August’s Barista Coffee Box just dropped on my doorstep yesterday and I was happy to see this month features Brugh Coffee Company, a new-to-me roaster located in southwest Virginia. I grabbed their selection from Peru first, so let’s check it out!
Purchase this coffee directly for $13/12oz
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BARISTA COFFEE BOX AUGUST 2017: BRUGH COFFEE COMPANY PERU AMAZONAS
Every month, Barista Coffee Box (link up top!) features at least four 2oz packets of coffee from a single roaster. They choose some really nice roasters and it’s a great way to experience a variety of coffees from a roaster without breaking the bank or having so much coffee that you can’t drink it all. August 2017 features Brugh Coffee Company (which I think is pronounced like “brew”… convenient!!) from Christiansburg, VA. There isn’t a ton of info about the company on their website other than that partners (and possibly spouses?) Luke and Cassie founded the company in 2016 based on the idea that coffee is about connections, from soil to farmers, roasters, baristas and, eventually, to you. In the year they’ve been roasting their coffee is sold at a bunch of southwest Virginia locations and it looks like they stay busy serving at farmers markets, too.
All four coffees looked good, and the stickers and brew guide postcard were nice additions to this month’s box, too! I grabbed the Peru Amazonas for my first coffee from Brugh because I am always surprised by how much I like Peruvian coffees, even though in my mind I feel like I won’t. Maybe I should see a psychologist about that. Hmmmm. LOL Anyway, this coffee comes from multiple smallholder farms in the Amazonas region of Peru, which is covered by rainforests and mountains. This is a fair trade certified coffee and also Rainforest Alliance certified, which is important in Peru where it’s not uncommon for farm corporations to level rainforest land in order to plant coffee, which is then marketed as “organic” here in the USA. Given a choice between keeping rainforests or getting organic coffee, I’ll take the hit on the chemicals and keep the rainforests, thanks very much! The varieties in this selection are Caturra, Typica, Pache and Bourbon and they’re grown at an incredible 2235masl. Brugh gives us tasting notes of, “Raisin, caramel, earthy” for this coffee.
I used my usual 1:16 ratio of 28g of coffee to 450g of water in a notNeutral Gino pourover with Kalita 185 filter. My Handground grinder was set to 3 and I use Third Wave Water for all my brewing. Inside the bag was a nice looking, consistent, lightly roasted (by visual appearance) bean. It ground and brewed very nicely. Aroma from this cup is sweet with some dark fruits in it. Maybe raisin, maybe dates and that sort of thing, maybe a little nuttiness in there, too. Taking a sip, this is a sweet coffee with some green apple-like acidity and it’s what I have learned to expect from Peruvian coffees. This may have some hints at lemon acidity, too, but mostly it’s that crisp, clean green apple acidity that has a hint of tartness to it in the finish. I’m not getting any of that “earthy” descriptor Brugh gave us. This is a sweet, clean, balanced, very easy drinking coffee. There is a lot of caramel and some raisin notes in the lingering aftertaste from this cup. I don’t have a ton to say about this coffee because it’s not real complex and so it presents what it has right off the bat, but what it has is really nice! This is a simple, yet delicious coffee and I think this would be a super cup after a meal with dessert, although drinking it first thing in the AM doesn’t have me upset at all, either! This Peruvian coffee from Brugh Coffee is a reminder that not all coffees have to be super complex to be notable. Sweet, clean, inviting and balanced all go a long way to make a coffee drinker happy, too! A great introduction to Brugh Coffee and a nice start to this month’s Barista Coffee Box!