More Hasbean...
This is a list of "some" of the others sites/projects we have at Has Bean we like to call the "Has Bean Empire" please take a look give us some feedback on the other things we do.
This is a list of "some" of the others sites/projects we have at Has Bean we like to call the "Has Bean Empire" please take a look give us some feedback on the other things we do.
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Grown in the Viphya North Hills on the grassland plateau overlooking Lake Malawi, this micro lot is of the Geisha vareital. Geisha is an ancient and very rare coffee variety that has gianed a lot of favour of late. The agronomic yield of Geisha is extremely low, which is why it is so difficult to find commercial plantations of this variety. One of the reasons for its new found popularity is an auction lot that fetched a huge premium, in fact it was the most expenisive coffee ever, which in some areas led to a huge rush to rip out perfectly good plant stock and replace it with a varietal that tends only to work at a higher altitude and in perfect growing conditions.
To find out more about Geisha read here or here but it is enough to say the varietal is very controversial.
The good news about the Msese Geisha Micro Lot is that it has been growing in this location for a very long time at an altitude of 1600m above sea level upwards, and it's great tasting.
In the cup expect the very creamy mouthfeel that you would expect from a great washed African coffee, followed by a delicous tropical fruit burst that pings your mouth with pineapple, apricot and all sorts of summer fruits. Great mouthfeel, great flavours, add to this a great price. It's just great coffee.
Posted by Dario "NebuK" on 18th Apr 2010
When i received this package from hasbean i was anxious to try out all those exciting new coffees. I started roasting this Msese. In the roast-process i noticed a few things - first the honey-ish smell of the yellow-phase was quite low compared to other african coffees. Also, the first crack was very inaudible making it hard to roast decently for cupping.
As for my final roast i've tried a quite long drying phase follow by trying to turn down the acidity in the cup quite a bit (hopefully resulting in a more pleasurable fruit-note) by streching the time between the cracks.
This roast used in frenchpress or handfilter was ... i can't even describe it. It was very fruity, very nice not-so-sharp notes of pineapple and maybe even a slight hint of over-ripe oranges (super sweet!). But what really made me love this coffee is the mouthfeel. When trying fruitbomb south-americans you normally expect a very "slim", "line"-like mouthfeel, no "full" mouthfeel that you can enjoy. This coffee is different - it has a great, very wide and "huge" mouthfeel, very creamy, it has very present and pleasurable fruit-notes and sweetness. Note that i'm not talking about "chocolate based sweetness" but rather "fruit-based sweetness", more like a over-ripe apple than a chocolate-bar :P.
In espresso this coffee was hard to get right. When brewed with normal parameters (9.4Bar, 93-94*C, 16.5g, 27s) all it had was there - but overtoned by a super-acidic note that wasn't very pleasant. So after a few hours of tinkering, trying i got it right - i use a front-cut ristretto (first 2-3 drops into drip tray) with almost 30s of extraction time with a higher pressure (9.8bar) and almost 96*C - it suits the coffee very well. The taste stays in the mouth very long without getting unpleasant, the fruit notes are all still there, but the acidity toned down to a level that fits the fruityness, and the sweetness ... well - as said, its not the choco-sweetness we're used to, but it's there - and it kicks ass!
This coffee is a great experience - i would recommend it everyone who loves to try great (but difficult) coffees with extraordinary taste combinations.
Posted by Marcus on 1st Mar 2010
A very, very nice coffee indeed. Lovely to drink from the french press. Good flavour coming through a cappucino. Tasty as a single origin espresso as well! (Looking forward to playing around with it in an espresso blend at home.)
Well worth throwing a bag into your cart.
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