What I’m Brewing: Glyph Supply Co., all the way from Singapore
Glyph Supply Co.
You know what’s the best thing about the coffee industry? It’s the ability to strike a conversation with anyone at anytime even if you don’t know who they are and what it is they do. Coffee has a language of it’s own which you can talk about for hours and hours.
This blog post is dedicated to Glyph Supply Co. and Yi Sin for letting me try these three wonderful coffees and experience what the consumers are enjoying in Singapore. Glyph Supply Co. is a collaborative co-roasting space and a cafe serving specialty coffee, tea and bread in Singapore.
The concept of a co-roasting space is similar to a coworking space. You rent the roaster, in this case, the Stronghold, available in two sizes depending on your roasting need. It’s simple, pay as you roast.
There’s been a rise in these spaces across the world to offer the up and coming roasters more affordable option to roast their coffee. The benefits are many, the main one being the initial investment in equipment and the premise. Now, let’s start with the coffee.
Andres Guaco Colombia Pink Bourbon
Apart from being my favorite origin, I was excited because of the the intoxicating aromas emanating from the coffee bag. The moment you open it, after grinding and while you brew, this aroma is striking. The roasted beans are slightly darker in color and oily.
No, this is not roasted dark, it is the processing it has undergone, barrel aged. The notes; think sweet ripe plums, raspberry, the familiar fermentation notes with a winey grape finish. Even the color of the brew, is in a mesmerizing red. Andreas Guaca is the producer and he is doing fantastic work at his farm, Finca Guacobia.
CCD Carolyn Saraceni Panama Catuai
You might wonder what CCD stands for, in fact I have had coffee from CCD before, i.e. Panama, Graciano Cruz. Carolyn Saraceni is the producer, this farm has been passed down to her from her grandfather.
The processing on this is static cherry, the cherries are sealed in plastic tanks and anaerobically processed at a duration of 24 to 72 hours. This is not as aromatic as the Colombian, but the rose and pineapple is quite prominent.
Creativa Coffee District is a modern state-of-the-art processing facility and has integrated art and specialty coffee in a unique and authentic space striving for innovation in new coffee production standards. This promotes higher income for growers and sustainable ecological practices for processing stations all over the world.
Brewing this coffee was very forgiving. I messed up in all three pours and it still resulted in a very delightful brew. The pineapple is very pronounced following up with some mandarin to compliment it. It has a tea-like body and best consumed whilst warm.
Almaz Sahille Ethiopia Dega & Wolisha
Am I leaving the best for the last? I don’t know, but I’m excited about this being a traditional natural. This is a first I’m hearing about the Dega and Wolisha varietals, researching further I realized that many Ethiopian varieties like the above come under the “heirloom” cultivar.
Almaz is a female producer born and raised in Yirgacheffe, she started farming from a very young age and has also received an award for being a model farmer in her community.
This Ethiopian natural has a very light body in spite of being a natural. I could get varying notes of orange, peach and berries. The finishing notes are largely black tea with light acidity.
I have brewed the above using the V60 pour over method. I have used the Cafec light roast filter paper instead. Due to the paper’s high density, I chose to grind the coffee a little coarser than usual. My recipe is below:
Coffee: 16g
Water: 240g
Temperature: 90 Degrees C
Ratio: 1:15
Total Brew Time: 2 minutes 30 seconds
Three pours in total. Pour 40g of water, bloom for 30 seconds. The next two pours will be 100g of water each. Finish the second pour at the 1 minute mark and proceed with the third pour at 1:15. The third pour is a little slower and I’ll aim to finish around the 2 minute mark
