Máquina Coffee Roasters Colombia Buesaco

I absolutely fell in love with Máquina Coffee Roasters’ Ecuador Finca La Joya recently, so I have high hopes for today’s Colombian selection! Máquina is not screwing around when it comes to coffee, and it shows from their sourcing to the packaging and the end result in the cup. Let’s take a look at their Colombia Buesaco!

Máquina Coffee Roasters

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Daily Coffee News article

Coffee Brew Guides interview 

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Máquina Coffee Roasters Ecuadaor Finca La Joya review


MAQUINA COFFEE ROASTERS COLOMBIA BUESACO

With a 15 year history in specialty coffee ranging back to well-known names like Paramo, Ritual, Intelligentsia and Gimme! Coffee, Gabe Boscana knows what he is doing when it comes to coffee. He and his family moved to small-town Pennsylvania from the Bay Area where Gabe and his wife, Mae, started Máquina Coffee Roasters, roasting small lots on a Probat in their garage/coffee roasting plant! Unlike a lot of operations that start in a garage, though, Gabe and Mae have positioned Máquina as a business right from the get-go. This intentionality is clearly evident in their awesome branding, very professional website and the excellent quality coffee they’re producing.

This isn’t a hobby that grew out of a business, but rather a business that has been distilled out of some of the biggest operations in specialty coffee so that it can be streamlined and efficient and focused on the mission.

Gabe’s Ecuadoran selection was off the chain, so I’m really excited to try this Colombia Buesaco. This is a washed coffee from the Nariño department (like a state, for us) in southwest Colombia, which Máquina says, “tend to be bigger in the cup, lush and thick bodied all the while retaining complexity and sweetness.” Gabe gives us flavor notes of, “dark honey, almond cookie, cacao, dense” for this coffee. Sounds quite different from the light and bright Colombian coffees I love, so I’m anxious to try it!

I used my standard 1:16 ratio of 28g of coffee to 450g of water in a notNeutral pourover with Kalita 185 filters. My Handground grinder was set on 3 and I used Third Wave Water to brew my cups. This did yield a big, full, sweet cup but it was also plenty vibrant and bright. Perhaps this is due to the Third Wave Water I brewed with, which does tend to crank up the acidity in the cup. Also, I’m on the recovery side of an upper respiratory tract infection/sinus/head cold thing and so my flavor perception is still a little whacked!

Nonetheless, this is a big-bodied coffee with lots of sweetness and nuttiness on the front end, especially with larger sips. That nutty character strongly reminded me of a food that I just could not put my finger on. It was sweet, but super nutty, like a brittle made from pecans and almonds. It was really delicious, but I’m always frustrated when I can’t make the connection between a flavor note and something that I’ve consumed in the past. Ugh! Smaller sips bring out a little more acidity, which for me ran toward green apple with a hint of orange citrus. This coffee has a sweet finish and a long aftertaste of honey and nuts.

Even with a messed up palate, this was a really good cup of coffee! I am really partial to Colombian coffees and even though I’ve gotten hooked on the really shimmering, bright coffees from that country over the last couple years, this one with darker, denser flavors is every bit as good. I want to clarify that this is not a darker roast, it’s simply a different flavor profile and it works great. There’s plenty of acidity to please those taste buds, though, and I found this to be a complex and delicious cup!

2 Responses

  1. Cactus Jake
    |

    Great review! Will have to try. Interesting how you addressed they are a business right away- what a difference it makes. No matter what you’re roasting on or how small your batches are, professionalism in branding and packaging goes a long way. I really love the bags. Hope you recover and start feeling better soon! P.S. Love that Third Wave Water also!!!

    • KCcoffeegeek
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      Thanks for the kind words! Yes, you can “feel” Gabe’s relatively long tenure in specialty coffee in everything Máquina is doing. It’s really cool!