Good morning and welcome to today’s review. I’m checking out Flatlands Coffee’s La Union, a Colombian selection from the Nariño department that Flatlands was stoked to offer to customers. Slurp!
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Other reviews in this series: Brazil Fazenda Santuario | Ethiopia Limu Lot 008
FLATLANDS COFFEE COLOMBIA LA UNION
Flatlands Coffee got their start around late 2014 with a successful Kickstarter campaign (for all you Kickstarters out there, though, their first one didn’t fly, so be persistent if you have a good idea!).They started off with an emphasis on barista skills and being a multiroaster shop, carrying and serving coffee from other roasters. Co-founder, Ben Vollmar, had previous experience in coffee, wanting to own his own shop since high school. In 2019, Flatlands was one of three companies in the US to have more than one barista qualify to compete in the US Barista Championships. Ben’s wife, interior designer Cassy Vollmar, handled the design aspects of their shop, which they opened in Bowling Green, OH in 2015. The space has a sleek, modern look juxtaposing the 200 year old bricks on the walls. As with a lot of multiroaster shops, Flatlands developed their own preferences and, today, roasts their own coffee in a “Nordic” style (which is light) according to their website.
This morning’s coffee is Flatlands’ La Union, which is a lot they scored from Red Fox Coffee Merchants, a well regarded importer here in the USA. Ben said, “This was one of our first direct purchases from Red Fox Coffee Merchants that amazed us so much, we’ve quickly come to watch their offerings like a hawk.” This coffee is a lot put together from various smallholder farmers near La Union, in the Nariño department of Colombia. Elevation for growing is 1500-1800masl and this is a mix of Caturra, Colombia and Castillo varieties. As you’d expect from Colombia, this is a washed coffee. Nariño is home to many of the smallest landholders in Colombia’s coffee business and new farms are discovered all the time in the peaks and valleys of this difficult territory. Flatlands gives us tasting notes of, “white peach, gingersnap, hazelnut, currant” for this coffee and says, “This coffee has a subtle lace of vibrancy, adding interest within each sip, and is anchored with smooth chocolate and nut-like flavor.”
Sounds freaking awesome!
I’m using my standard pourover method for this coffee, which is a 1:16 ratio of 22g of coffee to 352g of Third Wave Water in a Trinity Origin dripper with Kalita 155 filter. My grinder is a Knock Aergrind and I pulse pour through a Melodrip to minimize agitation of the coffee bed during brewing. This coffee got a 30 second bloom and a total brew time of 3:24.
The aroma on this coffee isn’t going to sound appealing, but I’m getting some sweetness and some boiled peas notes! LOL Taking a sip, it’s a totally different story with no boiled veggies whatsoever and instead a delicious cup of warm flavor notes. On the front end of the sip I’m getting honey sweetness with a hint of molasses and some baking spices. I’m getting a floral note in here that is subtle and reminds me of a floral hop in a beer, although I wouldn’t say I’m getting any actual hoppy type notes from this cup. That floral hit is really nice and comes with other higher notes of fruits, acidity and sweetness. There is definitely peach, and I’d even agree with the specifically “white peach” note from Flatland in this coffee, and readers know I am a sucker for peach-forward coffees. I just love them! There is a lot of peach in this cup, for me, and a little bit of tartness that comes with stone fruits, a little more than a fresh peach, but less than an apricot. That tart note brightens this coffee up a lot and brings a nice structure to the cup. It persists through the sip and well into the aftertaste, which lingers for as long as I’ll let it. This is a medium bodied coffee and has a slick mouthfeel for me, like an oatmeal stout or porter. As the cup cools toward room temperature this coffee is turning into a bit of a gulper for me. I’m taking a lot of big sips and just loving the heck out of this coffee. I see why this coffee excited Flatlands so much! This is an interesting coffee to me because the range of flavors is pretty limited, but it’s still reading as being complex and that’s because of that floral/peach/slight tart hit in the flavors. There’s so much dimension to that trio that it’s giving me a lot to think about with each sip and to try to tease out of the cup. This is a nice lesson, for me, that complex coffees don’t need to necessarily have a lot of flavors going on, they can be pretty focused, like this La Union, but the complexity can be found in the nuances of the flavors instead of the volume of flavor notes. I’m sure after 4 years of reviewing coffee here on KC Coffee Geek I “know” that, but this is the first time the thought has really hit me in the way I just expressed it.
Getting back to this coffee, it’s a pleasure to drink! Flatlands is 3/3 with me right now, and I love it! This is a beautiful coffee that has something for the most experienced drinker and would still be a fantastic cup for someone who just wants a balanced, delicious, warm cup to drink. Perfect! The only bad news here is that it’s not listed on Flatlands Coffee’s website anymore, so it’s sold out or out of rotation right now, and let’s hope for the latter. Based on my experience with Flatlands, though, you can pick anything in their lineup and be pleased with it, so check out their other current offerings and see what tickles your fancy!