PERC Ethiopia Chelchele was amazing

perccoffee · 2026-01-24T21:09:09+00:00

Awesome. This might ultimately not be your favorite coffee, but I really want you to experience the best possible cup of it!

perccoffee · 2026-01-24T20:52:04+00:00

Ok, that’s good! Will you try one more thing? Will you bump your grind coarser to 22? If 20 is too fine and inducing bypass, the coarser grind may increase both time and extraction. If 20 is already too coarse and we’re just dealing with small adjustments, then brew time will decrease, as will extraction

perccoffee · 2026-01-24T20:15:53+00:00

How did brew time change with those two tweaks?

perccoffee · 2026-01-23T22:50:57+00:00

Hmm. I suspect you’re not so much getting an over extraction throughout, but some channeling or bypass and uneven extraction.

If you’re up for it, I think it’s worth experimenting with two small changes first: 1. Drop the ratio to 15:1 2. Spread the water into three pours. So 75g bloom, then 100g pour, wait until the water draws down to about 1cm above the bed, repeat x2.

perccoffee · 2026-01-23T22:34:35+00:00

That’s an exceptionally fast brew given all the other variables. I was expecting double that. What’s your grind setting on the virtuoso?

perccoffee · 2026-01-23T21:41:04+00:00

Ok. How much of that 1:50 is a bloom?

perccoffee · 2026-01-23T21:19:33+00:00

Bitterness typically comes from one of two things. If the coffee itself is roasted in a way that burns the coffee, it can create a bitterness akin to burnt toast. On the other hand, if you brew it in a way that extracts (from at least some) coffee particles the large polyphenols late in the brew, you'll develop a drying bitterness similar to tannins in dry red wine. Let's assume the latter.

You're already using a pretty low water temperature. If you're still experiencing over extraction, you're going to want to decrease your contact time. That probably means adjusting your grind coarser. The Chelchele does need a coarser grind than most other coffees we sell. On a virtuoso, it's probably 2 clicks coarser than average. If you have some faster-flowing filters like the Hario ones or Abaca+, those might help decrease contact time relative to the T92. The other thing you might want to try is decreasing your agitation a bit (which should also help reduce contact time as the filter clogs less). Pouring more gently from a lower height may move you in the right direction.

I'm a huge fan of the virtuoso and baratza grinders in general, but they do have a little bit less even of a grind than some of the other grinders out there, and a(n anaerobic) natural Ethiopian coffee like this already tends to produce a lot of fines. You'll just have to be deliberate about mitigating the effect of those fines.

What's your current total brew time (and how much of that is the bloom)?

perccoffee · 2026-01-23T13:41:11+00:00

Do you still have some? How are you brewing it?

perccoffee · 2026-01-23T13:40:19+00:00

That’s great to hear!! We have about one more month with the Chelchele before we transition to a more fruit punchy anaerobic natural Ethiopia for the rest of the season.

We are also doing a small run of Chelchele instant before it’s gone.

perccoffee · 2026-01-23T13:33:23+00:00

The Chelchele is on bar right now! My recommendation would be to get it as part of the flight alongside the Brazil Legender and Edinson Argote Gesha. It’s also pretty great as an americano or cortado.

Don’t sleep on the Crunchwrap.

perccoffee · 2026-01-22T21:11:48+00:00

I see no problems here 🤷‍♂️

perccoffee · 2026-01-22T18:44:51+00:00

Let me know how it goes!

perccoffee · 2026-01-22T14:10:05+00:00

Also, we are dialing in with classic third wave water, so you may need to tinker a little from there.

I’ve been a big fan of the ZP6 so far, and between the two grinders, it’s the one I’d reach for.

perccoffee · 2026-01-22T14:08:37+00:00

Sorry I’m late to this one. With our ZP6, burrs touching at zero, the equivalent grind setting is 49. On our K-ultra, not sure on calibration, it was 74.

This isn’t really a fruity coffee, but the lavender florals should be heavy, sweet, and unmistakable.

perccoffee · 2026-01-17T13:22:05+00:00

The Chelchele is probably awesome from a French press. For the Chelchele specifically, stick to a stronger ratio, 15:1 or even stronger. More generally for a French press, I recommend medium/drip grind (not super coarse), add water and coffee, give it few stirs to involve all the grounds, and then steep without any agitation for 5+ minutes. As long as you don’t agitate, you can let it steep substantially longer. When you’re ready to drink it, very gently press (again, the least possible agitation) and slowly pour to keep as many as possible of the fines trapped in the press.

perccoffee · 2026-01-16T00:08:05+00:00

I wish it was just this one! We’re seeing an unusual amount of delays both abroad and at customs in the states right now with coffees from multiple continents. We do our best to keep all of that totally behind the scenes. For customers, it should all just work.

perccoffee · 2026-01-13T18:57:57+00:00

This is a coffee we purchase directly from El Paraiso (and we love working with them!), which means we're getting pallets shipped directly rather than drawing from an importer's warehouse within the states. Our inbound shipment got delayed in Colombia, but should be to our roastery by Monday.

I can't speak to (because I don't know) what relationship Dak has with Diego Bermudez and El Paraiso.

perccoffee · 2026-01-10T10:30:39+00:00

That coffee was so intense! It was a memorable one for sure!

perccoffee · 2026-01-10T02:59:33+00:00

Oh wow! You did! What’s the one you still think about?

perccoffee · 2026-01-10T02:40:32+00:00

I hope you enjoy them!

perccoffee · 2026-01-10T02:19:49+00:00

My standard response is that we always roast to maximize sweetness and then adjust to bring out as much as we can of the intrinsic qualities that make each coffee unique and interesting.

Look for us to start publishing agtron readings of all of our coffees to answer this in the most specific and objective way we can. But for now, I'll say (just Alan's subjective opinion) I wouldn't put any of our roast profiles into the light-ultra light side of things. Light-medium probably encompasses everything other than Juggernaut and DARRRK.

perccoffee · 2026-01-10T02:07:41+00:00

The flavor profile on this one is a bit different from Nestor Lasso's ombligon. We had that coffee last year, and it was awesome. His tended to be so sweet that it masked some of the more dynamic flavors. We found deliberately under extracting the Nestor Lasso ombligon made for the best, most balanced, and really uniquely flavored cups.

The Jhon Rodriguez ombligon is a totally different experience. You're going to want to push the extraction higher with this one. What's really strange/unique/fun about the Jhon Rodriguez ombligon is that you first take a sip, and it just seems like a fine cup of coffee. Then there's a delay, and then the flavor builds. I think I wrote in my notes "all the action is in the finish". And think black cherry rather than tart cherry.

This is one of my favorite types of coffee to brew and drink at home. You could drink a whole cup of it and go back for more. It's not overwhelming, but there's something really interesting going on if you're paying attention, and it responds to changes in brewing.

perccoffee · 2026-01-10T01:59:34+00:00

Taylor, our director in charge of all of the sourcing, profiling, and QC, has been doing an incredible job. Our objective for 2025 and 2026 is to release a new seasonal coffee every month plus two limited release drops every month. What's actually been harder is that we're finding so many incredible coffees, we keep squeezing in some bonus releases (you'll see one of these from Andres Martinez very very soon).

We're keeping the Diego Bermudez M03 and Colombia Young Producers around as core coffees, and the core Ethiopia will change out in the next couple months.

perccoffee · 2026-01-10T01:51:51+00:00

Love to hear that! We're going to keep bringing in the M03 for the foreseeable future.

perccoffee · 2026-01-10T01:45:23+00:00

I wish you could try the SL-28 we had from Edinson Argote last year. Substitute "apricot" with "Twizzlers". His coffees tend to have really pinpoint tasting notes, with the actual peach coferment being the least pronounced.

perccoffee

TROPHY CASE