Yulissa Chambi

Tasting Notes: Red Grape, Poached Pear, Squash Blossom

Description: This is a great example of a “normal” or “common” coffee variety that is elevated by the dedication and attention to detail from the producer. In this way it reminds us of the Peruvian Field blend from Merly Leon that we had in our first release. Similar to that coffee, this Red Catuai has all the things you want out of a sweetness forward South American coffee, however with a surprisingly large amount of acid, complexity, and florals as well. We’ve decided to roast this one a shade darker than usual; likely still what many would consider “Ultra-Light” but a little more focused on sweetness and acidity. This coffee makes an excellent and complex pour over but we suspect it will make particularly good espresso as well.

The incredible producer in question is Yulissa Chambi. She is a young and notable producer from Caranavi, Bolivia who after becoming interested in specialty coffee, renovated and replanted her family farm for specialty coffee, learned about processing, roasting, brewing, and even won the Bolivia national Aeropress championship! While Yulissa makes some excellent anaerobic washed coffees, we’ve decided to go with her classic washed: sorted and floated, depulped, 20 hours of open tank fermentation, washed, and dried on raised beds.

Impressions: In the aroma we get bright, juicy, and sweet red grapes followed by cooked orchard fruit like poached pear and cinnamon apples. The aroma ends with squash blossom, melon, and apple blossom. In the taste we get the acidity of red grapes and red fruit like raspberry up front followed by sweet and floral poached pear in the mid-palate before ending with a black tea finish.