Experiment With Your Brew Temperatures & Extraction For Fuller Flavour With the Nicaragua Blueberry Candy

Getting the best result from your coffee can be a fun process of trial and error. The flavours of the coffee are dependent, not only on the regional and varietal flavour profiles or growing conditions, but the roast type and brewing method. For this reason, the process of finding the methods that produce the best coffee from your beans, as fun and tasty as it is, can be quite lengthy.

To help you brew better and faster, we have provided information about the roast type, flavour profile and made some brewing recommendations for you!

 

La Bastilla Coffee Estates – El Peñón Blueberry Candy, Natural Red Catuai Tasting Notes

 

The flavours we discovered in brewing with the Nicaraguan coffee was really interesting. Nicaraguan coffees are known for having more earthy tones than fruity, but there is a reason the El Peñón is called Blueberry Candy! It has a strong aroma of blueberries with an acidic candy sweetness in espresso, plus more subtle citric acidity and a really clean finish in other brew methods.

We found the best tones for this coffee were produced at lower temperatures and longer extractions, particularly for light brew methods such as the Chemex and Pour Over.

 

Brewing Recommendations for La Bastilla – El Peñón Blueberry Candy Natural Red Catuai

 

We recommend brewing this single origin as an espresso for maximum blueberry aroma and flavour, as well as an AeroPress, Chemex and French Press. This is a great coffee to experiment with your temperatures and extraction lengths, because the flavour is really stable.

 

Espresso Recipe

We highly recommend making the Nicaraguan single origin as an espresso – add milk to make a piccolo or macchiato, or water for a long black. The intensity of the blueberry flavour in the espresso is incredible and a must-try! Don’t stress if this shot runs a little longer than you’re used to (within reason), this makes the espresso quite syrupy.

 

Dose: 23-24g Time: 28-32 sec Shot Volume: 25-30ml Grind Level: Espresso / Fine Macchiato: Add a dash of steamed milk and a dollop of froth Piccolo: Top a demitasse glass with steamed milk and half a centimetre of foam.     Flavour Rating: 10/10

French Press Recipe

The Nicaraguan brewed very nicely in the French Press. The French Press brew produced a medium body and was quite light in comparison to other plunger brews we’ve tried. The fruit sweet flavours were quite subtle and the finish was extremely clean, which is quite unusual for this style of brewing.

 

Dose: 20g Water Volume: 200ml Time: 3 mins Temperature: 90 C Bloom: 40g for 30 secs Grind Level: Plunger / Very Coarse        Flavour Rating: 7/10

Chemex Recipe

The Chemex was an interesting experiment for us, as we tried brewing it at two different temperatures – 90 and then again at 86 degrees Celsius. Brewing at 90◦ failed to produce much in the way of the bright fruity flavours that the Blueberry Candy is known for. The 86◦ Chemex brew had more flavour and a slightly fuller mouthfeel, and finished extremely clean. We also lengthened the pour to give more time for extraction, so we added a 20 second break at 180g/2mins, then stopped pouring at around 3 mins and removed the filter to end the brew at 3 mins 30 secs. Be patient with this method, you will need to take more time and the flavour will intensify as it cools as well.

 

Dose: 20g Water Volume: 300ml Time: 3:30-4 mins Break: 180ml for 20secs Temperature: 86 C Bloom: 40g for 30 secs Grind Level: Same as Cold Drip / Coarse          Flavour Rating: 6/10

REVISED RECIPE - Produces a hint of bluberry, fruit flavours & more acidity.       Dose: 25g       Water Volume: 400ml        Time: 3:30mins       Break: No Break       Temperature: 90 C       Bloom: 50g for 30 secs       Grind Level: Same as Cold Drip / Coarse       Flavour Rating: 7/10

 

AeroPress Recipe

The AeroPress was a real winner with this coffee and the key to getting really great flavour out of this brew method and the Nicaraguan is a low temperature. It was more refined in the body than the French Press and developed richer flavour tones, rather than fruity sweet notes. It also retained the subtle blueberry aroma well.

We used the inverted method for brewing with the Blueberry Candy and it is really important you don’t forget to agitate the grind about 1 min into brewing, as this will re-incorporate the oils and acids in the crema back into the coffee.

 

Dose: 20g Time: 3 mins Temperature: 87 C Bloom: 40g for 30 secs Grind Level: AeroPress / Medium                 Flavour Rating: 7/10