Roast Notes: Colombia Inga Red Honey by La Colombe

I picked up this bag-in-a-box of La Colombe’s Colombia Inga Red Honey at the La Colombe north of me. I was meeting a past colleague for coffee and a catch-up, our third attempt to make it happen after the first two got disrupted by sick kids and the usual. Steamy summer has settled into Chicago, so I was sweating as I walked up and that tipped me into drinking a cold brew while I was there.

After I ground the beans, on the box I wrote: honey, caramel.

Reading the box now, they recommend a 1:17 ratio. I almost always brew at 1:14, and I’m glad I did. At their spec, I doubt these flavors would have been strong enough for me. It makes me wonder if their house ratio is exactly why their coffee so often hits me weakly.

In the cup, I taste honey, caramel, teak, and mandarin. When I closed my eyes, it brought to mind a wooden pool deck in the jungle at a resort.

This is definitely a stronger flavor from them, breaking the pattern I’ve come to expect from the big blenders. I would come back to this for sure, but only at my stronger ratio.