Finding and tasting different new coffees from around the world has been the best part of my coffee lover life for the last few years and I always feel happy when I find interesting tastes. And while I and my wife have some favorite coffees that we buy every month we like to explore new lands.
It’s been a while since we last bought a coffee from Brazil - one of the biggest coffee producers in the world, but I guess this is because it wasn’t the coffee export season. Now there are a lot of fresh additives in our favorite Specialty coffee shop and there is even a set box consisting of four new tastes from Brazil. Well, I decided to pick it and try some new and fresh coffee flavors.
The question was… how to start the tasting. Which coffee to choose first… I decided that I have to follow the list number from the additional letter that was in the box.
- Brazil by DABOV
Start your birding journey with Brazil by DABOV coffee.
A flavor profile that our coffee taster Yordan Dabov defined as a perfect balance of chocolate and nutty flavors. You will feel delicate notes of cocoa liqueur, hazelnut and the pleasant sweetness of cane sugar.
The dense body, soft and harmonious taste of this coffee will prepare you for the next stages of your coffee adventure, where you will discover more and more exotic and complex aromas.
The first coffee promises a more typical flavor profile. It doesn’t have the fruitful boquet that I usually like in my cup of coffee, but the cocoa liqueur sounds interesting. This will definitely be an espresso coffee, because thats the only way I can enjoy these chocolate and brown sugar coffees. Moreover… it is a medium roast level, which is also not that enjoyed by myself.
To be hinest… the first shot that I brewed was not that successful. Darker roasts can be a bit tricky to extract because you can easily add unpleasant bitter flavors into the cup. And the other thing that matters a lot is choosing the right grinding size setting. When you pick a new coffee variety you will start from zero.
I usually pick some average grinding serting and then I tune it to fit perfectly the espresso machine.
And well… I was forced to set the brewinng water temperature to low. My second shot was a lot better and I will definitely be happy if I receive this coffee at a restaurant or a hotel. This liqueur aftertaste is definitely in the coffee and gegerally, this is quite a good coffee, although not a favorite of mine.
Now… let’s proceed to coffee #2
Brazil PLANALTO.
The next stop in our journey is coffee from the Planalto farm, in the region
Sul de Minas. With the first sip, you will feel the expressive taste of juicy
tangerines, which give the coffee a refreshing citrus note. Then, the taste gradually unfolds with nuances of sweet, ripe apricot. The finish is soft and smooth, with a lingering vanilla aftertaste that gives the coffee a pleasant sweetness and balances the entire flavor profile. Coffee with a pleasant acidity that will refresh your day.
And that is where I start to be a little more excited. Def label coffee means that it bears a fruitful notes and fresh finish. I have to say thet these are my all time favorite coffees by Dabov, because they are tasty and still at a very reasonable price.
Although the roasting level is again Medium, I know that it will be still a lot better than the brown label, at least according to my own preferences. This coffee definitely needs some other brewinng method in order to show its full potential. Can you guess where it goes?
Of course, in the AeroPress! Fast and tasty!
The temperature is gonna be decreased again, a little bit, because of the roasting. I will brew it withwater at about 88-89 degrees centigrade. The grind size for this brewing method is not that crucial, so I have no worries now. The hand grinder comes to use. These types of grinders are perfect for drip coffee, because the coarser setting deals with the coffee beans in about 20-30 seconds. As a comparison, the electric grinder will need about 15 seconds. Not a huge difference!
Brewing takes two minutes and I am ready to push out the liquid.
The kitchen jars come to use as usual. The AeroPress has a plastic container where you can extract your coffee, but I usually prefer the glass at home. Easy to clean and transparent. I can easily enjoy the looks of my coffee!
I like yhencomplexity of this coffee a lot more! It has this citrus freshness and the sweetness of apricots. Now that the temperatures are quite high already, definitely the better pick out of the two. I will of course enjoy the brown label coffee too, but this will be a lot more appreciated.
And what about you? Which one would you prefer? We will meet again next week to see the other two coffees from the Brazilian box.
Bye and have a nice week!
See you soon!
Finding and tasting the new variant coffee from a coffee shop to others coffee shop is the best part that we could get.
Nice to read your blog...
Thanks for stopping by! I always try to find new coffees and tastes. I almost never get bored from the coffee at home. 😁
I've always loved Brazilian coffee, and it's only once that we bought a batch from a coffee roastery that was disappointing. We think it was probably stale.
I know that you love coffees that have a citrus taste, so I'm not surprised by your choice. I guess it's the freshness of it that you like?
The fruitful taste coffees always have some layer of complexity… some people may search for the traditional taste, but I have always been a taste explorer. I like to find in my coffee something more than chocolate and brown sugar… so that’s why I prefer these beans.
In beers and whiskey I also seek for some not-so-typical flavors. For instance, my wife likes more traditional whiskeys, maybe some bourbon and traditional oak nuances while I love to find fruits in my glass. Arran brewery has one of the finest most fruitful cheap whiskeys on the market, in my opinion, but my wife doesn’t like it. 🤷🏻
If I pay premium for some good, I expect it to be not just perfect, but to add layers of additional tastes and flavors.
I would choose the first one. I am struck by that touch of liqueur which is nice. The presentation of the brand is very good. You can see that it is a good product, that they took great care in preparing it, and with export quality. Your photos are superb. Regards @mdosev
Thanks for the great comment! All the photos I take with my iPhone 15!
The liqueur taste was a good addition, but not enough to win the fave to face battle between the two coffees. Furthermore, I generally like more fruitful coffees. Both are really good and deserve a special attitude!