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2026-05-11 to 2026-05-17
Index
seylance2897
2026-05-11
- 4:05 PM
#origins-and-producers: Hey! yeah, Brazil is exceptionally challenging. Part of it is the internal competition, which I actually love and fully support. Nearly every country in the world exports their best coffees. But Brazil and Mexico have pretty strong internal markets for those coffees, which is awesome.
The other part that makes it so complicated is the quality fluctuations year to year. For example, Joselino can produce an 88+ coffee one year and then a hella vegetal 85 pt coffee the following year. So, it's very challenging to build a meaningful partnership. To make things even more difficult. In Espirito Santo specifically, there is a very strong culture of competitions. So, there are literally dozens of tiny regional competitions and all the producers hold their top lots for these comps. So, to actually get a look at the best lots, you have to spend a couple of months in Espirito Santo, going to each of these little competitions, and even then, the lot sizes are sooo small that you might be walking away with only 10kgs of coffee.
I spent a few years trying to work with a handful of very talented producers... Talking about what it could look like to just negotiate price based on cup score and basing it on prices that the competitions were seeing to make sure they were fair market value. But, just get it figured out.
Do have some irons in the fire here so to speak. So, hopefully we'll start seeing at least a few of these coffees again! - 5:34 PM
#origins-and-producers: yeah 100% those coffees can be so good. But yeah, you basically need a cupper in country that wants to go to all the small competitions. But, trusting someone to make actual buying selections is very, very challeneing. I am working on it though! - 6:05 PM
#filter-focused: Yeah, at most you might see 1 or 2 potato seeds in a bag... at the very worst. Its possible that the profile could just lean a little earthy, but this kind of comes with the teritory of coffees from Burundi and Rwanda. But, that is definitely noteably differnt than actual potato defect. We've done a ton work regarding the actual defect... we usually cup through 100 cups per batch to get a full actual % of potato in a lot. It has neveg gone above 5 out of 100 cups. This is a significnt improvment.. about 5 ish years ago we noticed it as high as 20 cups out of 100 - 6:08 PM
#filter-focused: They are however, pretty polarizing profiles... lots of people don't love them. Ha i happen to think they are exceptionally cool, in the world coffee - 6:12 PM
#filter-focused: Reds are clean coffee. Yellows are potato
Attachments:
- IMG_9518.PNG (image/png 1125x2436) - 6:12 PM
#filter-focused: its a protype but, could potentially change entire countries - 6:13 PM
#filter-focused: T hill has been working on this for yearssssssss - 6:18 PM
#origins-and-producers: I cup through a lot of Tanzanian coffee each year. I'm working on a soil re-building project there with a specific coop. It's a ton of work, but I'm quite hopeful. I fully believe Tanzania, Uganda, and DRC can produce very high quality coffees. But the soils there are just so depleted.. so all the profiles are a little thin, lean alittle nutty and don't have the density /structure/intensity that i'm really looking for - 6:25 PM
#origins-and-producers: ha oh man, the politics are extremely challenging.. but they always have. Its pretty remarkable how they can move coffee around despite the politics. Sometimes it really effects things though like when the rebals took full control of Goma last year... made coffees in the DRC nearly impossible - 6:29 PM
#origins-and-producers: haha we have a few. Still waiting though on a few samples. so won't know for sure until i recieve and taste through them - 6:31 PM
#origins-and-producers: Counter Culture was doing the best job in Tanzania IMO - 6:31 PM
#origins-and-producers: but they really can't produce 87+ coffees at the moment... most of it we believe is just soil health - 6:32 PM
#origins-and-producers: I work alot with the person who built all those programs for Counter Culture.. so we're definitely still working on it - 6:34 PM
#origins-and-producers: yup, same as everywhere.... its honesty why i think Peru has been so good. Most of the farms we've been buying from there are first gen farms in the first or second year of production... we're already working on making sure soil is being taken care of... but if its not we'll see the quality fall off a cliff in like 4 to 5 years - 8:52 PM
#origins-and-producers: this has been my experience also. To be honest though... I haven't tasted a ton because most of the exporters and a few of my friends who have extensive knowledge of coffee production there say the quality just isn't there for what we're trying to work with without some pretty significant investments. All the geshas that i've tasted are a little nutty/thin, Pacamaras have been overly oniony and the Bourbons and co have been vegetal and also slightly nutty. - 8:56 PM
#filter-focused: fully depends on what your goal is IMO. If you're just trying to brew amazing coffees and enjoy them. Then I agree. If you're trying to develop a professional palate, its 100% necessary. all depends on the individual goals - 8:58 PM
#filter-focused: haha i've been cupping over 30 coffees almost every day for 10 years and I'm definitely still learning what profiles and qualties are etc. So much mapping still needs to be done in coffee IMO - 10:53 PM
#what-are-you-brewing: also want to know how this goes
2026-05-12
- 12:54 AM
#what-are-you-brewing: Reynaldo, is a solid coffee. I think your read on it is spot on. Not the weakest of the bunch but certainly not amoung the best. Still has florality, decent fruit articulation but just lacks the same intensity and structure as the best of them - 12:55 AM
#what-are-you-brewing: you can absolutely get passion fruit in the best of the chirosos... but like everything, they are diamonds when you find them - 12:56 AM
#what-are-you-brewing: we usually get 1 sometimes 2 proper passion fruit chirosos each season - 12:57 AM
#origins-and-producers: its coming! - 12:59 AM
#current-menu: we'll defintely get at least a couple harvest passes from David Berrio this year - 1:00 AM
#what-are-you-brewing: also that table you put it on certainly isn't doing it any favors 😂 - 1:10 AM
#what-are-you-brewing: alot of how I and my personal global group of peers talk about fruit in coffee is fermented, dried, or ripe. Ripe is obviously the best. Burundis are the best example of dried fruit, when they get to ripe fruit they are properly amazing imo.
But that fruit quality tells you ALOT about the quality of cherry and seed development - 1:10 AM
#what-are-you-brewing: so its one of the the first place that we start when we're evaluating a coffee - 1:12 AM
#what-are-you-brewing: basically the closer we can get to coffee tasting like juice the better. and SOMETIMES you get a coffee that is just properly ripe juice coffee. Those are, for me, the ones that go into my top coffees of all time list - 1:14 AM
#what-are-you-brewing: yes for sure.. ripe vs unripe is also very much on there. perserves/jam is almost 100% of the time coming from fermentation - thank back to when ALL the pink bourbons from southern Huila tasted like strawberry jam. - This was when all the producers started holding in cherry for 36+ hours - 1:14 AM
#what-are-you-brewing: This is also directly in response to the copa del oro. So, its a very good example of how careful those comps need to be. something wins and it changes and entire regions coffee for 4 years - 1:19 AM
#what-are-you-brewing: oh it 100% does... and is still doing it. Part of why we didn't participate in that this year. Can't fully speak for passanger.. but pretty sure its similar for them - 1:22 AM
#origins-and-producers: glad you got the last little bit of that coffee jose. It was a special one for sure - 9:38 PM
#origins-and-producers: difference between what?? - 9:44 PM
#origins-and-producers: This fully depends on the farm and climate... Soil health is generally necessary for every farm.. but shade depends on microclimte, temperatures and cloud cover. for example at 2400masl+ in Peru you literally can't grow under shade. Also In panama, you can't grow under shade at 2000+ at Sophia because of too much cloud cover. - 9:47 PM
#origins-and-producers: yes hes doing an amazing job. We'll see how his soil holds up over the next few years! this is the exciting/fun/sometimes depressing part of tasting producers coffees year after year! - 10:08 PM
#origins-and-producers: Juan Contreras didn't deliver any coffee this year. - 10:08 PM
#origins-and-producers: a number of things could have happened. most of the time its someone in the family had health issues or something relating to that - 10:09 PM
#origins-and-producers: Also..not sure if you remember Mario Asorza that we sold as Gesha a few years back..was actually sl9... his coffee was unreal. He hasn't delivered any coffee for a couple of years because his wife has been sick
2026-05-13
- 6:36 PM
#origins-and-producers: Yeah, this is honestly one of the most challenging parts of the job. Quality fluctuations can swing a lot. For example, it is fully within the realm of possibility that Albino and Saulo Ibias could have a significantly lower quality harvest next year... and this could have nothing to do with intentionality or quality of work. Most farms / regions go through a quality cycle, and nature is obviously impossible to control. So, you are faced with the choice of buying the coffee even though it doesn't meet quality expectations and taking the hit, or you don't buy it and allow another buyer to buy that coffee, and then they will also expect to be able to buy the coffee in a good year as well. - this is why most roasters offer some kind of blend.
I have gotten pretty good and creative at figuring out how to navigate these things. But it is so complicated. Usually, if we decide to buy a lot anyway, my inbox and the internet explodes and with people who are unhappy with the coffee - our reputation takes a hit, and the producer's reputation takes a hit. Sometimes, I know a buyer/friend who has 'espresso blends' or something similar who will take the lot and put it into the blend, and I'll just pay the cost difference. Sometimes an exporter will put it into a 'regional blend' and won't ask for a 'first right of refusal' on the next year's harvest. Sometimes I'll reject the coffee, and it will go to a different roaster who will release the lot, but it's just one that I've rejected.
You get to weigh all these options and try to make the best decision based on the producer, the project, risks, quality vs misses projections... etc. its properly stressful - 6:46 PM
#origins-and-producers: Definitely zero anaerobic fermentation (sealed tanks or bags) ha i do not like that flavor haha - 6:54 PM
#origins-and-producers: haha honestly, i just don't like them and its not something i'm interested in spending time on working on. My goal has to always been to try and elevate coffee and the perception of coffee to increase the value for producers. I personally find blends necessary for the supply chain... but roasters are almost always not transparent/honest about what that product actually is. Most roasters still try to maintain that the blend is 'exceptional' quality... this, I believe, erodes the trust of consumers and lacks honest/, transparency/integrity and ultimately hurts the value perception of actual high-quality coffee.
Necessary from passanger is kind of the one example I have to a company who is trying to do this in a meaningful way with transparncy / intengry - 6:57 PM
#origins-and-producers: a lot of roasters will use their blends to move lots that don't hit quality standards... but they also just source that quality for those blends in the first place.. so it works out - 6:58 PM
#origins-and-producers: haha tasting some of the best coffees in the world for a living.... life is soooo hard... - 6:58 PM
#origins-and-producers: if you're looking for a medium roast - i'd 1000% recommend looking at necessary from passanger - 7:00 PM
#origins-and-producers: espresso can be challenging... over int he espresso channel though there are people wayyyyyyy better than me at espresso that i'm sure would love to help you out ha - 7:02 PM
#origins-and-producers: yeah they do it buy country - 7:03 PM
#origins-and-producers: They are all part of their 'core partnerships' so divino Nino for colombia and Agaro w/ mike mamo for Ethiopia etc - 7:04 PM
#origins-and-producers: but its a way they can buy more from their core partnerships arcoss a wider quality threshold - 7:06 PM
#origins-and-producers: that was so amazing - 7:19 PM
#origins-and-producers: honestly haven't tasted a coffee from guatemala i could buy in like 5 years.
I think that in certain parts of Hue Hue, san martin, etc.. there is potential... but sooo much of that coffee gets blended in to oldddddd projects thats its very hard to get access to. - 7:20 PM
#origins-and-producers: its genetics... old bourbon/ typica will be nutty unless you just put a ton of fruit on it in fermentation... extremely similar situation that they have in Mexico - 7:20 PM
#origins-and-producers: the kamavindi labs he gets is through me - 7:22 PM
#origins-and-producers: if you can find a gesha that isn't nutty or over fermented in Guat you will blow my mind - 7:23 PM
#origins-and-producers: I can't wait! i'll be asking in 3 years! - 7:24 PM
#origins-and-producers: haha cherry selection needs work... I'd score that a D- - 7:27 PM
#origins-and-producers: skittles.. taste the rainbow! - 7:27 PM
#origins-and-producers: no water, those are fully dry fermented - 7:28 PM
#origins-and-producers: i'll try to get my hands on this... i do cup through most gesha lots from inherto every hear though - 7:28 PM
#origins-and-producers: I'll ask him - 7:31 PM
#origins-and-producers: nothing that hits solidly over 87+ for me... generally either nut, vegetal, or fermentation - 7:32 PM
#origins-and-producers: i don't believe in under rested green... with the exception of insane elevation from Ethiopia - 7:33 PM
#origins-and-producers: Definitely, fresh is always best IMO - 7:35 PM
#origins-and-producers: k gotta run ✌️ ❤️ - 10:28 PM
#what-are-you-brewing: we should aboslutely do some tests!
2026-05-14
- 1:22 AM
#origins-and-producers: yo! thanks so much but Hafiz actually already pulled me one at hyunah - 8:18 PM
#current-menu: Yo! resend the DM... probably just got burried - 8:29 PM
#what-are-you-brewing: Reading a decent amount of processing in Colombia
These producers are as traditional as it gets. It tooks a few years to get them to stop holding in cherry for too long (response to a specific year of the Copa comp). Now its as basic as it gets. Depulp, ferment in either tile tanks or plastic buckets for 30ish hours - depending on mucilage -washed and dried on open beds. The opposite of anything fancy.
Why some pinks are SO much better than others is still a very mysterious question that no one, at least that I know, has a good answer to. One thing I do believe is cherry selection and ripness is a relatively large part of why some are so good. I need to run genetics on the good Pinks vs the mid Pinks.. but its challenging to get all these producers to send leaves. It will certainly happen, though, hopefully this year. - 8:31 PM
#what-are-you-brewing: But, these are the things that happen that really make us go - well fuck, we know nothing. And also make the future of coffee so exciting - 8:58 PM
#what-are-you-brewing: Yo I have so many good questions for phd students haha.... I am starting to give more talks at MIT, while i'm in Boston... i have a few leads there - 9:00 PM
#what-are-you-brewing: I don't know much about UCD coffee institue... But, i've been told that they are far more focused on 'coffee' rather then high end specialty.... I think its important to remember that the coffee we're all drinking is like .0001% of the coffee being grown... There isn't a lot of insentive to fund it
2026-05-15
- 3:48 PM
#origins-and-producers: Her farm is producing essentially zero coffees these days. We do taste it each year but sometimes the yields are as low as only a handful kgs. Quality has also really fluctuated over the years as well. Most of this is because she is actually getting quite old - the Morenos have tried to help her manage her farm, but they are extremely overextended at the moment. - 5:16 PM
#origins-and-producers: Haha wow, this is a deep cut. Its amazing and so cool people remember Saavedra's coffee. He probably produced my highest scoring Caturra, ever.
The supply chain for his coffee really fell apart during covid. He has always sold his coffee to FFT (fairfield trading) and we also built a pretty significant buying program with FFT during the early years of Lofted (before we changed names to SEY). FFT really scaled back during COVID and hasn't really rebuilt since. I did taste Saavedra's Caturra about 2, maybe 3 years ago. It was good, but not excellent. - We debate alot as coffee buyers if our memories of 88pt caturras were actually real 88s or were they 88s because Pink Bourbons, chirosos, Ajis, etc. didn't exist yet and those Caturras were the best coffee Colombia had.
I think its slightly more complicated. I think that yes the Ethiopian varities now growing all over Colombia are certainly raising the cieling for cup score/quality potential. But, also think that the Caturra of 10 years ago actually doesn't really exisit any more. I've genetically tests many trees that are believed to be Caturra and they have all come back as 'introgressed hybrids' meaning they have been crossed with most likey castillo. This is because Colombian producers planted a ton of Castillo intermixed with their older Caturra varieties, and because coffee is a self-pollinating plant, most believed cross-pollination didn't really happen that much. We wer every wrong. Everything gets cross-pollinated... so all the trees that were planted from actual Caturra seeds aren't Caturra anymore... which really does play out in cup profiles, every single 'caturra' I taste now as more vegetal qualities than they used to have... I'm not entirely sure its even possible to find 100% caturra lot in Colombia anymroe.... - 5:19 PM
#origins-and-producers: haha that is also my memory... but its tough to know how those coffees would actually cup out next to the best pinks and chirosos - 5:20 PM
#origins-and-producers: Yeah, Jhon Poveda's coffee was amazing, so was Maria Lunid's coffee - 5:21 PM
#origins-and-producers: I'm guessin they would be very good and complex with a significant amount of green peper/vegetal... So, if you're okay with the vegetal those coffees are still probably pretty cool - 5:23 PM
#origins-and-producers: yeah totally - 5:25 PM
#what-are-you-brewing: Yeah this year of pink bourbons 2023/24 might go down as one of the best years coffee ever sees.
2026-05-16
- 9:02 PM
#origins-and-producers: Honduras has been a challenge over the last like 5ish year. Very similar to Mexico, we're seeing alot of soil deterioration over time and alot of genetic deterioration. For example, Honduras has primarily only grow Pacas (bourbon line) and some older bourbon/typica types.. as well as some catimore and a sarchimor hybrid called parainema. Pacas specifically, awhile back, really had excellent cup quality and potential. But, over the years, it has become more and more challenging and I'm sure soil and variety are a gross over simplification of whats actually happening. This isn't to say that there is no longer any excellent coffee in Honduras, but it has become significantly more challenging. Personally, I'm hoping to see more genetic diversity in the future, similar to what Colombia has done over the last 10 to 5 years - 9:03 PM
#current-menu: Was 100% SL9... woops! 🫣 - 9:44 PM
#origins-and-producers: fully depends on the producer! what I'd love to see in Colombia is more shade trees. There are very very few trees in southern huila.. if anything they plant false banana trees as 'shade' . But, I think climate change and trees are going to be more of a struggle for Colombia... There year is already looking like very, very dry el nino year in Huila for later harvest. - 9:45 PM
#origins-and-producers: here is a photo from the top of Servio Botina's farm... ha the difference between farms in Colombia and something like Pepe's farm is quite stark
Attachments:
- IMG_8961.heic (image/heic) - 10:32 PM
#origins-and-producers: yo, pacas will forever be top 3 varieties for me.
2026-05-17
- 4:43 PM
#origins-and-producers: ha well now i'm holding frozen samples of anything and everything interesting.. so if we're still alive in 10 years we can do it then 😂 - 4:44 PM
#origins-and-producers: I'll try to get my hands on this. Usually IHCAFE90 is pretty vegetal for me. But, certainly respect Tim W and all the work hes done over the years <23 - 4:46 PM
#origins-and-producers: Over time its been pretty well documented that if you plant a self pollenated tree from seed over a couple generations that that will deteriorate over time. - 4:48 PM
#origins-and-producers: grafting is the best way to mainting quality and genetics... Stumping and soil is the best way for plants long term. there are some trees in kenya that are over 150 years old that just continue to get stumped. Its really crazy - 7:11 PM
#origins-and-producers: this is what makes ethiopia so unique.. although it is changing... but they have the most genetic diveristy of coffee in the world - 7:18 PM
#origins-and-producers: I'll certainly check out the coffee! I think a lot of these coversations around hybrids and quality potential is super interesting, especially in a space like this. With context, i.e sustaibaility, farmer viability, economic stability etc... These varieties are extremely important. However, at the top top end of specialty, most consumers just taste the cup and the cup scores just don't have a high enough ceiling when tasted without context. For example, and 86.5 hybird is an amazing coffee. But when people just taste that in isolation its gets absolutely destroyed by the internet and 'coffee review' type people.
IMO they are reviewed inappropriately. A Hybrid variety in Honduras should not be reviewed against an ethiopian landrace. They are fundamentally differnet things and should be reviewed as such. I.e This is an exceptionally good version of Batian grown in Honduras. OR a caturra from Colombia etc. But, to disregard them as 'bad' coffees because they have different profiles, or lower cup score ceilings, I personally feel like it misses the larger coffee context and landscape. - 7:22 PM
#origins-and-producers: Right now, I think everyone is simply interested in chasing the highest cup scores... but I feel like this really misses the opportunity to explore all different profiles and celebrate the diversity of the best representation of variety and terroir. We can still be interested in 'highest quality' but if that is simply defined by cup score.. I personally think that is extremely narrowly focused
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lancehedrick
2026-05-11
- 1:41 PM
#Brew-Along: Brewing Alberto Trujillo - 2:09 PM
#Brew-Along: here - 2:37 PM
#Brew-Along: Brewing Alberto Trujillo - 5:42 PM
#filter-focused: For sure. no one said one needed to do this to be "great." It came up in a convo. It is part of our research and dev re: roasting. And we also just like seeing what is exciting out there being coffee nerds, ourselves. - 5:43 PM
#filter-focused: Boost that body AND acidity baby! haha - 5:50 PM
#filter-focused: Yeah the convo followed a live brewing session. Sry about that. - 5:51 PM
#filter-focused: Been brewing up Umoco and Ruarai? - 5:51 PM
#filter-focused: Peeped your IG story lololol - 5:52 PM
#filter-focused: I'm old. What is a vn diss - 5:52 PM
#filter-focused: Hahahaha that would have been epic - 5:54 PM
#filter-focused: Very unusual you would get consistent potato. A couple of beans in a bag, maybe. But every dose? Not sure i have ever heard of that. Is it moreso you had one and now going thru it rapidly out of fear of another? Lol - 5:55 PM
#filter-focused: I'm not invalidating your experience. To be clear. - 5:57 PM
#filter-focused: Being in SEYcord should not filter you. Feel free to speak your experience. - 5:59 PM
#filter-focused: 🥰 - 6:01 PM
#filter-focused: We have been trending slightly lighter the past month. Essentially pushing until grain and backing off, in very generalized terms lol - 6:07 PM
#filter-focused: I'm thinking the fact it is our most developed offering and leans a bit more baking spice/earthy (compared to other offerings) it can give off a more muted and potentially 'potato' vibe without it being the defect.
For the record to those reading, it smells like a batch of French friends when you grind up one dose of coffee that has even one defect in it. It is LOUD haha - 6:10 PM
#filter-focused: Yeah one cup out of like 20 retail bags is expected. Multiple from one doesnt seem even conceptually plausible. But, cest la vie. Coffee be coffeeing - 6:10 PM
#filter-focused: This would be iconic - 6:11 PM
#filter-focused: Pls tell me how to spot the defect without breaking the bean. - 6:11 PM
#filter-focused: Id do this to so many people - 6:11 PM
#filter-focused: Or we can brand a bag with McDonald's French fries and act like it is intentional - 6:12 PM
#filter-focused: Oh baby there we go - 6:12 PM
#filter-focused: Tim Hill coming in clutch I suspect? - 6:13 PM
#filter-focused: Unreal - 6:13 PM
#filter-focused: The legend be legending - 6:14 PM
#filter-focused: Even back in the day of my barista work, with much lower quality Burundi and way more frequent potato, we just dumped the portafilter when we smelled potato. Happened maybe 3 times a shift if serving SO Burundi. Way less nowadays. - 6:15 PM
#filter-focused: Just a reality. Impossible to ignore at this point in time. - 6:15 PM
#filter-focused: But that tech looks so sickkkk - 6:17 PM
#filter-focused: Ketchup is a great condiment - 6:18 PM
#filter-focused: So brew the kenya next to it - 6:18 PM
#filter-focused: Teehee - 6:20 PM
#filter-focused: I enjoy the ruarai. The guchienda we recently had was even better imo.
My tops this year if you can get someone to share are the Peru Albino Ibias, Jhon Saenz, Genezard, Colombia Wilson Alba, Servio, Octavio, Kenya Guchienda, Samuel Aragon Gesha, Dwight Aguilar Yellow Gesha, William Ortiz Chiroso - 6:21 PM
#filter-focused: Standouts for me personally, not necessarily score related, are Albino Ibias and William Ortiz - 6:21 PM
#filter-focused: 92 and 90 respectively I scored them. Former is fave coffee of the year. Latter has such a nice rose finish after a clean fruit presentation throughout - 6:23 PM
#filter-focused: While it is true it has been the year of the SL9, I think Pink Bourbons, relative to their baseline, are having a more impressive banner year. At least the ones we have brought on. Unreal bangers. - 6:24 PM
#filter-focused: Not sure i have ever given above an 88 to a pink bourbon. I have given 3 above 88 this year alone... - 6:25 PM
#filter-focused: Have SL9s been higher? Yes. But, they are referred to as Inca Gesha for a reason lol
Some are convinced even with genetic results that it must be a gesha due to its impressive presentation. Haha - 6:27 PM
#filter-focused: All about that variety! The ninga was actually quite vibrant with an orange juice quality that was pleasing - 6:27 PM
#current-menu: Gimme - 6:27 PM
#current-menu: I'm out - 7:28 PM
#filter-focused: Way different. One bean does not rub off onto a big batch. At all. It only affect the batch in which it is ground. - 7:28 PM
#filter-focused: Not a liquid. - 7:29 PM
#filter-focused: But yes- even on a 200g batch brew - 7:29 PM
#filter-focused: You would taste one bean worth of potato - 7:30 PM
#filter-focused: Oh absolutely - 7:30 PM
#filter-focused: One bean is so crazy powerful - 7:30 PM
#filter-focused: Doesn't make much sense tbh. Can overwhelm literally 200 others - 7:30 PM
#filter-focused: Those 200 beans are bring an inordinate amount of compounds to the table but nothing can overwhelm potato haha - 8:07 PM
#filter-focused: Is this sposed to be me? Lol - 8:09 PM
#filter-focused: I am weird. I like geshas and sl9s and complex coffees around 2 weeks and denser coffees around 4 weeks (kenya, PB, etc)
This is not just SEY. Any EL/UL.
Substance (Joachim) is same and so is Stefane. But, obviously many out there do much longer and that is cool, too. - 8:09 PM
#filter-focused: Oh hahahaha - 8:09 PM
#filter-focused: I'm really bad with discord humor as you saw above with vn - 8:13 PM
#filter-focused: I'm with Janesh. Freeze at peak or just before. - 8:29 PM
#filter-focused: My *feeling* is while it is true lighter roasts need longer to push out C02 due to tiny pores, etc, they also have less CO2 due to being light. I think sitting for a long time, the coffees are just losing aromas that we quite like. Even in a sealed bag, they will just escape once the bag is torn asunder.
I find I lose florality when I let coffees rest for ages.
Again, this is my experience. Loads of other experiences listed online and elsewhere with 6-8-12-20 weeks and beyond as producing best cups. I just never get that. I get brown of I rest a coffee that long. Or just grain if super light, devoid of florals. - 8:31 PM
#filter-focused: 9 bar - 8:31 PM
#filter-focused: Called boomer resting - 8:31 PM
#filter-focused: Pascal the rascal - 8:32 PM
#filter-focused: This is the way - 8:32 PM
#filter-focused: Have fun with it - 8:37 PM
#filter-focused: What do you mean by earlier? - 8:38 PM
#filter-focused: So an understanding that 2 is earlier than normal? I have always done 2-4 weeks lol
So for me, it is not early.
But if you mean do I do it even with modern spro, absolutely. Always 2-4 weeks depending on coffee. - 8:38 PM
#filter-focused: But again, that is me. My preferences. I find a waning intensity of aromatic presentation as coffee sits in a bag. Regardless of roast level. - 8:38 PM
#filter-focused: *for me* - 8:39 PM
#filter-focused: I have a feeling skmeone will screenshot and post elsewhere and be like "lance says resting more than 4 weeks means less florals! he is an idiot!"
I am saying for me and my taste preferences and my personal experience, I find a period of 2-4 weeks largely works across roast levels towards which I gravitate. - 8:40 PM
#filter-focused: If CO2 is an issue, just grind and let it sit or, better yet, shake it. 10sec can rid around 30% of remaining CO2 (legit number btw) - 8:43 PM
#what-are-you-brewing: Ive no doubt. Strawberry cofermie? - 8:43 PM
#what-are-you-brewing: Spamming yellow with the greats only - 8:44 PM
#filter-focused: Tbf I do go up to 6 on occasion. - 8:45 PM
#filter-focused: But starting bags at 4 with kenyas and PBs and drinking tol 6 or 7 weeks.
I'm talking about period in which I first open to brew. - 8:46 PM
#filter-focused: Since 2 is a baseline for me, I was just confused if he meant earlier than 2 weeks. I understand now haha - 8:46 PM
#filter-focused: I don't lol
I brew and drink. If needing rest, I rest. I always have like 40 open bags or more - 8:47 PM
#filter-focused: Yes. I don't do that. I have, but I do not practice it - 8:47 PM
#filter-focused: I have played with it on and off rarely since first hearing about it after Patrik Rolf roasted backstage and pre ground his coffee to rest quickly on 2018 in Boston lol - 8:48 PM
#filter-focused: But <@773009568292012082> has done some work on shaking and seems it degases the coffee super efficiently and quickly. - 8:49 PM
#filter-focused: I know will shake a bit if I think I'm early - 8:51 PM
#filter-focused: Nice! I just have never found that to be the case. I find it more muted that long off roast, personally. I know Lance has, as well. And others (Joachim who also uses Loring) - 8:51 PM
#filter-focused: But again - 8:51 PM
#filter-focused: To each their own! What is best for you simply might just be different than what is best for me - 8:52 PM
#filter-focused: Oh I have done this lol - 8:52 PM
#filter-focused: A perk of my new role is testing our coffees. - 8:52 PM
#filter-focused: And I meant that to be vague - 8:53 PM
#filter-focused: I brew it every way to sunday throughout the weeks and months lol - 8:53 PM
#filter-focused: But also, been doing weird stuff for years for YT and elsewhere. I'm a coarse fiend. - 8:53 PM
#filter-focused: You referring to Taylor's query? Or just randomly thrown out there ha! - 8:54 PM
#filter-focused: Super helpful for sbs and tasting loads simultaneously - 8:54 PM
#filter-focused: I ask because before Taylor, no one was talking about cupping haha - 8:54 PM
#filter-focused: Love the randomness - 8:54 PM
#filter-focused: And taylor- I will. Need to see it. - 8:55 PM
#filter-focused: But I agree with Carl. It is not at all a necessity in home context. Helps with loads of tastings at once and for quality purposes. - 8:56 PM
#filter-focused: Yeah. It is something I spend time calibrating people on, actually. - 8:57 PM
#filter-focused: Tbh not sure what outgrown means in this context lol - 8:57 PM
#filter-focused: Thats wild - 8:57 PM
#filter-focused: And love it. - 8:58 PM
#filter-focused: Ahhhh heard. - 8:58 PM
#filter-focused: I just wanna know, Taylor, if resting actually has some chemical changes or if it is largely the expulsion of CO2 we rest for. - 9:01 PM
#filter-focused: I feel people (me included) have preached due to water activation even in roasted coffee that changes occur while resting, but there is no proof that the same cannot be had same day if we could expel all CO2 immediately. If resting doesnt matter beyond CO2 release, that could make life so good. <@773009568292012082> - 9:02 PM
#filter-focused: Yeah negatively, it would seem. Or are they changing positively? The sentiment over the years is that things become better somehow like magic - 9:02 PM
#filter-focused: Doesn't make sense to me. - 9:10 PM
#filter-focused: Absolutely. I recall our chats but wanted them here if others had thoughts.
2026-05-12
- 9:53 AM
#filter-focused: Oh this is what I have thought for years but there is no proof other than the proof of degradation. This is why I want to figure it out - 10:48 AM
#filter-focused: Oh I'm familiar. I just do not work in a lab. A goal of mine is to eventually get funding somehow to be able to partner with a lab for this stuff. But not something I can just do, sadly. Expensive equipment haha! - 10:49 AM
#filter-focused: 10000000%. This is why I try to be very intense on saying things like "in my experience" and leaving room wide open for other experiences (like the resting convo above. Probably sounded super redundant with all my caveats lol) - 10:52 AM
#water: Have not used them, personally. - 11:23 AM
#equipment: Lance cups at home. No real equipment. Doug has a few big boy grinders (a kafatek maybe?) And does loads of ORB soup. Graham has an EG1 and likes the Bird. - 12:07 PM
#filter-focused: Oh it is. Crazy expensive - 12:56 PM
#what-are-you-brewing: I use l theanine daily - 5:21 PM
#filter-focused: I grind on chirp. Haha it is proper powder to where some coffees I break up clumps with wdt - 6:52 PM
#espresso-focused: Turbo baby! For the win! - 11:24 PM
#equipment: Fantastic. Only used while at SEY house tho. - 11:56 PM
#equipment: Of course
2026-05-13
- 8:25 PM
#current-menu: Now THAT is a lineup
2026-05-14
- 12:27 PM
#Brew-Along: a Jhon Saenz morning - 12:47 PM
#Brew-Along: current SEY- 131-138 - 12:47 PM
#Brew-Along: SEY 2 years ago- 118-125 - 12:58 PM
#filter-focused: Recipe Shared By xbloom: One and Done
Recipe shared by lance: https://share-h5.xbloom.com/?id=T2%2FusPI5wWCR1U3%2FLQQvxA%3D%3D - 1:36 PM
#Brew-Along: a Jhon Saenz morning - 2:23 PM
#what-are-you-brewing: It is mega - 9:57 PM
#espresso-focused: Non Colombia is wild. Some of the world's best coffee comes from there. Very curious why non-colombia! - 10:00 PM
#current-menu: Hey! This is a place for SEY coffee, of course, but feel free to drop something you are enjoying here and there. If you are mainly wanting to discuss other roasters, loads of other discords you can join! The idea here is for people who drink SEY and want to chat over the hundreds of annual releases we have as well as chat with some of us who work there for background info, etc. - 10:04 PM
#espresso-focused: Try some of the pink bourbons we have been dropping this year. Unbelievable. My favorite coffees tend to be Kenya coffees, Pink bourbons, sl9s, and geshas. - 11:25 PM
#filter-focused: Yeah! Around there. - 11:25 PM
#water: 1/3 strength
2026-05-15
- 11:23 AM
#what-are-you-brewing: You dont think this has been a great season for pinks? Wow. I find it the opposite. Servio, Wilson alba, octavio, etc. Been unreal. - 4:10 PM
#what-are-you-brewing: Not good every year. This year in particular was unreal. Coffee harvests are so angsty year to year lol
2026-05-16
- 3:59 PM
#Brew-Along: Welcome to SEYcord - 4:05 PM
#Brew-Along: 20ppm CaCl
15ppm MgCl
10ppmKHCO3 - 4:42 PM
#current-menu: @here the server is boosted so more can come join the live stream if around and wanting. cheers! - 5:05 PM
#Brew-Along: Welcome to SEYcord - 7:36 PM
#water: I have used my lotus over 6 months without issue
Back to index
-------------------
GPT-5.5 Thinking Summary
- seylance2897 opened with why Brazil is hard for SEY: strong internal demand, tiny regional competitions in Espírito Santo, top lots held back for comps, sharp year-to-year quality swings, and the need for a trusted in-country cupper to sort through many small lots.
- Burundi/Rwanda potato defect was a major topic. seylance2897 said SEY now cups through large sample sets to quantify defect incidence and has seen improvement from roughly 20/100 cups years ago to no more than about 5/100 in recent work, while lancehedrick stressed that one potato bean can loudly dominate a dose.
- Tim Hill's red/yellow sorting prototype drew attention as potentially country-changing technology for potato detection. seylance2897 described red as clean and yellow as potato, while lancehedrick joked about the practical and branding implications but treated the tech as genuinely exciting.
- seylance2897 described Tanzania, Uganda, and DRC as origins with real high-quality potential but depleted soils, thin/nutty profiles, and difficult politics. He tied this back to why Peru has been so strong: many first-generation farms are still in early production before soil health declines.
- Fruit quality became a tasting framework: ripe fruit is best, dried fruit can be excellent, and jam/preserve notes often signal fermentation. He tied pink bourbon strawberry-jam trends to producers holding cherry longer after competition incentives, showing how comps can reshape whole regions.
- Quality-cycle risk and producer relationships were discussed in detail. seylance2897 explained the difficult choices around buying an off-year lot, rejecting it, moving it into a blend, or letting another buyer establish future rights, and why this makes sourcing stressful.
- Blends were framed as supply-chain necessary but often not transparent enough. seylance2897 criticized roasters that market blends as exceptional single-lot quality while using them to absorb misses, and cited Passenger's Necessary program as a better example.
- Genetics and origin ceilings were recurring themes: Guatemala and Mexico suffer from old Bourbon/Typica lines and crossbreeding with disease-resistant material; old Colombian Caturra may barely exist as pure Caturra anymore; Honduras Pacas has declined through soil and genetic deterioration; and Colombia needs more shade in many areas.
- Pink Bourbon had another strong week of discussion. lancehedrick said 2023/24 may be one of the best pink bourbon years ever, with Servio, Wilson Alba, and Octavio standing out, while seylance2897 said the mystery is why some pinks are so much better than others despite apparently similar genetics and traditional processing.
- lancehedrick gave extensive practical guidance on resting, degassing, and measurement. His preference is usually two weeks for Gesha/SL9/delicate coffees and three to four weeks for denser coffees such as Kenya, Pink Bourbon, and Burundi; he dislikes very long rests because he finds florality and aroma fade.
- He also argued that a quick shake before brewing can remove a meaningful amount of CO2, that cupping remains the best high-control evaluation method for him, and that grinder-number repeatability is weaker than verifying against prior measurement conditions.
- The week closed with a broader argument about hybrids and context: seylance2897 said hybrid varieties can be extremely important for sustainability and farmer viability, but they should be evaluated as excellent examples of their own variety/origin context, not judged directly against Ethiopian landraces or the highest cup-score coffees.