Aljidan XI Best of Yemen - Brew Chart & Impressions
Ok folks, here's the thing about this coffee. David, a lapsed QGrader (aka coffee taster), never graded a coffee that high.
He was lucky enough to be on the International judging panel that decided what the final selection would be for the Best of Yemen auction. He tasted 50 coffees over 3 days. 50 of the best coffees from his favourite origin, and this one stood out so much that we knew we had to buy it.
Yes, we paid a pretty penny for it (see out transparency report), but this is a coffee experience that was so overwhelming that we HAD to share it with you.
We recently made some taste test with it, and selecting only 3 main impressions was very hard.
It's unbelievably sweet, complex, with a heavy mouthfeel and a long aftertaste.
What we had in the cup was:
- apple crumble. Think cinnamon, cooked apple, deep brown sugar with maybe a maple syrup dressing on top.
- fermented gummy bears. Have we ever taste that? Nop. Yet, we are sure that you will know EXACTLy what we mean. This taste reminded us of all the colours of the rainbow, and his due mostly to the fact that Qima processed this coffee by following their ALCHEMY protocols.
The Alchemy series relies on a combination of pressure (up to 10 bar/145 psi), temperature control, gas regulation and managed drying, to develop a truly unique set of coffees with unparalleled flavour expression and structure. Find more detail about the Alchemy process here.
- limoncello. This coffee is beautifully acidic, fresh and boozy. This might not be the season, but it would make an amazing flash brew!
If you find more interesting tasting notes, please let us know!
How to best brew this coffee.
First of all, this is a coffee that can be brewed in a myriad of ways.
Our preferred temperature range is in the 94-96C. Go hotter to emphasize the sweetness, and lower for a more boozy experience.
Ratio wise, we loved the brews at 17:1. If you want to experience the most complex brew, but with more subtle flavours, you can go higher, and at 16:1, the sweetness and mouthfeel were simply phenomenal.
A typical 20g conical dripper brew should be in the 3:30-4:00min range, and about a minute faster for flat bed brewers.
These are obviously just suggestions, and we wanted to give you pointers since it's quite an expensive coffee and wasting 2 brews is not ideal. But we encourage you to experiment, and tag us when you do!
How long should I wait before brewing this coffee?
It's hard to wait before drinking a coffee like this one. But we highly suggest you wait at least 10 days before brewing, and ideally, you would find the courage to wait 12.
We also suggest keeping one brew for when the coffee is 18-20 days after roast: those brews were very well rested, easy to extract and gave us so many different flavours.
If you are impatient, waiting a week after roast is highly recommended.
Even though we think it can make a great espresso, we haven't tested this coffee for it.