Floral, Currant, Stone Fruit
Item information
El Balsamo
Item information
Amazonas, Peru
Description
Variety: Caturra
Processing: Washed
Origin: Amazona, Peru
Producer: Ciro Castro Ramirez
Altitude: 1900m
El Balsamo is a farm owned by Ciro Castro Ramirez in Cajamarca. Ciros farm sits above 1800M in San Jose, Lourdes, near the borders of Ecuador; mainly growing Caturra and Bourbon. The processing protocol consists of selective harvest, pulping the same day of harvest, an average fermentation of 24-36 hours, washed with clean water, then dried on palets or solar tents. The Ramirez family farm is surrounded by natural forests with plenty of spring water, dedicated to the cultivation of coffee, livestock, and fish. Ciro is a member of the Norcafe Cooperative, that focuses on the support of young farmers, and the social-economic-enviromental development of the communities.
This coffee has great depth of flavor and balance. A sweet and smooth mouthfeel with elegant florals, and notes of stonefruit and berries. We're picking up on some plum, violets and black currents. Overall, a unique coffee with traits for everyone to love. We were excited to try this coffee, and hope you are too!
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5.0 out of 5
Superb
Deep, rich, smooth, and complex, El Balsamo is a fantastic coffee.
Ethan R
Sausalito
Member Since
October '15
4.0 out of 5
Drinkable, but not exciting
This wasn't my favorite. With my normal ratios, it comes out a bit weak and acidic. I tried brewing it stronger, but still wasn't quite feeling it. It's still good enough to drink, but I do this one with cream.
Nathaniel Hourt
Mauston
Member Since
April '21
4.0 out of 5
Better with a finer grind
A revision of my previous rating, this coffee is improved by a finer grind. It's still not the best coffee, but it's no longer weak or acidic. It's full bodied coffee, just not my favorite.
On 05/28/21 Nathaniel Hourt said
@MCC: Major props for adding review comments. I know how that's annoying to design and implement. So take it not as criticism when I say that the semantics around adding a second review are odd and may be worth revisiting. Having the second review update the rating of the first is surprising. Just a friendly comment! Great work, guys! Loving the site and the service. =)
On 05/28/21 BJ said
Ooh interesting - I'll have Sean take a look. We use the ratings to inform the selection A.I. so there might be some weirdness around multiple ratings of the same batch, but maybe we can do some sort of "revision" marker. Glad the brew filled out for you! In general with Nordic style coffees I find that a bit finer grind, and sometimes just a bit more time, can open the flavors up more.
On 06/13/21 Jacob MacDonald said
Nathaniel, just how fine did you go? I accidentally started grinding far too fine (10 on my JX-PRO), so fine that the hand grinder got gummed up with the beans. Backed out to 20 (two full turns), which is still fairly fine, but got a very watery Aeropress at Hoffman's ration (11/200). I'm going to back out tomorrow to see what happens, but I've never gotten a result like this at this grind size before. The beans seem hard (pun not intended), which may figure.
On 06/14/21 Nathaniel Hourt said
I didn't grind super fine; I went about 6 clicks from tight on my Hario Skerton Pro, which is a few clicks finer than my usual chemex grind, but not quite fine enough to clog the filter.
Nathaniel Hourt
Mauston
Member Since
April '21
4.5 out of 5
El Balsamo
Excellent all around coffee. A++
On 06/02/21 BJ said
Glad to hear you liked it! We've been consistently impressed with how this coffee's roasting up, a real treat!
Rick Kellogg
Rolla
Member Since
May '21
5.0 out of 5
Great Change of Pace
Feel lucky to say this but I like the change up from the normal Ethiopian beans. This is a coffee that taste good from start to finish. What I really like is the exchange below between MCC and a subscriber - the idea to change the grind setting based on origin of bean is something I (a novice that likes good tasting coffee) had no idea about. Thank you for that information.
On 06/08/21 BJ said
Hey Tim, Glad it's brewing well. I wouldn't say that there's grind sizes specific to origins per-se - but some fiddling with grind size can always help dial in a coffee. You can always leave a comment or send us an email, we're happy to help trouble-shoot brews - and oftentimes other members have helpful feedback too!
Tim McCarthy
MORAGA
Member Since
June '16
3.0 out of 5
Complicated
As you might be able to see above, I had real trouble grinding this properly at first. I'm pretty sure now it was a fluke, but I've continued to have trouble getting clarity. Might be that I only have an Aeropress at the moment; Give it a try as a pourover if you're confident in your abilities there. A tartness predominates the flavor profile, without being overly acidic. I would call it plum. The best part of the brew is its sweetness, which is quite delicate and comes with good mouthfeel. The floral notes are subtle; They were most obvious in my watery attempt and got darker and more buried as I improved the overall cup.
Jacob MacDonald
Dallas
Member Since
April '18
On 05/28/21 Sean Reilly said
Hey Nathaniel, I personally really enjoyed the Balsamo. Try grinding a little finer, acidic is usually a sign of under extraction so get a little finer and it should taste great. I'm grinding around 5 on my vario-W
On 05/28/21 Nathaniel Hourt said
Definitely improved. I give it another half star. It's still not the best, but it's improved by a finder grind. I added a second review to reflect this.