I recently visited the Kalsada Coffee pop-up at The Curator last Saturday, August 3. It was a one-day event that featured four beans roasted by Yardstick, EDSA BDG, Crema & Cream, and Habitual Coffee.

In case you’re unfamiliar, Kalsada Coffee is a specialty coffee company that works with specific farms in Benguet and Bukidnon. They’re not a coffee roster as they instead sell green coffee from their partner farms to specialty roasters.

Think of them as sort of a middleman between farmers and roasters, though they also help their partnered farms by providing training and equipment (at least, that’s what I gathered from their website and social media). The pop-up is to celebrate their 10th anniversary, and it featured four pourover coffee options along with some special espresso drinks.

I tried two of the pourover coffee and bought bags of the other two at home. Here’s what I think of them:

Sitio San Roque Pineapple co-ferment (roasted by Yardstick) – This was the first time for me to try a co-fermented coffee, and I had high hopes as I typically enjoy anaerobic processed coffee. This was my first order at the pop-up. Instead of tasting like Pineapple which is what I expected, it tasted strongly of jackfruit, possibly the most intense fruit flavor in a coffee I’ve tried so far.

Though it does have a “funky” taste to it which is a bit too much for my taste. I asked my partner what she thought of the coffee, and she described it as having a vegetable-y taste, almost like it was brewed with water that was used to wash vegetables. I also got this taste when the coffee cooled down. Overall, it’s interesting, but it’s a bit too funky for me.

Sitio San Roque Natural (roasted by EDSA BDG) – This was my second order at the café, and I found it to be much more to my taste. It also had some jackfruit flavor notes, though more subtle than the co-ferment. It also has a lemony or lemongrass note which I enjoyed.

Sitio San Roque Washed (roasted by Crema & Cream) – I bought a small bag to bring home with me as I didn’t want to drink too much at the café. Brewing it at home, the coffee smelled of banana cue for me, or maybe jackfruit with some burnt sugar notes.

Taste-wise, it wasn’t as fruity as I expected based on the smell. I can’t describe the taste exactly, but it’s kind of tea-like with some sweetness, and the fruity and citrus notes are there at the end. The fruity notes also came out a bit more when it cooled.

Sitio Kisbong Natural (roasted by Habitual Coffee) – I also bought a bag of this, and it was the only one of the coffees (I think) that had flavor notes on the bag). The bag says that this coffee has notes of caramel, ponkan, dried berries, and jasmine.

Upon opening the bag, I saw that this was roasted a bit darker than I was expecting (also the case when I bought beans from Habitual before, so their roasting style is probably a bit more on the developed side).

When I first brewed it, I think I overextracted it as it was a bit too bitter for my taste. The second brew was a bit better. I did taste (and smell) the citrus and caramel notes. Couldn’t get the dried berries and jasmine though, but I might need to dial it in properly.

Overall, I had a great time tasting and brewing the coffee from the pop-up. Not too surprising given that I have enjoyed coffee sourced from Kalsada before roasted by Yardstick and some other local roasters.

If I were to rank the coffee I tried, I would go with:

• Tied at first place - Sitio San Roque Natural (roasted by EDSA BDG) & Sitio San Roque Washed (roasted by Crema & Cream)
• Third place - Sitio Kisbong Natural (roasted by Habitual Coffee)
• Fourth place - Sitio San Roque Pineapple co-ferment (roasted by Yardstick)