Yet another fermented coffee came home. Don Alexis Thermic Costa Rica is here and I am really excited.

Hey, hey… how are you today? It is a lovely weekend for me by far and I am continuing my beautiful walk in the world of fermented coffees.

This week the coffee comes from Costa Rica and it was thermally and aerobically fermented when processing the raw cherries. Most of the fermented coffees nowadays are anaerobic, which means that they have been put into containers in a CO2 environment. Don Alexis coffee was fermented in an oxygen and adding some temperature for even wilder aromas and taste.

Ripe cherries are picked then they are rolled inside black plastic bag and layed over raised beds inside a greenhouse to ferment for 72h.
Particular microbes resist to a temperature of 40°C to 45°C allowing each batch to ferment at a constant rate. The fermentation breaks down the sugars developing amazing fruit character and enhancing the Red Catuai natural sweetness.

The onwer of the coffee shop, who sold this coffee to me, said that this exact coffee took second place in a competition, but I didn’t ask for more details. It was quite busy at the cafe, so I decided not to bother him. Price wise… the bag cost me about $17 which is quite impressive for a 200 grams of extraordinary coffee. Usually the best examples of fermented coffee will start at about $20 here in Bulgaria. And because my wife took my AeroPress on a business trip, the fact this is an espresso roast is excellent. I usually brew single doses in the AeroPress and double doses on my filter brewer. So these days it is mainly Espresso for me.

The coffee is pretty light roasted which is a bit strange for an Espresso roast, but I am happy to see this. I wonder if I would be able to brew a good filter out of this… why not? But today it is a ristretto shot.

It is interesting how the Peacocks roastery deals with bag resealing… these wooden clips have a great appearance!

Grinding fermented coffees is always a challenge. They requre a lot finer levels compared to normally processed coffees and I don’t really know why… Maybe the fermentation process breaks some bonds inside the bean and the coffee extracts easier… Maybe I sould read somewhere more about this.

One thing us sure… this coffee possesses an excellent aroma! I understood that right after I opened the bag and it was even more intenssive after I ground the beans.

Time to distribute the coffee and break the clumps… This step is always so satisfying. I can easily spend couple of minutes just stirring the coffee.

Now it looks perfect and ready for tamping!

As usual, the Normcore tamper does the job excellently.
I am still excited… it was like yesterday when I received the Normcore delivery.

And we are ready to brew! The way coffee starts flowing out of the portafilter is beautiful. This fact combines with the perfect extraction and a great cup of coffee is delivered to me. When there is a visual pleasure, the taste becomes even better! Dont yoi think so?

Now… really… Don Alexis has grow a perfect coffee. To be honest that was the most sour coffee that I have tasted recently and I love that. Of course, there is some good sweetness in the company, but the sourness is overpowering. The fruitful flavor is also on spot and has a good fermented, liqueur, note as well. Definitely a coffee up to my taste. I cannot find a weak side!

Finally… This was one of the best made coffee purchases recently. I am glad that I decided to pick this exact coffee and will buy it again if I have the option.