Honduras Finca La Esmeralda Bourbon Barrel Aged
Limited Edition! We've been experimenting with aging fully washed coffee from our family farm, Finca La Esmeralda, and we're excited to share out results! It's been aged in a barrel previously used for aging Bourbon so the cup has picked up notes of caramel, oak, vanilla and dark chocolate. Treat yourself to an indulgent cup and let us know what you think!
Limited Edition! Does coffee get better when it spends some time hanging out in a bourbon barrel? Well that’s the question we set out to answer by adding our Finca La Esmeralda Fully Washed coffee into a barrel! And not just any barrel – a barrel that had been used in its past life to age good old fashioned Kentucky Bourbon.
First, a bit about the coffee we chose for this experiment: This coffee comes to us direct trade - straight from one of De La Finca’s family farms, Finca La Esmeralda. We’ve processed this coffee in several different ways (all featured here on our site) but for this experiment we chose our fully washed version. It’s clean yet flavorful with lots of body, so it seemed like the perfect candidate to see how the barrel aging process impacted the cup. Before aging, we got sweet and clean notes of peach, pear, florals and cocoa powder.
After aging, it definitely took on some of the flavors you’d expect from the wood as well as the bourbon flavors that soaked into the wood during its previous aging job! The cup is still sweet but now it’s taken on a more caramel character along with that sweet oaky note. There’s a dark chocolate to bittersweet chocolate tone depending on your roast level along with a touch of vanilla. It’s exactly what you’d imagine: a tasty coffee with bourbon but without the alcohol! So give it a try and let us know what you think! This is a very limited run, but we’d love to do more barrel aging if it’s something folks enjoy!
Reminder! This coffee is raw, you must roast it before brewing
Arrival Date: October 10th, 2024. Harvest year: 2024, Packed in GrainPro then aged in a Bourbon Barrel.
Acidity & Brightness: Slightly bright and slightly sweet
Balance & Finish: Complex with a lingering finish
Body & Texture: Rich body and creamy texture
Flavors: Dark chocolate, caramel, oak and vanilla
Grade: SHG-EP, grown at 1750 masl
Certifications: Direct trade & Bird friendly
Processing: Fully washed and sun dried on raised African beds. Once dried and hulled, aged in a charred oak barrel previously used to age bourbon.
Grower: De La Finca Coffee | Finca la Esmeralda
Region: La Sampedrana, Comayagua, Honduras
Varietals: Caturra & Typica
Recommended Roast Range: City+ to Full City+ (Light-Medium to Medium-Dark)
We like this coffee best at medium, but feel free to experiment! You can take it darker if you want to focus on the combination of roasty flavors inherent to oak and bourbon or you can contrast those barrel aged flavors with more origin flavors by keeping the roast on the lighter side of medium. Consider easing back on your typical heat application in order to slow down the roast for a more rounded cup.
De La Finca Coffee - "La Esmeralda is a new DLF Project Farm in the Comayagua region. We bought this farm in 2021 in order to continue experimental processing in the area. La Sampedrama is an under-promoted area in the Comayagua region with high altitude, volcanic soil, and is rich in culture. We wanted a farm in the area where we could have more control over the quality and consistency on larger experimental specialty lots including varietals like geisha, pink bourbon, parainema which we've planted and will be coming in the next few years.”
