"Lex’s All-time Competition Coffee" COLOMBIA - Las Margaritas Sudan Rume Omni for Espresso & Filter (Natural)
Friedhats (Amsterdam)
Colombia - Las Margaritas Sudan Rume Omni 250g
Note: Eucalyptus, candied raspberry, mint chocolate chip ice-cream and passion fruit
Variety: Sudan Rume
Farm: Las Margaritas
Producer: Cafe Granja La Esperana
Region: Caicedonia valle de cauca
Altitude: 1830masl
Process: Natural
What to say about the Sudan Rume? If you know it, you just want to drink it and not spend too much time reading about it. But if you never tasted it before, it’s good to know a few things: First of all, apparently not everybody likes it, even though I can’t really understand why. For me it’s the holy grail of coffee and if I could only drink one type of coffee for the rest of my life, this would be it. Secondly, it doesn’t exactly come cheap. That’s because it’s a pretty rare variety, kind of hard to grow and only works on a specific part of the Las Margaritas farm. Usually only a few lots work well every harvest while the other lots just become ‘normal’ coffee.
The Sudan Rume variety is originally Ethiopian landrace and brought to Las Margaritas to experiment with because of its potential cup profile. Sasa Sestic became World Barista Champion using Sudan Rume, while Lex was a little less successful and took 13th place at the World Brewerscup.
Still, it’s a pretty amazing coffee. Grown at 1830 meters above sea level in the Cauca Valley in the west part of Colombia. Las Margaritas is known for growing many different varieties on their farm, which is super interesting because it allows us to taste the influence that variety has on the flavor in the cup.
Ok cool, so what does it taste like? In this case, the variety gives the coffee distinct herbal and floral characteristics that make it stand out from the rest of the other exotic varieties. I think this is the closest you can get to artificial flavor in a coffee without actually making it artificial. And I mean that in a good way. It’s also pretty clean for such a natural outspoken coffee, due to pristine picking and processing.
The first thing that hits you is the intense eucalyptus aroma that comes even before you’re brewing it, and then also when you are brewing it, followed by candied raspberry, mint-chocolate-chip-icecream and passionfruit. It’s best of all worlds.