Quakers

Clodius

Today something novel happened to me, when I opened the bag of Ethiopian washed coffee from Wogan I found a lot of beans that were much lighter. Emailed Wogan and they’re sending a new bag out. Their head roaster also said “it’s simply a coffee with a fairly high number of differently coloured beans unfortunately”.

Spent the evening sorting through them and got the quakers out. I wasn’t going to waste good coffee, it was actually therapeutic and found that about 8% of them were like this.

I’m tempted to grind and brew them as well just to see if it’s just a visual thing

dfk41

Clodius Was the coffee a single origin or a blend?

Inspector

Clodius wonder how they d taste if you were to grind them and brew. Or just do a cupping.

Clodius

Single origin - Ethiopia, Kilenso Mokonsia, Sidamo

https://wogancoffee.com/products/ethiopia-kilenso-mokonsia-sidamo?variant=55820122784118

dfk41

Clodius It seems to be a blend of 3 beans. WiIl they not roast each variant individually then simply mix them together in a ’magic formula? If this is the case I would worry less about appearance as long as you enjoy the overall taste. I drink blended coffee rather than SO coffee and have ben drinking the same blend for nearly a year now. I have noticed exactly the same as your description then the last bag I opened a couple of days ago, there is no bean colour variation with this batch but I cannot detect any taste difference. It can be a strange world!

Clodius

But it’s not, it’s single origin. Anyway, free coffee, new beans on their way.

dfk41

Clodius Excuse my old age! It is not a bean I am familiar with! In that case, pursue them to the gates of hell! How on earth did it pass QC?

Patrick

Inspector wonder how they d taste if you were to grind them and brew. Or just do a cupping

Not good. Quakers are underdeveloped beans so they have low sugars content which fail to caramalise properly during roasting.

Clodius

@Inspector I am tempted to brew them. Will have a go this weekend when I have a bit more time.

crimson89

As far as I’m aware this is not uncommon in Ethiopian coffee. Although thought as single origin the beans are usually “heirloom” and there is a wild variation in the different subtypes ending up with a blend effectively from a single origin farm.. perhaps there is a price to pay for better quality-controlled Ethiopian coffee.

Clodius

Got a the replacement bag from a different farm and it looks perfectly fine. Not sure what happened. I did order the coffee after the cut off time (on a Friday at 3 PM). They state that they ship only orders placed before 1PM. I’m suspecting they gave me leftovers. Not sure, but will think about ordering this type twice.