Let’s close the (work) week out today with my first taste of coffee from a Milwaukee, WI coffee institution, Anodyne Coffee Roasting Co. This morning I have their Myanmar Mandalay, so it’s really a day of two firsts: first Anodyne coffee and first coffee from Myanmar! Glug glug…
Purchase this coffee directly for $18.45/12oz
Sprudge article on coffee in Myanmar
ANODYNE COFFEE ROASTING CO. MYANMAR MANDALAY
Anodyne Coffee Roasting Co. has been roasting coffee in Milwaukee since 1999, which is downright forever by specialty coffee standards! The word, “anodyne,” means a medicine that relieves pain or a relaxing, soothing comfort. To fit this theme, Anodyne’s labeling and branding has a patent medicine, olde tyme tonic vibe to it that stands out from many of today’s hip, modern and minimalist brands. Anodyne currently has three locations in Milwaukee and is eyeing a fourth in Wauwatosa that would serve coffee, food and beer and wine.[ref]http://www.bizjournals.com/milwaukee/blog/table_talk/2016/07/anodyne-coffee-eyes-wauwatosa-for-fourth-milwaukee.html[/ref]
Jumping right into today’s coffee, it’s a selection of, are you ready, S-795, SL-34, Catimor, Caturra, Catuai, Blue Mountain and Gesha varietals grown at 1100-1300 meters above sea level in the Mandalay region of Myanmar (formerly Burma). Mandalay is smack-dab in the middle of Myanmar, which runs east and northeast of Thailand. This is a washed coffee and Anodyne gives us flavor notes of, “bright and clean cup with notes of honey, caramel and cranberry.” This is a medium roast and Anodyne points out they’re the only roaster in Milwaukee with coffee from this region and I’m willing to bet that truth extends a lot further out than just Milwaukee! All that being said, Sprudge recently reported that coffee is on the up in Myanmar, so this probably won’t be the last we see! [ref]http://sprudge.com/myanmar-coffee-108387.html[/ref]
I used my usual pourover setup for this coffee: 1:16 ratio of 28g of coffee to 450g of water, Handground grinder set to 3, notNeutral Gino dripper with Kalita filter and Third Wave Water. My first sip of this coffee gave me hazelnut like nobody’s business! I find this coffee to be pretty light-bodied. There’s a huge hazelnut note, for me, and then some nicely behaved acidity comes into the sip. I think their cranberry descriptor is pretty good, but it’s not the full on, tooth-stripping and sphincter-puckering tartness of a raw cranberry, thank goodness! LOL It’s a pleasant, light, fruity acidity with a hint of tartness that carries into the finish. Anodyne put a medium roast level on this coffee and that brings out nice sweetness with just hints of roast in the aftertaste, which also has some baked goods notes, like a ginger cookie or something in that vein. There’s a little green apple, malic acidity in the cup and a bit of apple juice character to this coffee, too. The hazelnut note in this coffee is really the big playerfor me.
Not having ever drunk coffee from Myanmar before, I have nothing to compare this to as far as the region, but I like it! The overall vibe of this cup, for me, is “soft” and “easy” and “gentle” and “calm” and it’s a nice, pleasant drinker with good balance. It’s likeable, approachable, easy-drinking. There’s absolutely nothing in this coffee that isn’t nice! It’s not a super dynamic or knock-your-socks off kind of coffee, but it’s one of those nice, easy cups to drink that just feels good to drink and is super inviting and pleasant. This coffee is like that person in your group of friends who never tries to be the star of the show but when you see them at a party you think, “Oh, cool, Mandalay is here, I gotta get over to that side of the room…” LOL Who knows if this makes any sense to anyone but me?! LOL