Earlier this month, I was invited by Cafe Blanca to try their first Nano Lot specialty coffee, Finca La Primavera. Finca La Primavera is grown in the Planadas Municipality, Talima Department of Colombia, a region with a long history of award-winning coffees.What makes Finca La Primavera so unique is that this varietal coffee is available is very limited quantities. Only 130 pounds of green (raw) coffee bean are grown each year to be exact and all the beans comes from the same coffee plot, known as a “Nano Lot”.
Cafe Blanca is serving this Finca La Primavera Nano Lot Coffee on 2 brewing methods – as Drip coffee and Siphon coffee. Currently, Cafe Blanca is the only specialty coffee-house in Calgary that serves Siphon coffee.
Since this was my very first Siphon coffee experience, I got a quick lesson from owner, Derek Ho, on this unique brewing process. Hot water is first added to the bottom chamber before the top chamber is inserted into the bottom chamber. The water is then heated over a halogen heater to 185 degrees which pushes the water into the top chamber due to the increased vapour pressure from the heat. The coffee grounds are then slowly and gently introduced into the boiling water.
The coffee is extracted over the course of about one minute as it is being gently stirred. After the coffee is fully brewed, it is ready to be removed from the heat. Once removed from the heat, the vapor pressure in the bottom chamber drops as it begins to cool causing the brewed coffee to be pulled through the filter into the bottom chamber leaving a dome of grounds at the top of the filter. The coffee is then decanted into a carafe and is ready for serving.
I had the opportunity to taste the Finca La Primavera brewed by both methods – the Siphon brewing process vs Drip coffee. Tasting them side by side, you would never guess that they were both brewed from the same lot of beans. The Siphon method produced a lighter, smoother, cleaner & crisper cup of coffee and really brought out the ruby grapefruit notes of the Finca La Primavera. The Drip method produced a more robust cup of coffee with dark chocolate notes.
Though Cafe Blanca managed to purchase the whole lot of the Finca La Primavera this year, it won’t last long given that it was only 130 pounds of raw beans. Hence, the Finca La Primavera will be available at Cafe Blanca only until the end of June. If you’re looking for a really unique coffee experience, I’d definitely recommend trying out this Finca La Primavera as a Siphon coffee.
Cafe Blanca
240 Riverfront Ave SW
Calgary, AB
(403) 460-2002
www.cafeblanca.ca
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