On June 14, 2010, Case Study Coffee was born. But the story actually begins before that. In 1999, Christine and Wes were pursuing their own work fields when specialty coffee as we know it was starting in Portland. Christine was pursuing her culinary passion of all things food and drink and Wes was involved various tech-related endeavors. They lived close to the original Stumptown at the time and quickly became regulars. Wes began experimenting with making coffee at home, tinkering with customizing machines and perfecting the art of making espresso at home. They knew they wanted to start a business together and thought that coffee would be the perfect mashup of their interests and skills. Christine could pursue her interest...
We've seen an amazing run of 5 coffees from Colombia come through our doors over the last few months, and we end our season of Colombian coffees with a beautiful relationship coffee from Carlos Trujillo and his family of Patio Bonito. As with many of the coffees in this series, it's story with Case Study started in a blind cupping (coffee tasting) in Colombia. Once again I was smitten with one (this) particular coffee, and had one distinct tasting note for it - guava. I knew we would carry this coffee because I was in love with it. Amongst all it's competition on the table it stood out as a dead ringer for this tropical fruit, along with the familiar satisfying body and chocolate backbone. Visiting the Trujillo's farm...
This week marks the 3rd Colombian lot we've seen at our shops, and what an exciting coffee it is! We've developed a direct relationship with producer Rodrigo Sanchez in order to offer coffee from his amazing farm, El Progreso. On my trip to Huila, Colombia last June, Rodrigo was gracious enough to show us around his beautiful farm as well as a few other neighboring farms (one of which was El Oso, which you all are familiar with by now). Rodrigo's farm and coffee processing are pristine - from his Bourbon and Caturra trees to his meticulously hand-built, on-site washing station. Rodrigo has even set some land aside and planted Geisha variety, both for its cup quality and it's natural resistance to leaf rust. We...
It’s June, and we are at the dry mill of Banexport in Pitalito, Colombia, in the Huila Department. This was our first cupping of microlots from small-farm producers in the Huila region. All in all, our group would cup approximately 32 different producers' lots that morning. In attendance were a couple of producers whose lots were on the cupping table. This lot, THIS lot. This would be Case Study’s coffee - it tasted like cherry pie and chocolate, and I was determined to represent it. Low and behold, this particular lot came from one of the producers present at the cupping - Marisol Bolanos of Finca El Oso (the Bear). As the group of roasters present weighed in as...
Traditional Colombian coffee bags at Banexport's dry mill in Pitalito, Huila Department, Colombia In June I was fortunate enough to travel to Colombia with a handful of other roasters to source some beautiful microlots for our shops. As with my trip to Guatemala, my goals were to develop relationships with just a couple of producers that we could work with year after year. And, as with my trip to Guatemala, I ended up developing more than just a couple of relationships with spectacular producers and buying way more coffee than I originally intended! I get so excited about the coffees I’ve discovered on my trips, the farmers I meet, and their farms I’ve visited, that I ultimately end up wanting to...
