On the shelf · roasted Tuesday and Thursday

Six lots, and the sheet each one was dropped on.

Whole bean or ground to your brewer. Posted the afternoon it comes off the drum, free over £30.

Karimikui

Kirinyaga, Kenya · washed · SL28, SL34, Ruiru 11

blackcurrant · grapefruit pith · cane sugar

The loudest coffee on the list and the one we argue about least. Kenyan washed lots carry enough acid to survive a light roast without tasting green, so we take it to 203 °C and stop — a minute and forty-five past the crack, no more. Any longer and the blackcurrant flattens into plum, which is a perfectly nice thing to drink and not what we paid for.

Drop: 203 °C
Development: 1:45 · 17.4 %
Weight loss: 14.6 %
250 g bag: £14.50

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Alaka

Guji, Ethiopia · washed · Local landrace selections

bergamot · white peach · jasmine

The densest green we have and the fussiest. It wants heat early and then to be left alone: we charge two degrees under everything else, take the longest drying phase on the sheet, and drop it the moment the crack settles. It is the only lot we will not sell as espresso — it makes a thin, sharp shot and a remarkable filter, and we would rather say so.

Drop: 202 °C
Development: 1:32 · 15.8 %
Weight loss: 14.1 %
250 g bag: £15.60

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Gitwe

Nyamasheke, Rwanda · natural · Red Bourbon

strawberry · cocoa nib · black tea

Naturals carry their own sugar into the drum and will scorch if you let the drum run hot at the wall, so this one gets a slower ramp and more air from the turning point on. Landed a fortnight ago and still tightening up; the fruit is louder now than it will be in a month, which is the argument for buying it this week.

Drop: 204 °C
Development: 1:46 · 17.0 %
Weight loss: 15.4 %
250 g bag: £13.20

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La Ilusión

Chalatenango, El Salvador · honey · Pacas, Bourbon

red apple · demerara · almond

The everyday one. Honey process leaves some mucilage on the seed through drying, which gives you the body of a natural without the fruit shouting, and it takes an extra six degrees without complaint. This is the lot we hand people who say they do not like light roasts, and it is the one most of our standing orders settle on by the third bag.

Drop: 206 °C
Development: 1:52 · 17.5 %
Weight loss: 15.1 %
250 g bag: £12.40

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Cerro Azul

Valle del Cauca, Colombia · washed · Castillo, Caturra

milk chocolate · orange peel · toffee

Our espresso lot, and the one we roast most of. Two degrees past the point where the acid stops leading, so it takes milk without disappearing and still tastes of somewhere. Nine of the eleven cafés we supply pour this as their house shot. If you want one bag to keep in the cupboard permanently, this is it.

Drop: 208 °C
Development: 2:08 · 19.3 %
Weight loss: 16.0 %
250 g bag: £11.80

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Sítio Bela Vista

Mantiqueira, Brazil · natural · Yellow Catuaí

roasted hazelnut · dark chocolate · brown sugar

The darkest thing we make and the bottom of the ramp — 211 °C, two minutes and twenty-two seconds after the crack, and not a second past it. There is no second crack in this coffee and there never will be; we stop short of it deliberately, because the oils that come out at second crack go stale in a fortnight. Sweet, heavy, and the one that works in a cafetière.

Drop: 211 °C
Development: 2:22 · 20.6 %
Weight loss: 16.8 %
250 g bag: £10.90

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Buying for a café or an office? The wholesale ladder starts at £19.40 a kilo and drops to £16.20 over twenty kilos a week.

Open a wholesale account 0114 496 0330