It's yet again Dog and Hat week, as I scramble my life together to try and catch up with these posts we have somehow made it to the third box, however I am still 2 months behind on release of these - but better late than never hey?
This box is also a very special box. This was Dog and Hats celebratory Birthday Box! Dog and Hat are officially 4 years old! How exciting!!
Our first coffee from this delightful August box is from Notes Coffee Roasters - so who are they?
"Speciality coffee with soul, roasted under the meticulous eye of Fabio in our East London Roasters. Our coffee beans are always direct trade straight from the farmers who take as much care nurturing their coffee plants as we do roasting and brewing our beans.
We focus on high grade, seasonal, single origin coffee, small batch roasted so that every delicate and unique flavour is translated in the cup."
Roaster Used - Loring S35
How was the Roastery founded?
Fabio - Since I started serving coffee in London - first from a coffee cart in a market and then from our first Notes Coffee shop, I always dreamed of roasting our own. My grandparents had a coffee farm in Brazil and being able to continue the family tradition is my inspiration. I also knew how poorly paid many coffee farmers are and saw the opportunity with speciality coffee growing communities could be properly rewarded for. We started roasting in 2013 and haven't looked back since.
From Pa-O Village near Kalaw in the southern Shan State region of Myanmar.
The Pa-O tribe is one of the ethnic tribes of the Shan State in Myanmar and they used to be isolated from the world and have their own language and traditions, like many other tribes in Myanmar.
Behind the Leaf Coffee have been working with the Pa-O tribe and pride themselves on involving the Pa-O people in the whole production process. From beginning to end they are teaching them how to grow and process their own coffee and earn fair wages for it.
They teach farmers who have anything from just a few coffee trees in their backyard to a hundred covering the hillside . No one is too small to be included. In 2018 they had their first open house, inviting more than 500 farmers to come to their processing facility and see what happens after the harvest. For the first time, they got to taste their own coffee.
They couldn't do this without their farmers or their excellent staff.
The Details
Myanmar Pa-O Village
Process - Black Honey
Altitude - 1400-1500MASL
Variety - Various
Taste Notes - Black Cherry, Floral and Brown Sugar
SCA Score - 86
Lets Brew!
Brewer - V60
Recipe - 15g of Coffee to 250g of Water, 30 second bloom with 45g of water with agitation. Total brew time of 3 minutes.
Taste - this coffee was super sweet, and super smooth - sweet like sugar.
As it cooled the cherry and what I put to raspberry notes came through, and when completely cooled it was again a syrup-y kind of sweet.
I don't think I've ever tasted a coffee quite like this and I found it hard to determine any solid taste notes in it because I was just being pounded with sweetness (which you know, isn't the worst thing) - it was super delicious, and a great morning brew when you need a good sweet kick to start the day.
Find Notes Coffee
Website - Here
Instagram - Here
Other Coffees in the Dog and Hat August Box
Rabbit Hole Roasters
Gold Box Roasters