Dog and Hat Coffee Subscription Box 2

As I'm slowly starting to catch up with blog posts that were planned for last month, today's post is another Dog and Hat post, and it's an exciting one




We have two new coffees both from companies I hadn't tried before (my forever favourite thing about subscription boxes)

- Crankhouse - Kunjin, Papau New Guinea 
- Django - Los Robles, Costa Rica








Crankhouse 
Crankhouse Coffee was launched in 2014 in Exeter, they're artisan micro-roaster focusing on purchasing amazing coffees from around the world. Their coffees are selected from speciality importers who support and care about the farmers and cooperatives through ethical and sustainable practices.




Kunjin - Papua New Guinea 
Location - Waghi Valley, PNG
Varietals - Arusha, Typica
Altitude - 1400-1800m
Process - Washed
Taste Notes - Clean and sweet. Fig, orange and fudge with dark brown sugar finish.

This coffee comes from the Kunjin co-op in Waghi Valley in the Western Highlands of Papua New Guinea.
Kunjin is able to improve quality by purchasing cherries from select farmers in the Waghi Valley. They lease a mill on one of the original 15 plantations called Ulya. At this mill they maintain complete control through milling. Day lots are cupped and micro lot level selections are isolated for separate processing. 
At the Ulya mill, coffees are purchased and sorted in cherry, depulped, fermented for 24 hours in tanks without water, then dried on tarpaulins for three to six days. Coffee is sent to the Kagamuga dry mill in Mount Hagen for hulling and final sorting for export



Brewing 
V60

16g of Coffee
275ml of Water 
3 Minute Total Brew Time
50ml Bloom for 25 Seconds





Tastes
This coffee ended up super citrus-y no matter which recipe I brewed it with, super orange-y notes with tangy notes.
It was pretty low acidity with there being very subtle fudge-y notes more as it cooled (more with 16g of coffee than any other recipe I tried)










Moving onto Django Coffee Co 

This company is one I found out about pretty recently, so I'm happy that I am getting to try it so soon after finding them on Instagram 

Django has taken inspiration from Melbourne's flourishing coffee scene to make it their mission to provide quality speciality coffee with a low environmental impact.
They source their own green beans from coffee growers around the world and then roast the beans in small batches to be able to create unique flavours. Django is 100% committed to providing information on the origins of the coffee, the farmers and it's journey from the bean to the cup.
Their goal is to respect the coffee farmers, the environment and their customers






Los Robles - Costa Rica, Western Valley
Origin - Los Robles, West Valley 
Varietal - Caturra, Catuai 
Process - Natural 
Altitude - 1300-1700 m 
Taste Notes - Blackberry, Pomegranate, Cranberry 

This coffee comes from Estrella Naranjo project's Los Robles farm in the West Valley region of Costa Rica
Estrella Naranjo coffee is sourced from six distinct mountain ranges in the zone of Naranjo: Barranca, Cañuela, San Juanillo, Los Robles, Lourdes and Sabanilla. Cherries are harvested from each of the different ranges and processed separately through Coopro Naranjo R.L. main mill.  


Brewing 
V60

16g of Coffee
275ml of Water 
3 Minute Total Brew Time

50ml Bloom for 25 Seconds




This coffee was super fresh, super fruity, with lots of berry and citrus notes - it's again super delicious and works really well with any recipe I tried it through, it's also delicious through aeropress.




These coffees in the June Dog and Hat box really complimented each other well, both amazing companies doing amazing things, and I can't wait to try more of both companies. 




Where you can find Dog and Hat
Website
Instagram
Facebook
Twitter

Dog and Hat posts

Dog and Hat Box 1





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THE COFFEE LIFE SHOP

If you've been around for a while, you'll know I started making and selling Coffee Soaps towards the beginning of the year

I branched out into wholesale not too long ago, and that has been my main focus over the last few months and I've been so lucky with it all. 
I'm thankful everyday.

What I've always wanted is to have a really nice other platform to sell The Coffee Life goodies to individuals that just want to purchase things here and there - so that's exactly what I've done. 




You can now shop The Coffee Life Co on Big Cartel 
Goodies include soaps, scrubs, candles, and some sneaky mugs, t-shirts and tote bags.






I hope you guys are excited as I am about this new platform, I cant wait to see how it goes








The Coffee Life

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Bailies Coffee - La Ortiga

I'm just going to start this blog post with two words

Holy Crap


When I say this coffee is different to anything I have ever tried, I am not lying. 


Roasted by Head Roaster for Bailies Roasters, Stephen Houston for part of his World Brewer Cup routine - Bailies released a limited amount of 10, that's right - T E N - bags of this beauty, and amongst it selling out in 2 minutes, I somehow (yeah, I'm as shocked as you are) managed to grab a bag for myself. 




About this coffee

Costa Rica 
La Ortiga
Region: Tarrazú
Process: Anaerobic Natural
Variety: Caturra
Altitude: 1800masl
Taste Notes: Cinnamon, Caramelised Pineapple and Pear


(please excuse my ratchet af nail polish)


After playing around with a few recipes with this coffee, this recipe I found bought out the tastiest of notes was

V60 Brew
18g of Coffee
280ml of Water
50ml Bloom for 25 Seconds
3 Minute Total Brew Time
Ratio of 1:15





This coffee practically smelt like fresh pineapples.
The taste of this coffee was unlike anything I've ever had before, it was so fresh, so smooth and the cinnamon tastes(!!!) LIKE A CINNAMON BUN, honestly. 
It was so true to the taste notes, you get the cinnamon, you get the pineapple and the fruity, fruity pear. Un-believ-able truly.
IT'S JUST SO GOOD
With next to no acidity, it's a truly delicious cup, and Stephen did an absolutely incredible job roasting this coffee, and I'm shocked it didn't take him all the way to the final, because hot damn, it's one tasty cup.




Did you manage to get your hands on the Limited La Ortiga? 


Find Stephen on Instagram - Here

Find Bailies Roasters

Website - Here
Instagram - Here
Facebook - Here
Twitter - Here





The Coffee Life

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ECO Coffee (+ sneaky discount code)

*all of the products shown in this blog post were kindly gifted to me*


A couple of months back I came across this company ECO Coffee, and me obviously being me I dropped them an email asking more about the company, the coffee, and what they're all about. They got back to me and asked if I'd like to try out any of their products, which of course how can I say no to?
I was expecting to receive a few sample bags of their coffee and I was shocked when I got home to a huge(!!!) box filled with not just coffee but lots of other ECO goodies.





Including in this huge box of goodies -

* 4 x 1kg bags of coffee

* ECO compostable cups

* ECO paper straws 

* Karma Cola drink products

* Clipper Organic Tea

* Water Bottle made entirely out of plants (ok but how cool)




You can say I was well and truly spoiled with choices here. 

The compostable cups unlike some I've had, seem quite sturdy and relatively thick material (I think we can all say we've had those cups that are so thin you need about 3 to be able to hold the damn thing!) 
The paper straws are really cool - they're not just straight paper straws like most companies have, they actually have part where they curve over, making it easier to drink drinks out of! I've never seen this on any other paper straw I've been given, so it's definitely a huge win



Karma Cola is a brand that I see everywhere but have never picked up on my own accord - so it's great that I'm finally getting to try it - I can safely say that the cola is absolutely delicious.




Onto the coffee 


The coffees that ECO Coffee currently offer are

- New Forest Blend
Light roast

- Jurassic Coast Blend
Medium Roast

- Spinnaker Blend
Dark Roast

- Corfe Castle Blend
Decaf



Because I wanted to try them all, and I hadn't done a cupping session in far too long, I thought what better way to try them all out.


(now I'm not an expert at cupping, and I really don't pretend to be - I just follow the basic guidelines on the SCA website) 




When next to each other, you can clearly see the difference in roast profiles, from light to dark roast. 





Again, you can see the vast difference between the light and the darker roasts (woohoo, science)






Top Left

New Forest Blend
Light Roast
 Brazilian and Guatemalan
Bag Taste Notes - Caramel, Raisin and Coco with Light Earthy Finish

Tastes - Sour fruits with subtle light syrupy notes, slightly harsh on the acidity
Would make a super delicious espresso



Top Right

Jurassic Coast Blend
Medium Roast
Indian, Ethiopian, Brazilian and Colombian
Bag Taste Notes - Black Cherry, Milk Chocolate and Pecan

Tastes - Super fruity, definitely more smooth than the light roast, actually really delicious
Would make a great espresso, I suspect it would also mix really well with milk, this is definitely my favourite out of the 4 


Bottom Left

Spinnaker Blend
Dark Roast
Brazilian, Ugandan and Colombian
Bag Taste Notes - Cedar and Bourbon

Tastes - ashy and woody, I'm not so much of an expert on dark roasts, because they're typically not to my taste. I'm sure to someone who enjoys darker roasts this would probably taste great. 



Bottom Right 

Corfe Castle Blend
Decaf (Medium/Dark Roast)
Swiss Water Process
Honduras, Ethiopian, Brazilian and Indonesian
Bag Taste Notes - (there isn't any I can see on the bag!!)

Tastes - again, this decaf isn't to my taste, I really prefer my decafs to be light-medium roasted instead of dark roasted. There's definitely some earthy flavours in there, but I find it super hard to try and get any other flavour notes out of anything roasted this dark. 
And again, it might be to someone who likes their coffees dark roasted tastes more than me. 







What I love most about these coffees are the fact that they're named after places that are super close to me - in fact I live in the new forest, and a short drive away from the Jurassic Coast, Spinnaker Tower and Corfe Castle, which is super epic. 

This coffee is also roasted right in the heart of Dorset and uses a super sustainable way of roasting.


As I'm sure many of you have heard of the way that old, dried coffee grounds can be made into "Coffee Logs" to be regenerated back into fuel in order to roast coffee, that's exactly what this great company do. 
It goes round in a big zero waste circle - amazing

Why is zero waste and sustainability so important to ECO Coffee? With over 500,000 tons of waste coffee grounds being disposed of in landfill in the UK alone each year (THAT IS SO MUCH) the worlds ever growing coffee consumption is significantly contributing towards global warming. Coffee grounds can accelerate the decomposition of other food wastes that are sent to landfill. As they decompose, they create methane, which is a greenhouse gas with more than 20 times the global warming capacity of carbon dioxide. 

So how does it work?

Stage 1 Eco Coffee- The process starts with the consumer, enjoying a delicious cup of coffee in a coffee outlet - the coffee outlet is collecting the used coffee grounds in special (re-purposed) containers issued to them by their supplier. These containers are then collected at the same time as the outlets next delivery of fresh coffee 
Stage 2 - The next stage of the process once the grounds have been collected, is to sieve out any foreign objects and dry the coffee grounds. From there the dried coffee grounds are fed into a large mechanical press that forces the coffee under huge pressure through a die and this forms the Bio-Fuel we require for our Eco Roasters
 Stage 3 - Eco RoastThe third stage of the process is roasting. Custom made Eco Roasters are used to turn the Coffee Bio-Fuel into the heat energy needed to roast delicious fresh coffee beans. The Eco Roaster is so energy efficient that it only uses approx 40g of Bio-Fuel to roast 1000g of fresh coffee! It even stores excess heat in large thermal storage tanks for heating the roastery! 
Stage 4 - The final stage of the process is the beans that have just been roasted, these are then quickly cooled, de-stoned and packed in valved bags to lock in the freshness. Boxed ready for delivery to the customers. For those customers adopting the Coffee-Eco System, these beans will be delivered at the same time as their coffee waste is collected. Ensuring a carbon neutral journey is achieved. And repeat Eco Coffeethen the process starts all over again with a delicious cup of Eco Coffee



It's quite an incredible thing to think about, roasting coffee, with ... well, coffee! It's pretty genius and helps the environment at the same time.


If you want to get your hands on any of the products I've talked about here, and lots more they have on offer on their website (coffee2u.net)
You can also use the code JASS10 for a whole 10% your purchase.



Find more of ECO Coffee 

Website - here
Twitter - here
Facebook - here
Youtube - here
Instagram - here 

Discount code for 10% off your order - JASS10






The Coffee Life

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The Return Of Untold Coffee Box

I am super excited to do this blog post, because .... GUESS WHATS BACK?


OH YEAH ITS THE UNTOLD COFFEE SUBSCRIPTION BOX, GET EXCITED!!!


For the first box, we had two tins of the gorgeous Brazilian from producer Danilo Barbosa






While we're on the subject of tins, Untold Coffee have changed their packaging, and for the better. It not only looks incredible but does it's bit for the planet too. 

Untold have also put an incredible (and inspirational) message on every tin
"Let's keep this simple. We're called Untold, and we're passionate about sourcing delicious coffee, responsibly. 
Leveraging the power of social media we're maintaining friendships with farmers and co-operatives hundreds of miles away.
We've worked for one of the biggest coffee chains in the world, as well as some of the smallest, and now we're doing our own thing, striving to be better everyday." 



I'm so happy that Untold Boxes are back, and I'm excited to see what coffees they come out with in the future. 


So, lets dive into box number 1 






Untold are doing things differently in these subscription boxes, with all their own coffee, and it now includes a super cute information leaflet.



(so freaking cute)


About this coffee - This coffee comes from Farkm Cachoeira, one of two farms owned by Danilo Barbosa. 
The D. Barbosa group are a family of coffee producers, consisting of fathers, mothers, sons and in-laws, all dedicated to cultivating coffee that is truly special, in order to honour their ancestors who began this culture in 1930.






Region - Minas Gerais, Brazil
Producer - Danilo Barbosa
Varietal - Yellow Catuai
Process - Fermented Natural
Cupping Score - 83
Flavour Notes - Dark Chocolate and Sweet Red Berries 


I did two brews with this coffee that really brought out the specific taste notes, both through v60






Brew Number 1 
V60 Brew

18g of Coffee 
280ml of Water 
2 Minute 45 Second Total Brew Time 
25 Second Bloom with 40ml Water

Super smooth and mellow with lots of aromatic chocolate notes, you get the more berry tones as it cools


Brew Number 2
V60 Brew
15g of Coffee
275ml of Water
2 Minute 45 Second Total Brew Time
20 Second Bloom with 40ml Water

This second brew definitely brought out the more delicate fruity tones, making it super smooth and mellow, with the subtle chocolate notes coming through at the end  








Brew Number 3
Aeropress

14.5g of Coffee 
1 Minute 45 Second Brew 
25 Second Push 
2 Minute 10 Second Total Brew Time
25 Second Bloom 

I hadn't actually used my aeropress in well over a month, and I definitely forgot what an incredible cup it makes, using the aeropress brought out ALL of the chocolatey notes, made it a super bold and delicious cup. 


All in all, I can't wait to see what Untold Coffee has up their sleeves in regards to the upcoming subscription boxes - I for one, am super excited 


Are you signed up for Untold Coffee Subscriptions? 




Check out Untold Coffee

Website - Here
Instagram - Here
Twitter - Here




Other Untold Coffee Box Posts (old subscription boxes) 

The Coffee Life

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