3 Is The Magic Number

It's been a long while since I've done a post on Girls Who Grind Coffee, and a few weeks ago they brought out a tripych of coffees.

El Salvador coffees are something that I hadn't tried before a couple of months ago, and the girls bringing out this trio made me definitely want to explore them more.

These coffee's are produced by 3 Boza sisters of Finca San Antonio Amatepec, and includes a washed, honey and natural process (spoiler alert, they're all delicious) 


I've been really getting back into V60's recently (anyone else get seriously addicted to using just one piece of equipment and forgetting about the rest? same) 
So recipe wise I kept it pretty simple and used the same recipe for all 3 coffees

23g of coffee
320ml of water
3 minutes 25 seconds
with 30 second bloom time









Honey Processed - San Salvador - Bourbon Varietal 
Taste Notes: Shortbread, Lemon Curd and Honeycomb 






I found this coffee so citrus-y (in such an amazing way!!!) it was such a welcome acidity from the citrus notes, and as it cooled down it became such a mellow sweet coffee, wow would drink all the time - I'm relatively new to honey processed coffee and I've not been seeing them around for too long, so I'm guessing its a new trend for coffee farmers? Or I'm just super out of the loop, but if you are new to honey processed coffees I'd definitely recommend this one to start you off. Such complex taste notes of the citrus with mellower tones, yum!!! 





Natural - San Salvador - Bourbon Varietal 
Taste Notes: Dark Chocolate and Sloe Gin






This coffee is so good for the mid day slump, the boozy notes really give you a zingy feeling, and with super chocolatey notes throughout you're really getting the best of both worlds. This coffee has a medium acidity level (my brew certainly did anyway, let me know if you found different!!) but it worked so, so well with the flavour notes, it was a super rounded cup of coffee and like I said really perks you up when you need it! 




Washed - San Salvador - Bourbon Varietal 




I found this coffee bloomed so well (normally I don't comment on how good the bloom was but damn, you could literally see the gasses releasing in this coffee, much wow) - This washed coffee was so smooth and mellow and continued to get more mellow the more it cooled down. It had super nutty notes, with fruity and syrup-y after tones, which is what I love in coffees.






I found it super crazy how different all 3 processes can taste, obviously there was certainly going to be, but its crazy how many different taste notes they have, and how super delicious they are in their own ways. 

In a few days time, look out for a sneaky little giveaway where you can win the chance to win all 3 of these coffees (stay tuned on here and Instagram on Thursday 1st November) 













If you want to help me keep doing what I do, you can donate me a "coffee" here



The Coffee Life
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Coffee & A Chat

I'm just going to give a pre-warning for people who don't like long, rambly posts, this one probably isn't for you.
If you do, then you're in luck, welcome to what will probably be the most rambly blog posts of 2018. So grab yourself a cup of coffee, maybe a few biscuits.


In my brain, everything is a little overwhelming. Recently I've discovered a thing called "brain dumping" and essentially with a little more carefully worded sentences, that's what this blog post is going to be. 
2018 has been a f*cking roller coaster - I've had failed plans, failed goals, failed health (more about that later) but it has also been one of the most eye opening and emotional years. I have gone in a completely different direction to what I thought I would back in January. 
All that aside, I thought I would sit down and take some time to just chat and update you all on whats been happening, some changes I want to happen with me, my blog and everything else. 

So sit back (maybe grab another coffee whilst you're at it) and enjoy the rambles.

(were going to ignore the fact this is now an old photo)



Lets start with some blog updates 

For a while now, I've been constantly wondering about which direction I want to take my blog (and my life, lets be real) I've questioned if coffee is really what I want to and if I want to continue working and blogging about coffee - of course the answer is yes, but there's a small part of me that wants to delete this blog, my Instagram and forget it ever happened. 
Obviously, that's not going to happen, but as for plans for this blog. I want to take it in another direction, whilst it still remains The Coffee Life, I'd like to incorporate more life posts, more health posts, and eventually just be really comfortable to post whatever the f*ck I want. It's got to the point where I feel a pressure to post just about coffee, and I definitely shouldn't feel that way, and I know for myself that I shouldn't, but I put so much pressure on myself to put out new coffee content more than anything else.

In addition to blogging whatever I want, I also want to dabble in a bit of vlogging (I already have a video idea to go along side a blog post in December) if it doesn't happen, it doesn't happen, but the idea is there, and I would like to at some point give it a go. 




Work 

If you didn't know, I have been through 3 jobs this year. 
I will get more into it at another time, but for now, just know that I have finally found my place.
A workplace that I enjoy getting up for every morning, that I don't come home and want to cry because it was so unnecessarily stressful.

If you want follow Lemana Coffee and Kitchen on Insta for some updates.
and if you're ever in Lymington, be sure to pop in and say hey! 




Branding - some time in the next few months, I want to either design myself a really cool logo, or get someone to do it for me (lets be real, it's definitely going to be the latter in that situation) if you know anyone who is good at designing logo's, hit me up.





Health 

This year has been an absolute sh*t show for my health, both physical and mental. 

Back in April, I got really ill, to the point I had to be rushed to hospital. 
By June of this year after having to force the doctors to give me more tests, I was diagnosed with Stage 2 Cervical Dysplasia. (If you are curious and decide to google this term, it comes up with cervical cancer, please do not worry, I do not have cancer, anything past stage 3 is considered high risk for cancer)

I had my cervix cauterised (I'm so sorry for those eating those biscuits I recommended on eating during this post) and it helped for about a month, before things came back with a vengeance, and sure enough, I will have to be having surgery soon. 

So most of my months have been focused on curing my body, both with the help of doctors (if they didn't cancel my hospital appointments all the time) and with a sh*t ton of research on what I can do to help cure myself from the inside out

(I have started writing a blog post all about this topic, and how I found out, my journey back to health so far etc)

I also want to do a blog post on knowing somethings wrong with your own body and persevering to get the doctors to believe you (believe me, I've been there.) 





Becoming less of a sh*t person. 

Lets be honest, everyone wants self improvement for something in their life, and something I've been really getting into is meditation, and although meditation is a place where you're not meant to let your intrusive thoughts flow, boy do mine. It's definitely made me realise that sometimes I can be a bit of a dick. So I've been trying to do some intentional journalling (and I've started a 52 week self discovery journal prompt, which is really useful to help see where I am in life, and make myself a better person) I've also been setting myself routines, which is really helping, especially when life gets a bit overwhelming, I'm definitely becoming more self aware and learning not to take out my issues on other people, and being honest when I need some me time.

I've been doing weekly reviews, and brain dumping in notebooks, seeing my wins for the week, what went right, what went wrong, what I can improve on, and what I've noticed I've improved on, and I'll say it's been working!

I also want to do a blog post series on ways that I am helping myself (hopefully) becoming a better person, not just for me but for the loved ones around me. 





In regards to upcoming blog posts, I thought I'd compile a list of blog posts in my drafts list which will be coming out soon:

-Mental Health In The Work-Place
-Cervical Dysplasia, Health
-Being An Ambivert (and working in retail)
-3 Is The Magic Number (Girls Who Grind Coffee) 
-Box's 3 + 4 of Untold Coffee Club
-Monthly Favs (oh yeah I'm gunna become that person, but it'll mainly be coffee things lets be honest)


Also it is now not long until this blog has been live for an entire year (that's pretty cray) so there will definitely be a post all about that. 



I hope I've not bored you too much with my rambles, and as always check out my social media for more updates etc - 





If you want to help me keep doing what I do, you can donate me a "coffee" here



The Coffee Life
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