#fourchairs

Back in 2012, we had the idea of creating a blend that is not only tasty but also seasonal, meaning that we will buy coffees that are in season during that time of the year with the aim to have coffees tasting their most vibrant and fresh. Even though many international roasters were already adopting the "seasonality" concept in sourcing and roasting, a lot of customers were not used to the idea of an evolving blend that changes every 3-4 months, as opposed to a blend which comprises of the same components the entire year. Seasonality when applied to coffee was something new to them and we had to explain to our customers so that they will understand the rationale behind a seasonal blend.

Coming up to 5 years, we definitely feel that our customers have a better understanding of how we go about to source our coffees, and how they are so similar to other fruits and vegetables that are seasonal. It took a while and it wasn't easy but it was necessary and utmost rewarding. The inaugural El Primero and subsequently, theFour Chairs seasonal blend, provided us with the platform to serve something that our customers are familiar with for a period of time and yet expose them to different tastes throughout the year. However, over time, we felt that some of the tasty aspects of each component of the blend get "over-shadowed" by the other component. Some of the components of our seasonal blend actually taste really good on its own. Through the countless days of roasting, cupping and making coffee, we felt that we have grown to be able to better showcase those coffees we source. Hence as we enter the new lunar year, we thought it is time to make the transition from having a seasonal espresso blend to only single origin espressos.

As we continue on this journey, our ethos to how we source remain the same - the goal to showcase the balance, clean cup and sweetness in coffees. As of the beginning of February, we have stopped blending coffees but instead showcase every single origin in its purest form, to do justice to the tremendous hard work that each and every producer whom we work with, has put in. We are confident what we buy are good enough to be enjoyed on its own. It's also our way to give them the due credit where it belongs.

The season for Centrals has arrived! 

After waiting for 3+ months, we finally received the fresh crops from Central America. With little time to spare, we started roasting the coffees from El Salvador & Nicaragua to refresh our seasonal espresso blend as the previous components from Brazil and Colombia came to an end.

For those who have been drinking our coffees over the past 4 years, you might remember these names of the 2 farms of the new components: El Suspiro (Nicaragua) and Los Pirineos (El Salvador). 

El Suspiro belongs to our friends at Fincas Mierisch. This is the 3rd time we bought coffees from this farm but our first time buying an orange Bourbon varietal. On its own, this coffee is delightfully sweet, clean and balanced. The fruity notes comes with some milk chocolate in the finish which made us shortlist this coffee for our Four Chairs espresso blend when we first cupped it.

The other component comes from Los Pirineos, which belongs to our friend, Gilberto Baraona. We have been visiting this farm over the past 3 years. It always bring us great pleasure to catch up with Gilberto as he loves sharing his latest ideas and experiments. When he talks about his coffee projects, his enthusiasm is truly infectious and inspiring. Gilberto has invested in numerous state of the art equipment for his wet and dry mill to ensure what he produces in Los Pirineos get the well-deserved treatment post harvest. Due to the ever increasing uncertainty in the rain and scarcity of water in this area, he has even dug up a reservoir to collect enough water during the rainy season to be used in the processing of his coffees. A new nursery has also been carved out from the road leading up to the mill to nurture the new varietals that he finds that are doing well in this terroir and cupping well on the table. Besides a bunch of new dry milling equipment that he brought in this year, he has also built a lot more raised beds for drying his coffees. This gives buyers like us great confidence in quality of the green coffee that we receive from them year after year.

El Suspiro, Nicaragua - 50%

Los Pirineos, El Salvador - 50%

The new Four Chairs espresso blend presents notes of cherries and mild sweet citrus, complemented by brown sugar sweetness. Its creamy mouthfeel coupled with a lingering hazelnut finish results in a very well-balanced espresso. This coffee is perfect for everyday drinking.

We had a blast on our 4th anniversary and we would like to thank all who came by to join us in this celebration. Also a big THANK YOU for your generous donation to charity:water.

As we enter our 4th year, we are doing a partial refresh of the Four Chairs seasonal espresso blend. The Guatemalan component, Medio Dia, has sadly come to an end. Replacing it will be a new coffee from Finca Bella Vista, Colombia. The producer, Alma Yulieth Castro, started producing coffee more than 10 years ago. The farm is located in the Piendamo municipal of the Cauca region. We cupped this coffee last year and really enjoyed the tart blackcurrant-like acidity and rounded body. It pairs really well with the other half of the current Four Chairs, Fazenda Ambiental Fortaleza, and retains the main characteristics of Four Chairs - balanced acidity, sweet and clean.

Version 9 consists of the following:

Bella Vista, Colombia - 50% Fazenda Ambiental Fortaleza, Brazil - 50%

GONG XI FA CAI! 

As we feast on the spread of CNY goodies and the many rounds of “lou-hei”, we bring you the latest version of our seasonal espresso blend.    

In this new version, similar to the Lucky Stars espresso blend, the components are based on coffees from Brazil and Guatemala. The Guatemalan component is named Medio Dia. This coffee comes from a group of small producers in the San Marcos area. Medio Dia is a fully-washed coffee comprising a mix varietal of Bourbon and Caturra. The 2 components work hand in hand to bring out a balanced and sweet cup. 

A photo posted by Nylon Coffee Roasters (@nyloncoffee) on Feb 25, 2015 at 4:27pm PST

Version 8 consists of the following:

Medio Dia, Guatemala - 50%

Fazenda Ambiental Fortaleza, Brazil - 50%

This new version presents juicy stonefruit acidity accompanied by mild citrus notes and paired off with a lush a creamy texture. Indulge in its dried apricot sweetness and almond-like finish to complete the “Four Chairs experience”.

Version 6 of our Four Chairs Seasonal Espresso has to be one of the shortest run amongst all its predecessors. So we have started serving version 7 this week and this post will be a quick update of the changes to this seasonal espresso blend.  

For this new version, we replaced 2 components with another 2 new coffees, which are from Central America as well! We have mentioned in our previous blog post that this year has been especially difficult for us to find any true gems that could stand out from the cupping table. Even when we find something, the supply or price made some of these coffees quite prohibitive. Instead we end up selecting a couple of smaller lots but making sure that the quality is not compromised and the price is justifiable for its cup quality. After test-roasting the components and refining the roasts over the last 2-3 weeks, we are pleased to roll out v7. This new revision does not veer off much from the previous version in terms of taste, meaning it retains much of the fruity characteristics of the coffees on top of a sweet, clean and balanced cup.

The new version consists of the following:

Finca Santa Petrona, El Salvador (1/3)

Finca Los Altos, Nicaragua (1/3)

Finca Los Pirineos, El Salvador (1/3)

Indulge in notes of stonefruits accompanied by ripe cherries and sweet nuts, paired off beautifully with a creamy texture. Rounded and smooth, this is one coffee perfect for everyday drinking that is also tasting awfully yummy with milk!

The past week has been an incredibly exhausting week, trying to get over our jetlag from the trip to Central America, and yet excited with the rollout of a couple of new coffees. Next up, a refresh of our Four Chairs Espresso version 2. Continuing our belief in creating an espresso that is sweet, balanced, clean, satisfying and memorable, we chose to work with two fresh crops that arrived last month.

We visited Colombia for the first time last July and fell in love with this country almost immediately. Having to spend the night at the Bogota airport after missing the connecting flight in from Houston did not dampen our spirits as we headed straight into the mountains on touch down in the city of Cali. Visiting the regions of Cauca and Huila, we came to understand why this country is so blessed with great coffees. Each region has its own terroir and climate, and even though the country has been hit hard by the coffee rust in the last couple of years, the signs of recovery is definitely on the horizon. Most important of all, the coffees are really tasting delicious. Out of the many coffees that were cupped with Jairo of Banexport , we picked up two, and one of them is a lot called Monte Bonito made of 3 very small farms in the area of Pitalito. This coffee is 100% caturra and is wet processed through a 22 hour fermentation period before drying out in a parabolic shade that is very common in Colombia.

The second coffee that we have in the blend is from Fazenda Ambiental Fortaleza. A farm that is probably familiar to many as we have been working with them ever since we started in 2012. Marcos and Felipe Croce have not disappointed, this harvest is tasting really good and probably better than last.

Returning from our Colombian origin trip, we are excited to roll out our new seasonal espresso blend, Four Chairs. For those who are wondering why we name it “Four Chairs”, you will have to drop by Nylon to find out why. This new seasonal blend is probably one of the most “adventurous” espresso we have created so far. Since we started Nylon 15 months ago, the components of our El Primero seasonal espresso blend have been refreshed several times but the taste profiles did not change drastically. However, with the intention of creating something different with the fresh crops of coffees from Nicaragua and El Salvador, we thought it is time for a new name for this coffee.

The components of the Four Chairs seasonal espresso blend are:

40% Finca El Zarzal, El Salvador

40% Finca Mama Mina, Nicaragua 

20% Finca Limoncillo, Nicaragua