I don’t think there’s technically such a thing as Hump Day when I’m off work and on Spring Break, but nonetheless, I have a coffee from Colorado’s Switchback Coffee Roasters that is sure to fuel me through the rest of the week! Let’s check it out…
Other reviews in this series: Ecuador Finca La Papaya
SWITCHBACK COFFEE ROASTERS GUATEMALA PEDRO TREJO
Unfortunately in this recent batch of coffees Switchback Coffee Roasters have sent my timing has been completely off and this is either a coffee that’s out of current rotation or maybe sold out. Dang! But, it’s important to write about these coffees to build the story of how Switchback is as a roaster, overall. In any case, Switchback was founded around 2010 and has grown into a well-respected roaster and cafe in the Colorado Springs, Colorado community. Themes like togetherness, community, diversity and celebrating differences can be found all around their website and that’s pretty cool, if you ask me!
This morning I’m checking out Switchback’s Pedro Trejo, a coffee from Guatemala. This was still up and available last week, so I may’ve just missed it. This coffee is a mix of Bourbon, Caturra and Catuai that is grown by Pedro Trejo on his small plots of land scattered around the slopes of Volcan San Pedro near his hometown of San Pedro La Laguna on Lake Atitlán’s southwest shore. Pedro’s plots range from 1650 to 2000 meters above sea level and he processes all his coffee at a cooperative called Asociación de Productores de Café Atitlán (AProCafé). Like all AProCafé members, Pedro grows his coffee using organic fertilizers. This is a washed coffee and the second year that Pedro’s coffee has been separated from the rest of the co-op’s and sold as a microlot, since the quality is that good. Switchback gives us flavor notes of, “chocolate orange, hazelnut, dried fruit” for this coffee and when it was available, it was selling for $17/12oz.
I’m using my standard pourover setup of a 1:16 ratio of 28g of coffee to 450g of Third Wave Water in a notNeutral Gino dripper with Kalita 185 filter and using a Knock Aergrind grinder. This is a medium bodied coffee and right out of the gate the orange is apparent in the flavor, but also very unusual compared with the orange-forward coffees I’ve been enjoying recently. The orange note is sweet and perfumed, and on my first couple sips I thought maybe some dish detergent or something had gotten into my cup (we don’t have anything citrus and I wash everything by hand, so I know that’s not the case!). It doesn’t taste gross or soapy or anything, but the orange note is just very foreign compared to what I’ve encountered with other coffees. As I explore that citrus component more I get a little more tropical vibe from it, like a fruit salad made with orange, mango and pineapple, so I think those tropical notes in there are what are throwing me off a little. Whatever the combination, I’ve not tasted this in coffee before and I enjoy it. Toward the middle of the sip I’m getting some hints of hazelnut. This coffee has a slightly sweet finish and a nice, chocolatey aftertaste between sips. As the cup cools down the orange dies off a bit and it’s more pineapple/tropical in the acidity, for me. This is a sweet, fruity Guatemalan coffee and I think AProCafé is on the money separating Pedro’s lots outs as microlots because it’s excellent!