2018-09-15 — Ethiopia Dry Process Uraga Tome

Roast Date: 15 Sep 2018
Roast Level: C+
Duration: 11m30s
First Crack @ 8m24s
Rating: ★★★★☆
1.2lb → 1.03lb; 14% Weight Loss

Sweet Maria’s [wbm]

We bought two lots from Tome, one wet processed, and this dry processed. They’re both beautiful cups, and a side by side comparison shows just how much processing influences the cup. This DP is so fruit forward in comparison, strong dried and fresh fruit flavors, and sweetness with matched intensity. At City and City+ roast levels, the smells from the ground and wetted coffee are pretty incredible, peach, mango, molasses, raisiny dried fruit, and even subtle floral highllights. Closer to Full City brings about equalizing bittersweetness, but not without a high level of cooked fruit smells too. A brewed City roast highlights floral notes in Tome, a flavor of floral berry, blueberry, blackberry coming to mind. Fruit flavor notes are juicy, and candied in the lighter roasts, reminding me of aspects of stone fruit and papaya nectars, and berry flavored bubble gum. These heavier handed flavor tones are contrasted by delicate accent notes of hibiscus tea and rose petal florals when the coffee cools, that all together construct a complex flavor portrait. A cooled cup expresses some citrus and bittersweet cocoa notes as well, which a friend I was tasting with described as chocolate-covered, dehydrated orange slices. If you’re a fan of fruit-forward naturals, you’ll be amazed at all that Tome has to offer. Best to steer clear of 2nd snaps in order to enjoy what’s special about this coffee.

Roast Notes

Shortly before weighing the coffee after roasting it I spilled a tablespoon or two of water on the roasted beans (was washing a toddler) so the end weight is not trustworthy.

Cupping

Acidity: Bright, unobtrusive acidity throughout the cup.

Sweetness: Relatively little sweetness that reminds me of a Salvadoran coffee.

Flavor: I get berries, but not quite the well defined blueberries or raspberries I’ve gotten in some other recent coffees.

Finish: Yesterday when I drank this coffee the finish hod a foul chemical flavor after the coffee had warmed up a bit. Hopefully other cups won’t suffer from that.

Balance: Great fruited coffee without being a fruit bomb.