Hits: 1
Beans: The Coffee Academics, Castillo, Natural, Finca Buenos Aires, Quindio, Colombia
Shop: The Coffee Academics, Singapore (Hong Kong etc), Singapore.
The Coffee Academics – Exotic Jairo Arcila: Background information.
The Coffee Academics is a specialty coffee shop-chain that runs throughout Asia. When I first came across The Coffee Academics, I was wandering the streets of Hong Kong. Little did I know that this chain was to expand to Thailand and Singapore as well.
In the early summer days of 2010, “Coffee Academy and Roasting Studio” was first founded on Haven Street, Causeway Bay, dedicated to technical exchanges and sharing idealism for the coffee industry. Located in a charming 1950s architecture, it was a unique space for like-minded coffee aficionados. They attracted the young and the experienced, the curious and the passionate from different parts of the world to movie nights, art jams, photography classes, leather-making… all over a cup of coffee.
This became the birthplace of “The Coffee Academïcs” in 2012, a platform gathering people, minds, and passions together by way of specialty coffee. The flagship, located at 38 Yiu Wa Street, Causeway Bay, was a unique sensory playground for the avid coffee connoisseur.
The retail spaces are sanctuaries for those seeking shelter from the metropolitan cacophony of the cities they are located in and those seeking a bohemian oasis amidst the scent of coffee. This beautiful assemblage is a fine collection of individually-designed coffeehouses, each uniquely fashioned to assimilate into their neighbourhood.
Jairo Arcila, the producer of Exotic Jairo Arcila, is a third-generation coffee grower from Quindio, Colombia. He is married to Luz Helena Salazar and they have two children together, Carlos and Felipe Arcila, who are the co-founders of Cofinet. Jairo’s first job was at Colombia’s second-largest exporter, working as their Mill Manager for over 40 years until his retirement in 2019.
Jairo bought his first coffee farm, Finca La Esmeralda, in 1987 and this is where he planted his first Caturra lot. He was fortunate enough to earn money by producing coffee on his farm in addition to working full time. Using his savings, Jairo slowly managed to purchase five additional farms. After Esmeralda came Villarazo, Mazatlan, Santa Monica, Maracay and then Buenos Aires. Now, during the harvest period, Jairo can provide jobs to the locals generating an economic impact in the community.
He received great insight and expertise from his sons’ in the picking, sorting, and processing of his coffees. This insight has empowered Jairo and given him the tools needed to showcase fantastic coffees with amazing profiles from the region.
Opening the package:
The Coffee Academics use a black package with a ziplock and degassing valve to keep the coffee fresh. When you buy the package a label folds the package and thus envelopes the coffee. This particular label is pink and on the front you will find all the information you need. Region, altitude, varietal, process, filter or espresso. You will also find the tasting notes on the package, and these are not your generic notes that you find on a lot of coffee packaging.
On the back of the package you will find a brewing guide, ensuring that even the new coffee lovers will know how to brew their coffee. Great job The Coffee Academics!
When opening this package a pungent and firm aroma of dark chocolate and cherry pops up. a hint of raisin chocolate and a hint of strawberry can also be detected. But for the most part it is the cherry/chocolate combination.
When eating a bean, you will notice how crispy it is. It also gives off a flavour of cocoa and a bit of a saltyness. After swallowing the bean, the cherry/strawberry flavour pops up once again. This is going to be good! Grinding the coffee results in similar notes of that of opening the package.
The tasting:
I brewed this coffee at 94 degrees and used an Aeropress, V60 and Clever Dripper. All brewing methods were awesome, yet the Aeropress managed to create a little more sweetness to the coffee. Not that it needed that extra sweetness to be honest!
When first taking a sip, be sure to inhale the aroma’s of this coffee really good. cherry, chocolate, caramelised sugar, a hint of cognac and old spice are all in there. This is when the coffee is still hot. When it cools down, you will notice that there is some strawberry and a vanilla blossom scent on the coffee too.
As you take a sip, swirl the coffee round and slurp in some oxygen. The first things you will notice are the dominant flavours of fermented sweet cherry, a soft wild strawberry and of course the dark sweet chocolate. This will totally fill your palette at first but rest assured, there is more to come. When you swallow the coffee you will detect a mouthfeel that is juicy and winey and also reminds you of raisin-chocolate. The acidity is unique as that it gives the impression of unripe kiwi and pineapple and those two notes are popping back up when the coffee cools down.
Let the coffee rest for a moment and take another sip. Notice how the pungent cherry and chocolate are diminished a little now? The unripe kiwi and pineapple are there when you swallow the coffee, as well as a peppery sensation. The coffee also gets a cocoa note when the coffee cools off even more and at the same time the coffee gets sweeter. What a treat!!
The Coffee Academics – Exotic Jairo Arcila: The verdict.
Twice in a row now have I had coffee roasted in Singapore. Twice in a row I had a awesome coffee. The Coffee Academics did a wonderful job on the Exotic Jairo Arcila. This coffee is full of fruity flavours, chocolate and even a hint of blossom in there. A coffee well suited for the upcoming fall and winter days. Take a note of the peppery sensation and the full bodies aroma’s that push this coffee up to the high end of coffees. If you live in Singapore, or somewhere else where this coffee is sold/brewed, make sure to grab one!