Core - Brunswick
Welcome to Core! My new favourite roaster out of Brunswick. Run by Michael (ex small batch) and Dani, Core showcases coffees that are expressive of their origin. The quality of their product is showcased at their brew bar in Brunswick. It's definitely worth a visit as Michael is often brewing up some awesome recipes on their suite of Decent Espresso machines.
"At Core, we choose coffees that are expressive of their origin and roast them with care to showcase and celebrate what’s important; people and flavour.
We make considered choices about the raw ingredients we buy, the people we work with, and even the boxes we put our coffee in -knowing that each decision will have a lasting impact on our environment and everyone from producers, to you - our customers.
We love nothing more than the look on someone’s face when they take that first sip, or first bite, or first sniff and they are transported to their happy place. We want to provide you with the best things to fill your cups and your senses. Because we know that’s what gets your day started and gets you over that afternoon hump. It’s those moments, those short breaks from the world that can make life a little bit more enjoyable."
"Over the last few seasons, Zukuka Bora has built a name for themselves with their experimental processing methods. They’re the only ones making honey and natural processed coffees in Uganda, and they’ve been working with extended oxygen deprived fermentation to add value to the farmer’s coffee. Their 2021 harvest produced a coffee that got the highest price in the ‘Pearl of Africa’ auction! Commonfolk’s own roastery team has been helping them run experiments using various brewers yeasts, with particular success using the yeast used to make champagne. This year, they’re even experimenting with natural fermentations mixed with local fruits like pineapple and passionfruit. Can you imagine drinking coffee that tastes like pineapple and passionfruit?"
Producer - Local farmers contributing to Zukuka Bora
Origin - Mt Elgon, Uganda
Roast date - 07/10/2024
Variety - SL14 & SL28
Process - Honey
Flavour notes - pineapple, guava, milo, pomelo, condensed milk, vanilla & star fruit
"Arsosala is a washing station founded in 2015 that currently serves about 1,200 smallholder producers in the Uraga woreda of Guji. Coffees are picked ripe and depulped the same day, then fermented overnight before being washed clean and dried on raised beds. It typically takes the coffee 8–15 days to dry under sun and 15–20 days to dry when there are cloudy skies.
Coffees in Ethiopia are typically grown on very small plots of land by farmers who also grow other crops. The majority of smallholders will deliver their coffee in cherry to a nearby washing station or central processing unit, where their coffee will be sorted, weighed, and paid for or given a receipt. Coffee is then processed, usually washed or natural, by the washing station and dried on raised beds.
The washing stations serve as many as several hundred to sometimes a thousand or more producers, who deliver cherry throughout the harvest season: The blending of these cherries into day lots makes it virtually impossible under normal circumstances to know precisely whose coffee winds up in which bags on what day, making traceability to the producer difficult. We do, however, make every available effort to source coffee from the same washing stations every year, through our export partners and their connections with mills and washing stations."
Producer - 1,200 Local farmers contributing to Arsosala Washing Station
Origin - Guji, Ethiopia
Roast date - 07/12/2024
Variety - Heirloom
Process - Honey
Flavour notes - grape, lemon, cherry cola, toffee, peach iced tea, white flowers, milk chocolate
"Finca El Paraíso-92 is a family farm that produces different varieties such as Java, Pink Bourbon, Geisha, Pacamara, Caturra, Tabi, Castillo, Supremo and Colombia using highly innovative cultivation systems such as terraces, drip irrigation, shady and nutrition calculations in laboratory all aimed at producing a unique coffee that can be verified through the multiple awards obtained. Finca Paraiso-92 also has its own microbiology laboratory, quality laboratory and processing plant.
The processes applied to the different coffees start from a strict selection, sterilization and characterization of the cherry to later start with the first phase of controlled anaerobic fermentation, adding a specific microorganism for each process, then the coffee is pulped and subjected to a second fermentation phase, when the second phase ends, a bean sealing process is carried out through impacts of hot and cold water to improve the organoleptic conditions of the coffee.
Chemical engineer turned top notch coffee grower, Wilton Benitez is one to know. With his evasive and acclaimed thermo shock processing techniques, working with Wilton has been watching a master at work. He is a highly specialised coffee producer, with a lifetime of experience in cultivating exotic and sought after coffee.
Wilton’s company has a processing plant in the region of Cauca, Colombia, where he and his team ensure the same standard of quality, from regional lots to microlots.
At his farm, El Paraiso 92, Wilton grows over ten different varieties, implementing a crazy array of innovative cultivation systems and processing techniques. Think drip irrigation, shade-growth and terraces. Think anaerobic fermentation, introduced microorganisms and strict selection. "
Producer - Wilton Benitez
Origin - Piendamo, Cauca, Colombia
Roast date - 07/10/2024
Variety - Tabi
Process - Thermo-shock natural
Flavour notes - milk chocolate, guava, honey, rose, blood orange, strawberry jam, golden syrup
"Over the last few seasons, Zukuka Bora has built a name for themselves with their experimental processing methods. They’re the only ones making honey and natural processed coffees in Uganda, and they’ve been working with extended oxygen deprived fermentation to add value to the farmer’s coffee. Their 2021 harvest produced a coffee that got the highest price in the ‘Pearl of Africa’ auction! Commonfolk’s own roastery team has been helping them run experiments using various brewers yeasts, with particular success using the yeast used to make champagne. This year, they’re even experimenting with natural fermentations mixed with local fruits like pineapple and passionfruit. Can you imagine drinking coffee that tastes like pineapple and passionfruit?"
Producer - Local farmers contributing to Zukuka Bora
Origin - Mt Elgon, Uganda
Roast date - 07/10/2024
Variety - SL14 & SL28
Process - Honey
Flavour notes - cherry jam, toffee apple, mulled wine, icing sugar, cola, lime cordial, strawberry jelly
"This coffee brought us great joy when we cupped it. It was one sip in, and we decided to buy some, and you better believe you’ll be seeing this year after year from now. We’ve roasted this coffee with a focus on maintaining the supremely clean character this has for a naturally processed coffee. We’ve kept it light, swift, and if we’ve done it right, you’ll get to experience the full spectrum of crisp florals and jammy fruit sweetness this great coffee has to offer.
From our import partner Osito:
Sookoo Coffee is perhaps the most foundational relationship of Osito's in Ethiopia, which, generally, is one of our greatest countries of focus. We have been working with Sookoo's founder, Ture Waji, since our earliest days of sourcing in Ethiopia. Ture and his brother, Assefa, founded the company (legally, Dambi Uddo Agro Industry) in late 2018/early 2019. In that same harvest, Osito delivered to Dambi Uddo their very first registered purchase contract. Sookoo Coffee is located in Odo Shakiso within the Oromia Region and Guji Zone of Ethiopia and produces both naturally processed and washed coffees with cherry sourced from the surrounding kebeles. Lots are typically named for the kebele from which the cherry comes (e.g. Shoondhisa or Bookkisa).
Most of the cherry being delivered are one of two varieties; Gibirinna 74110 and Serto 74112. Both of these are from the Metu Bishari selections made in the forest of the same name in the Illubabor Zone by the Jimma Agricultural Research Center (JARC) in 1974. They were selected for their resistance to Coffee Berry Disease (CBD {no, not THAT CBD...}). Now, they are some of the most propagated varieties in Ethiopia.
The cherries are all dried at a centralized location on raised beds at an elevation of 2173 masl for around 15-20 days in very thin layers. They are moved and rotated frequently to ensure even and precise drying. The net results of all the effort are some of the most vibrant and pristinely clean coffees we buy. Unlike many naturals, they present with high florality and acid with very little booziness. They are often described as "Ethiopia first, natural processing second." "
Producer - Local farmers from Bookkisa Kebele
Origin - Guji, Ethiopia
Roast date - 07/10/2024
Variety - Gibirinna 74110 & Serto 74112
Process - Natural
Flavour notes - red grape, green apple, negroni, peach candy, umeshu, kiwi, rhubarb
Recipes
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Espresso - 9 bar Brew ratio - 1:2.5 (dry coffee : espresso liquid) Temp - 94 Deg C Time - 25-30 seconds. *Adjust grind size to achieve the desired time
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Espresso - 6 bar Brew ratio - 1:3 (dry coffee : espresso liquid) Temp - 94 Deg C Time - 25-30 seconds. *Adjust grind size to achieve the desired time
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Pourover Temp - off the boil Ratio - 1:16 (dry coffee:water) Bloom - 30 seconds Flow rate - fast *Adjust grind size to achieve desired flow rate |
Aeropress Temp - off the boil Ratio - 1:16 (dry coffee : water) Bloom - 30 seconds Brew time - 90 seconds (including bloom) Press consistently over 15-20 seconds. |
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Stove top Ratio - 1 - 10 (dry coffee : water) |
