Revising our Seasonal Espresso blend

The latest revision to our current seasonal espresso blend comprising of 3 different lots of coffee from 2 different farms.

• 50% Fazenda Ambiental Fortaleza (Brazil)
• 30% Finca El Zarzal, Loma Alta (El Salvador)
• 20% Finca El Zarzal, Maravillas (El Salvador)

With the new harvest of Brazils arriving in January, we are pleased to re-introduce our direct trade coffees from Fazenda Ambiental Fortaleza - into our 2nd year working with these awesome guys. Making up the remaining of the blend are 2 micro-lots of coffee from Finca El Zarzal of El Salvador, which we visited on our recent trip to Central America. This blend is 100% sourced directly from our partner farms.

In this cup, expect hints of raisins, cherries and caramel. Red fruit acidity is prominent on first sip but is nicely balanced with a medium body, ending off in a syrupy cup with a long sweet finish. This should be a crowd pleaser. Grab a bag and let us know what you think!

Photo credit: Andrew Hoi

SNBC 2013

What an exhilarating way to end SNBC 2013, with Hee Wei picking up 2nd runner-up spot with his gutsy performance onstage. His cool was never fazed even when the grinder played up on him during his espresso calibration on stage. The overwhelming crowd support cheered him on through the intense 15 minutes. His months of hard work paid off in the end and we are so truly proud of his achievement.

The victory was extra sweet with the raucous cheers from Team Nylon who travelled in from all over the island to give this man their best support. (Even the little ones didn’t want to miss the fun!)

Thank you all again who made the trip and we are truly proud to be the roasters for Hee Wei. You have definitely inspired many with your passion towards the craft.

Photo credit: Grey

Nylon Coffee through the lens

Another Beautiful Story is a showcase of artists & craftspeople through the lens of the talented duo, Winfred & Darryl. In their first feature clip highlighting Nylon, we talked about how, why and what drives us to follow our passion. We had intended to include this clip as part of our next project but we thought that such a beautifully produced clip has to be shared earlier than later. We are not great in front of cameras, so pardon us if we look any bit unnatural.

Filmed and produced by Another Beautiful Story.

New packing, new labels

Many of you would probably have bought something because of the beautiful packaging while hoping that the product inside was also good in its own way. Since the start of our otherwise short history, we always felt that our retail coffee bags were a little lacking in appeal, starting from the early days when we would scribble the name of the coffee farm and country of origin together with hand-stamping our logo and the roast date. As the roastery stabilised, we designed more rubber stamps to insert more information about the coffees that we have lovingly roasted and packed in the bags. But we were not quite happy with how it looked; the kraft bags crumple very easily, the ink smudges on contact with moisture, and most important of all, it lacked details of the coffee which we wanted to share with our customers.

So we went on another sourcing adventure, first looking for packaging that is friendlier to Mother Earth, something that can probably disintegrate by itself over time, so that drinking coffees doesn’t end up adding heaps of rubbish to ever-growing landfills. We did find one that worked as it says - self biodegradable over time, pretty amazing right! But there is a catch, one has to remove the one-way valve and tin tie before disposing it into your rubbish. In additional, due to the material type, we will not be able to seal the coffees air tight after roasting, meaning the coffees are quite easily subject to the brutality of our hot and humid weather. We figured this will not work, and we moved on.

We pushed our green aspirations down the priority list and found a sturdier bag, and focused our attention on the labels instead. We took a structured and transparent approach in listing down every information that we want to share about our coffees and filter them through what’s important or plain useful, in our opinion.

All coffees come in two distinct coloured bags - black or white. Black packaging are for coffees that are roasted to be better enjoyed as espresso, whereas white denotes coffees better enjoyed as brewed coffee. Simple, just like our coffee menu! Each origin is also differentiated by a different colour label, filled with information that is clear and concise, but yet easy on the eye.

In a nutshell, the label can be broken down as:

1. Name of Coffee

Typically the name of the farm, but could also refer to the locality, the mill or the cooperative where the coffee comes from.

2. The Producer

Often the name of the farmer himself/herself, but could also refer to the cooperative or the collective of farms or small holders.

3. The Origin

Town, region and country.

4. Varietals & Processing Method

A little technical but generally refers to the sub-species of the Arabica coffee varietal and how the coffees were processed after harvest.

5. Altitude

“masl” refers to “meters above sea level”, in case you like to know how high the coffee was grown.

6. Tasting Notes

A brief on what we get through various tastings of the coffee, providing an intro to how the coffee might taste in the cup. This should not be taken as a definite guide to how the coffee should taste but rather as a starting guide to enjoy the coffee the way we did.

7. Weight

Primarily to highlight the different size of the packaging for the seasonal espresso blend compared to other coffees which comes in 250g bags.

8. Roast Date

One of the most important information of all, and we always recommend to use the coffee within 4 weeks from roast date, better if earlier due to our tropical conditions.

For our seasonal espresso, we decided on an even simpler approach by breaking down the components of the blend and getting you started with what we taste in the cup!

As always, we are open to your feedback and hope that you will enjoy the coffee even more with this refresh of the packaging.

Kenya Kapsokisio

As we approach the new year, we are very excited to roll out another coffee from our current list of fresh crops from Africa - Kenya, our first from the country. We have always been fans of Kenyan coffee, not only because of its unique flavor characteristics, but also because the beans are generally of high quality. This country has great altitudes, climate, and soil, and its varietals have adapted to the local growing conditions and have excellent cup quality. The coffees are truly unique and recognizable in flavor, and the coffee sector has developed a structure to maintain quality as well as traceability.

The new coffee is from the Kapsokisio Factory and Cooperative Society, which lies on the slopes of Mt. Elgon in western Kenya on the border of Uganda. This region is not as well known as Central Kenya, but has a huge potential for producing coffee of great quality. In the past, coffee farming was adversely affected by frequent clan fighting in the area but now, it has cooled down and farmers are going back to their farms.

• Cooperative: Kapsokisio Cooperative Society
• Wet mill: Kapsokisio Factory
• Region: Busia/Mt. Elgon
• Altitude: 1600 – 1700m asl
• Producers: About 800 -1000 smallholders in the surrounding areas deliver cherries to the wet mill.
• Varietals: Mainly SL 28 and SL 34
• Grade: AB refers to the bean size. AB in Kenya is screen size 15/16

Process: All coffees are pulped, dry fermented, washed, soaked and sundried. Cherries are hand-sorted for unripe and overripe by the farmers before they go in to production. The cherries are then put through a pulping machine,which removes the skin and pulp. The coffees are graded by density into 3 grades by the pulper. Grade 1 and 2 goes separately to fermentation. Grade 3 is considered low grade. The coffee is then fermented in painted concrete tanks without water for 20 – 30 hours to remove the mucilage. After fermentation, the coffees are washed. They are again graded by density in washing channels and are left to soak under clean water for 16-18 hours. After soaking, the coffee is sun-dried up to 21 days on African drying beds. Coffees are covered in plastic during midday and at night.

Tasting notes: Red berries and hints of floral aromas. Berries and blackcurrant-like acidity profile. Light and delicate with a juicy finish.

This coffee is up on our retail racks and we love brewing it with the Kalita wave dripper. Pick up a bag to brew yourself a fruity cup for a fruitful year!