Yellow Caturra (The Colombian Coffee Co)

Photo by Jack Gregory

The Colombian Coffee Co do not have a long list of coffees on their website, but what they do sell is what some roasters would love to offer. Yellow Caturra is a lesser known London coffee, which deserves more recognition. In case you are curious, it is named after its rare yellow fruit colour, but the colour is only one of the things that sets it apart from other coffees.

When it comes to grinding and brewing, Yellow Caturra has a surprise for us. Unlike many coffees mentioned on this blog, it is able to produce tasty espresso when ground at any setting from 3 to 1. This is unusual, because many coffees fail to impress when ground at setting 3. Not this one. What we get at 3 is a pleasant acidity and delicate grapefruit note. As you proceed to grind it at 2, grapefruit note becomes sharper, but the acidity remains under control. At 1 acidity may be slightly too much for some. The sweet spot for this coffee seems to be grind setting 2.

All three grind settings will produce a lovely smell and a thick, effervescent, creamy grapefruit flavour. This rare linear characteristic is especially welcome in the morning, when we may miss the exact setting on the grinder.

Please note that when it comes to tamping, heavy tamping will be required to achieve brewing times of 24s or more.

MIXING WITH MILK

If you want to drink it with milk, any grind setting from 3 to 1 will work just fine.

WHERE TO BUY

Yellow Caturra is available in the UK from the Colombian Coffee Co’s online shop.

EQUIPMENT

• Coffee grinder: Sage (Breville) Smart Grinder Pro

• Espresso machine: Sage (Breville) Bambino Plus