Friday, October 05, 2007

Doing the Mambo

I've been offering the Mountain Mambo both in the caffe and for sale for the past few weeks now. I am looking to soon upgrade my roaster so I can offer our espresso to a larger audience of coffee lovers and espresso fanatics.

The journey for the Mambo was a difficult one taking no less than thirty-three variations of beans, ratios, roast levels, etc. The biggest hurdle for me was sourcing. Since we are small, buying pallet loads of coffee isn't feasible at this time, so finding great components that I can source on a consistent basis that produce the flavor characteristics I was looking for was a lengthy task. The good thing is that all of this trial and error has sharpened my blending and roasting skills and allowed me to see the potential and the growth I have yet to reach.

The Mambo is always a never-ending work in progress as I seek to understand each bean better and how the flavors complement each other. I have done my best to create an espresso that works well both as espresso and in milk, but I want something you can have any time of the day and be comfortable with it. I am most appreciative of the reception the Mambo has received thus far, but there's still a lot of work to be done.

As I sit here sipping a cup of Guatemala Finca San Jose I remind myself to continue learning from those who inspire me and hope that I can inspire others.

To good coffee!