Were you also eagerly awaiting the unique barrel-aged coffee from HAYB Roasters after the Valentine’s Day edition? Well, we have good news for you. The roastery is back with this treat, and this time you can look forward to a Colombian blend. Cuba Libre, pineapple, and vanilla? That sounds like theperfect summer coffee!
The coffee aged in barrels that previously held Four Roses bourbon and One of Each beer from Artezan Brewery. First, there was the barrel, which had been filled with Four Roses bourbon in the US a few years ago. Once the aging process was complete, the barrel had to leave the distillery and move on—in accordance with tradition and regulations, bourbon must always be in a fresh barrel; it cannot be reused! This empty barrel then flew to Europe, to Poland, to Warsaw, specifically to Błonie, to the Artezan Brewery. Here, Imperial Porter beer was aged in it, and when the barrel was empty, we filled it with coffee, and this is the result. A unique summer special.
When processed using the washed method, the cherries pass through a so-called hulling machine, where they collide at high speed with metal discs featuring protrusions or spikes, thereby removing both the skin and the pulp. After this step, we are left with a green bean, but with remnants of pulp (sugar) still clinging to it. To make it easier to remove these pulp residues, the beans are left to ferment in tanks for several, often even dozens, of hours. After fermentation, the pulp separates from the bean and washes away more easily. This brings us to the step that gives this method its name: washed. The coffee is transferred from the tanks to a washing channel, where the beans are washed with water to remove the last traces of sugar—the pulp.
- Altitude: 1,700–2,000 m above sea level