Apr. 6, 2020
Meet Julio. It would be an understatement to say that he does a lot of things around here. On an average day, you can find him running our cuppingCupping is a method of tasting coffee by steeping grounds in separate cups for discrete amounts of ground coffee, to reveal good flavors and defects to their fullest.... lab, managing warehouse projects and working on Bullet roasters. He’s real handy with a Probat L12 too, so if you have been purchasing roasted coffee from us over the past few years, Julio probably roasted it. It’s also an understatement to say that Julio knows good coffee so check out what coffees he’s selected for this month’s Staff Picks.
Name: Julio Nungaray
Position: Cupping Lab Manager, Facilities Manager, Tom’s Assistant, Head Roaster, Aillio Bullet Technician and many other things.
Coffee Approach: I have been a part of Sweet Maria’s team since 2015. This my first coffee job, but coffee has always been a very important part of my daily life. If you asked me 10 years ago what coffees I liked, I would say an ashyThe smell or taste of ash, such as an ashtray, cigarette smoke, or fireplace. Often a roast defect.: A quality in aroma or flavor similar to that of... espressoA small coffee beverage, about 20 ml, prepared on an espresso machine where pressurized hot water extracted through compressed coffee.: In its most stripped-down, basic form, this is... or a very dark roast drip with sugar and cream. Then I encountered black coffee without sugar or cream for the first time in Sweet Maria’s employee break room (you will never find sugar or cream there).
Since trying specialty coffeeSpecialty coffee was a term devised to mean higher levels of green coffee quality than average "industrial coffee" or "commercial coffee". At this point, the term is of... for the first time at Sweet Maria’s, I have developed an unbelievable love for this amazing drink. I consider myself a very lucky person to be working next to Tom in the Lab. I am able to see, roast, and cup all our coffees from offers, pre-shipments to arrivals. I have developed a preference for clean, tea-likeA term used to describe coffees with light, tannic, slighly astringent mouthfeel and tea aromatics. We find it in some Rwandan flavor profiles, among others. and floralFloral notes in coffee exemplify the connection between taste and smell. Describing the taste of a specific flower is near impossible...we always default to “it tastes like it... coffees.
Fun Fact: I have an 8-year-old son that loves the beach. Sometimes he acts like an old dude, asking to stay in a 5-star hotel for his birthday and he just wanted to watch movies and order room service (I think he watched home alone too many times).
My Picks:
BurundiBurundi coffee bears resemblance to neighboring Rwanda, in both cup character, but also the culture surrounding coffee. Burundi is a small landlocked country at the crossroads of East... Kayanza Gahahe: My second favorite originIn coffee talk, it refers to a coffee-producing region or country; such as, "I was just at origin." Of course "Origin" for most product we use is not... from Africa. To me, Burundi’s coffees offer the best tea-like experience. I roasted this coffee to City on a Bullet. I am a fan of light roasts and this coffee shines at City with sweet, clean, and that bright lemonLemon notes, as well as other related citrusy flavors or acidities, are prized in coffee. These usually express themselves as a bright accent in the cup, or aromatic... spritz at the end, but do not hesitate to stretch it a little bit more after the first crackFirst crack in one of two distinct heat-induced pyrolytic reactions in coffee. It is distinguished by a cracking or popping sound in the coffee, and occurs between 390..., maybe to a City + if you like a little more bodyAssociated with and sensed by mouthfeel, body is sense of weight and thickness of the brew, caused by the percentage of soluble solids in the cup, including all... and chocolateA general flavor or aroma term reminiscent of chocolate. But what type? Usually described with more specifics.: Chocolate is a broad, general flavor or aroma term reminiscent of.... It will hold its brightnessA euphemistic term we use often to describe acidity in coffee. A bright coffee has more high, acidic notes. : A euphemistic term to describe acidity in coffee.....
ColombiaColombian coffee is highly marketed and widely available in the US. They have been largely successful at equating the name Colombian Coffee with "Good" Coffee. This is half-true.... Inza Las Estrellas: Coffees from Inza are never a disappointment, especially this lot that we have received for years in a row. Again, I did a light roast to bring out those tea-like flavors that I am obsessed with and this one has my favorite spice, “clove”, along with panelaPanela is the minimally processed sugar with floral and vanilla accents: Found in Colombia (and noted to be best in Pitalito and Pedregal), Panela is tan-colored cakes of... sweetnessSweetness is an important positive quality in fine coffees, and is one of five basic tastes: Sour, Sweet, Salty, Bitter, Savory (Umami). In coffee, sweetness is a highly... and bitterBitterness is one of 5 basic tastes: Sour, Sweet, Salty, Bitter and Umami (savory flavors). There are many types of bitterness, hence not one avenue to tracking down... notes of golden appleAn acid that adds to favorable perceptions of cup quality; malic acid often adds apple-like acidity, and perhaps other taste aspects recalling apples. Malic acid is yet another.... Delicious. If you let it roll a little more you will not be disappointed since those dark fruitedIn some coffee taster’s lexicon, “fruity” means the coffee is tainted with fruit, and “fruited” means a coffee is graced by positive fruit notes. We don't exactly see... notes will start to show up.
EthiopiaEthiopia, formerly known as Abyssinia, or a coffee cultivar: Ethiopia, or more specifically the Empire under Haile Selassie, was known as Abyssinia. The name is Latin, derived from... Limu Musa Aba Lulesa: I left the best for last. Ethiopia is my favorite origin, especially Ethiopias from the Limu region. The cup is so clean and bright at City roastCity roast is what we define as the earliest palatable stage that the roast process can be stopped and result in good quality coffee. City roast occurs roughly.... I did a City roast on a Bullet, let it roll just over 2 minutes past first crackAn audible popping sound heard during roasting. In coffee, one refers to "first crack" and "second crack," which come from two different classes of chemical reactions.: An audible... and got the perfect amount of citrus flavors plus those peach and apricot notes that I love tasting in Limu coffees.
Hey Aillio Bullet users! Here’s the roast profiles.