Simple Kaffa is the place of champions. Owned by Berg Wu, 2016’s world barista champion, all their coffees are heavily floral, which is a theme in his brews. They have an element of tea like flavors in order to appeal to the Taiwanese tradition of tea drinking. Since the country has an understanding of these flavors, he pushes said notes in every single cup. Even their Ethiopian heirloom is naturally sweet but tea-like. Usually with a dark coffee, you wouldn’t expect these notes. (All their single-origin, black coffees use the clever coffee dripper, which combines a french press and a filter drip.) To capture the perfect flavors, Berg Wu personally traveled to coffee farms in Ethiopia. He worked directly with producers there to customize the coffee process so they would still taste like Ethiopian coffees but with a focus on more aromatic flavors. They conducted several experiments with different processes for the raw beans and brought them back to Taiwan for roasting. Kaffa is the only place in the world with these coffees, so if you’re in town be sure to drop by.
Imagine having bags and bags of fresh, unroasted coffee (which are called greens) lying around in your room. That’s Plainsight on any given week. We recently joined the roastery for a cupping session and got to try their current offerings. It was an interesting table of selections, including beans from South America and Africa. There was a spectacular roast originating from Burundi, which stood out even next to the Gesha from Ethiopia, which is usually the star of things. It’s a reminder to see beyond the name of origin. It’s also why it’s a good idea to occasionally do blind cuppings, in order to focus on the taste of the coffee and not its reputation. The Plainsight cupping revealed the high level of professionalism of this young micro-roastery.
