Kafferäven Per Nordby – El Cambalache

El Cambalache from Kafferäven Per Nordby has one of my favorite coffee beans, and it’s the Maracaturra. It’s not because it often has a complex taste to it or anything regarding the taste at all. It’s because of its huge bean size, it’s a joy to pick out double or triple the size of a coffee bean rather than the small one.

I’ve actually tried the same coffee but with the washed process instead of honey. Not the same coffee roaster, but that coffee was really hard to work with. This was also kinda hard to brew, I had to change a lot of things like blooming time, grind size. However, when I got the recipe correct the taste was awesome.

I tried it without any info on what the roastery had in their description of the coffee. This is something I always do, I just want to clear that out, and later on, I try to feel the notes they do describe.

This had a very exotic, complex and rich taste to it, it was a bit hard to make a  recipe specific for this coffee, but after ten tries I got it right. Let’s review what they wrote as their description:

“Aromatic, spicy, pineapple, citrus, plum”

First I’ll cup the coffee which means that I’ll try to find different flavors in the coffee. Just to give you as a reader a hint of understanding of what I go through. I’ll also write how to do a cupping. You can read that below:

When I do a cupping I do the following:

1) Grind 11 g coffee in a medium-coarse grind, I’ll remember the coffee’s fragrances now when it is dry to compare with the let grounds later.
2) Pour 180 g of water at a temperature of 93 degrees Celsius.
3) Let it sit for 4 minutes.
4) Stir 3 times and try to find as many scents.
5) Remove all foam that’s formed on the top.
6) Wait for 6 minutes so the coffee cools down and to let the coffee grounds fall down to the bottom, then I’ll take my first slurp with a deep spoon. The idea is that you will spray the coffee inside your mouth. That way you will be able to easily recognize the tones contained in the coffee.
7) Wait for 6 minutes and do the same procedure, the reason behind step 7 is that it’s the most optimal time for tasting coffee. If the coffee is still good after 12-15 minutes, then it is a high-quality coffee!

Cupping notes:
Exotic fruits, rich body & complex.

Information and recipe for the coffee:

Origin: Nicaragua
Variety: Maracaturra
Producer: Samuel Zavala
Region:  Dipilto, Nueva Segovia
Process: Honey
Altitude: 1 350 – 1 650 masl.

Pour Over: 

20g coffee coarse grind
300g of filtered water
40g bloom 90 seconds
91 degrees Celsius

1) Pour 40g water for blooming for 90 seconds.
2) 90 seconds in, begin your continuous center pour of 240g of water.
3) Stop the dripper at 4 minutes and 15 seconds

*Always rinse the paper filter with filtered hot water, don’t forget to wash the coffee server with clean water afterward, because the taste of the paper might linger.

Review:
I like when coffee is complex. It’s often hard to describe as well to brew. But when you hit the spot like slow pours or having 90 seconds blooming, it will enhance the complexity to the coffee and it’s something that I do prefer a lot.

I’ve written it before and I’ll do that again. Kafferäven Per Nordby are one of our most famous coffee roasteries in Sweden and this just proves it. I’m very happy with El Cambalache and I hope their next coffee will be as good as this one!

Rating: 8.0/10

The rating is only based on taste and quality and is not based on price.