of this coffee from Morgon. The development is to a better degree where the body and sweetness no longer have any hollowness to them. The coffee carries a rich but not overpowering caramel sweetness with hints of orange blossom and raspberry. This coffee is not too acidic and is very approachable. When I asked Christian about this coffee he shared,

“I meet Ferney Cruz for the first time when I judged the Best of Tarqui competition and his coffee was my absolutely favorite. His farm is located above the clouds at 1900 meter in the beautiful Tarqui area. His closest neighbor is Yobani Ramos which also is a producer that I have worked with for many years. Tarqui is an absolutely stunning area with fantastic potential to grow exceptional coffees. Ferneys coffee is a great example of that.”

FOUR COFFEE SUBSCRIBERS: The other coffee Christian recommended was from his friend, producer Jacob Montero [Tarrazu, Costa Rica]. This coffee is a great example of a honey process from Costa Rica. What I like best about the Morgon coffees is their extreme balance of flavor. This coffee tastes like mild cocoa and stone fruits but is neither overly acidic or sweet. For me, these are perfect morning coffees, what your average “breakfast blend” tries to achieve. I could drink either of these coffees all day.  Christian had this to say:

“The Montero family has their farm in Tarrazzu, Costa Rica. Carlos is one of the pioneers to start producing specialty coffee in Costa Rica. He is a big inspiration for many producers in the Tarazzu area and he really wants to share his knowledge about how you can produce better coffee. The family has become close friends to me and I had the honor to have them over to Sweden to celebrate my 40th birthday four years ago. This coffee is always very good and the quality is very even from year to year. Carlos always what’s to improve and that is something that you really can tell since we started working together.”

The Montero’s dedication to quality really shows.

Manhattan Coffee Roasters [Rotterdam, Netherlands]

Fans of the Wire (or international freight) will recall that Rotterdam was the busiest port in the world (now it is only the busiest shipping port in Europe, behind Shanghai and Singapore worldwide). Who knew one of the best products Rotterdam exports is its coffee? Dan from Manhattan reached out about their roastery at the end of 2020. The name Manhattan pays homage to Rotterdam’s modern skyline (the only in the Netherlands) and the Holland America line that sailed from the port at Rotterdam to New York. Manhattan was started by champion barista, Ben Morrow [London Coffee Masters 2016) formerly of St. Ali (Melbourne, Australia), and Esther Maasdam. Dan explained that their objective is to source and roast interesting, high quality coffees. After tasting these, they certainly achieved that goal and more! The first coffee was a thermal shock anaerobic process from Cauca, Colombia and producer Diego Bermudez. The problem with many Colombians is that they can be drying in the finish. This coffee is one of the juiciest coffees I have ever tasted. Everything, from its aroma to its taste reminds me of fresh squeezed orange juice—its incredible! We’re starting to see a lot more producers use the anaerobic fermentation in processing their coffees as its a good insulator from green defect and amplifier of natural fruitiness and juiciness in the cup.

FOUR COFFEE SUBSCRIBERS: The final coffee of the month if you receive a four bag subscription is Ze Claudio [Mata de Minas, Brazil]. Manhattan was 2/2 in terms of blowing my mind. This is, by far the most complex and fruitiest Brazil I have ever tried. If I did not know this coffee was from Brazil, it might be one of the last origins I would have guessed. It is bright and fruity almost like an Ethiopia natural. There isn’t much chocolate or nuttiness going on with this coffee. This coffee reminds me of some Costa Rican naturals I’ve had in the past; lots of dark berries with a milky/creamy body. Once again we see another anaerobically processed coffee. Most Brazilian farmers use a pulped natural (Brazilian honey process) or full natural process to compensate for the lack of elevation in Brazil. This coffee takes it up a notch with the anaerobic processing, which for me, almost makes the coffee’s origin unrecognizable. I do really enjoy how unique and surprising this coffee was. 

 We hope you enjoy these coffees as much as we do. 

Cheers!
Charlie Eisenstat, Owner & Curator

If you're not currently a subscriber, check it out here. If you’re a current subscriber and want to take advantage of our Gift Subscription, you can pause your current subscription or if you sign up for a gift subscription we’ll upgrade your existing 2 bags subscription to 4 bags. If you’re a four bag subscriber and get the Gift Subscription we’ll send you six different coffees from the two roasters.