Colombian Honey Process Tasting Results

The results of Saturday's tasting are in. The decision has been made. Special thanks to Those Coffee People for sharing samples of yellow honey and black honey!

The purpose of the tasting on August 10th was to decide which honey processed coffee to purchase. I was given samples of yellow honey and black honey.

In summary we tasted 18 different variables of coffee between the process, the roasting levels and preparation methods.

-2 processes: Yellow and Black Honey

-3 roasting levels for each processing: Light, Medium and Dark

-3 preparations for each roasting level: French Press, Cold Brew and Espresso

Suffice to say, we were all wired afterwards! I do want to extend a special thanks to everyone who participated, your feedback is very much appreciated!

Here's the setup.

I actually had more beans available for sampling this time than normal, so I was able to have them on display.

Under the spoons of the beans is the evaluation sheet everyone filled out.

The criteria for evaluating the coffee is rather open-ended, but still addressing the most important question for a customer: Does it taste good?

Each coffee is graded on a scale of 1-5

1. Not very good.

2. Mediocre

3. Decent, but not exciting.

4. Worth trying at a different roasting level.

5. Excited to see this in the new lineup!

Here are the findings from Saturday's tasting.

Yellow Honey Process

Light Roast:

-Espresso, not recommended. Overly acidic and weak-bodied. (1)

-Cold brew, somewhat dull, but notes of fruit (3)

-Hot coffee, cools well without the "sip of death" notes of cherry with raspberry tartness when it cooled completely. (3)

Medium Roast:

-Espresso, not much better than the light roast. Still very acidic, but a little fruitiness. (3)

-Cold brew, fruit is more noticeable than light roast. (3)

-Hot coffee, also cooled well. Mild nuttiness began showing. (3)

Dark Roast:

-Espresso, best of the dark roast. Good crema, full-bodied, a hint of fruit in the back. (5)

-Cold brew, most developed of the cold brews for yellow honey. Stronger fruit and nuts. (5)

-Hot coffee, cools well like the light and the medium. Overall the most developed of the yellow honeys. (5)

Final Score: 3.4= Average

Black Honey Process

Light Roast:

-Espresso, surprisingly not overly-acidic. Notes of fruit and good crema (3)

-Cold brew, refreshing with notes of stone fruit and honey. (4)

-Hot coffee, cools well without the "sip of death" similar to yellow honey, but instead of fresh cherry it was more like dried cherry (4)

Medium Roast:

-Espresso, balanced with a good crema (4)

-Cold brew, comparable to the Red Bomb as a cold brew! I nearly fell out of my chair when I tasted it. (5)

-Hot coffee, also cooled well. This is when I first noticed the honey smoothness I know and love about a honey process. (5)

Dark Roast:

-Espresso, best of the dark roast. Also overall best of the tasting as well. Beautiful crema, velvety smooth and warm honey and fruit. (5)

-Cold brew, also similar to Red Bomb, but flavor profile was clearly on the other side of the curve for development. (4)

-Hot coffee, cools well like the light and the medium. Surprisingly smooth for a dark roast with chocolate and even notes of vanilla. (5)

Final Score: 4.3= A good choice!

And the Roaster's Choice is: Black Honey Process

 

With its versatility and warm honey smoothness, this is too good of a coffee to pass up!

The order has been placed and should be here within a week or two, so keep your eyes on the website for when it arrives.

Also keep your eyes on the website and social media for the next tasting. The coffee tastings are every month on the 2nd Saturday at 3:00pm in the coffee shop.

As of the publishing date of this post, the next tasting will be 9/14/2024 3:00pm. The cost for reservations will be $10. With the reservation, you will get:

-A lot of really exciting new coffees to taste.

-A $5 discount on a custom roast order among being the first to access it.