Jeremy, Vuyo and Renato.
‘Coffee should never taste bitter and sour’.
Renato Correia owns the Espresso Lab located in the Biscuit Mill in Woodstock. He comes from Portugal and to say he is knowledgeable about coffee is an understatement.
He’s a walking library on the subject and much more he is passionate about this brown liquid. His love for coffee which oozes from his pores.
I better declare something right up front; I love the taste of coffee in food but I personally prefer tea.
The odd time I drink coffee it invariably tastes bitter or burnt and after having spend an hour with Renato in his lab I now know why. Most of the coffee served in Cape Town has been improperly roasted.
Renato Correia - passionate.
Renato is adamant coffee should not taste bitter. It will if the roasting hasn’t been carried out correctly.
Renato is on a roll as he goes up a gear.
“Coffee is actually a delicate food product and it has to be handled with care and you have to know what you are about in order to showcase the taste”
‘Roasting is the secret’ according to Renato, but he makes it clear your beans have to be the best. The best beans are grown at high altitudes where the beans take longer to develop and the growth period is slower making these beans more expensive to buy.
The Espresso Lab gets their beans from the main coffee growing regions in the world, Ethiopia. Colombia, Costa Rica, Panama, Kenya, and Brazil.
Renato’s girlfriend Helen Varlien is from Sweden, and this is one of the reasons they went on a coffee trail to the Scandinavian countries; to learn about roasting techniques.
Renato explains the Nordic style of roasting beans is much lighter.
And it’s the lighter roasting which is the key to getting the best out of the bean.
Roasted, bagged and ready to go.
‘Coffee is a sensory product, the flavours of coffee are complex and extraordinary’, claims Renato.
’When roasting it’s like conducting an orchestra; light and shade strong and light. I’m looking for everything to work in harmony and be balanced. It’s about getting the acidity of coffee and the sweetness working together. A really good cup of coffee should have no noticeable acidity and, believe it or not, a touch of sweetness.’
And so the moment of truth has slowly dawned and a cappuccino is placed in front of me.
What if I think it’s awful?
I’m informed it’s the house blend for this season. It’s a mix of beans, Dalle from Ethiopia, Don Mayo from Costa Rica and Serra do Bone from Brazil. I never heard of these beans in my life.
I take a sip, the coffee tastes soft, hints of chocolate, nutty and even sweet.
There is no sourness no burnt bitter taste. It’s truly the most amazing coffee I have ever tasted.
I’m speechless. Does this mean I’ve spend a whole lot of time drinking awful coffee.
The penny drops, that obviously the case.
Heaven in a cup.
As I leave the Espresso Lab I spot Luke Dale Roberts popping in for his daily fix.
If you are serious about coffee you have to drink a cup in the Espresso Lab before you die.
Espresso Lab Microroasters. (Turn left when you enter the Biscuit Mill, it’s opposite The Test Kitchen)
The Old Biscuitmill
Woodstock
021 447 0845
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I love the coffee at Espresso Lab and I am more enthused by his comment “When roasting it’s like conducting an orchestra; light and shade strong and light”. The feeling we should all get with our first cup of ground beans in the morning.
Good article. Great to see that espressolab are being recognised for their serious commitment to sourcing and roasting the best coffee, raising the standard in Cape Town to world levels.
i’ts good. No, it’s great… but I still have only one word for you Clare: Deluxecoffee!
Agree Johan, I also support Deluxecoffee. Every morning I make my coffee with their beans.
Hi Clare,
Since your visit to Espresso Lab Microroasters, we learned that Fazenda Serra do Boné scored 2nd in the Brazilian edition of Cup of Excellence a few days ago. Beneficio Don Mayo won last years competition in Costa Rica.
As we are showcasing separate lots from these winning estates in our seasonal blend, which you enjoyed so much, is a testament of us trying to present only the best estate coffees from leading producing countries.
Thanks again for your visit.
Johan & Michael.
Let’s not get into coffee politics on this. But if you are going to comment on an article such as this (where the author clearly argues why she rates the coffee of sepressolab as special by logical arguments i.e. she prefers tea, and doesn’t like bitter coffee & likes the flavours she tastes in coffee…) then you will have to do better than your respective “arguments” namely Johan distilling the rebuttal to a single word & Michael the regularity of your use of other beans.
These are your opinions. the author backs up her opinion by a logical argument. What is yours?
Ben, the best ideas sometimes need only one word. But since you insist on a diatribe, here goes: I used to love Origins coffees- bought my Expobar from them three years ago. Then the partners had a rather disamicable split, the standards of service dropped, the roasts became unpredictable and the beans priced themselves out of the market. Some staff left to work at EspressoLab; I followed, and loved their product. Still do- they know what they want and they do it well. But there’s a lack of consistency, batches and styles come and go- which is fine if you can get ther every second or third day; not so if you buy your beans once every 2-3 weeks.And once again the prices kept on creeping…
Enter Judd from Deluxe- brilliant bloke, as passionate about his coffes as anyone I’ve met. Clever businessman too boot- he found a backer, set up a small roastery, kept the overheads down. Most importantly he has managed a consistency of roast quality I haven’t found anywhere else. If EspressoLab produces a “hint of chocolate” the deluxe housleblend goes at it full throttle like a proper dark chocolate should. There’s a smidgen of sour and a hint of bitter in there as well, like there should be in a fuller roast. If EspressoLab is Cadbury’s, this stuff is Lindt 80%. And it is consistent. I buy 1-1.5 kilo’s at a time, and I have it vacuumpacked in 250g blocks, this way it lasts perfectly well till I can get beck tot Town to buy some more. It is better quality than what I have had at any of the other roasters in Cape Town, and that at 33-50% cheaper. Now who can argue with that?
PS: go try them. The drinks served at Deluxe cost a measly R10, no matter what you’re choice of poison is…
I love Espresso Labs. I think it’s one of the best cups of coffee I have ever had.
We recently launched WeLove and WeLove Coffee. Why not nominate them as your favorite coffee shop in Cape Town?
Just register on http://www.welove.net – add a profile and get going with the competition – win some amazing prizes and make sure that capetonians all agree that espresso labs is the best cup in town.
Raoul
Johan, I’m glad you have found a roaster that you connect with and enjoy. I also appreciate that you have taken the time to visit us and taste our coffee at Espresso Lab Microroasters.
I would like to however invite you to partake in a cupping session, which we conduct on Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday to further understand what we are trying to do.
I fully respect that you may have an insight into Espresso Lab Microroasters from your visits to our roastery, but never having met or explained to you our vision for coffee personally, I find it unfortunate that comments are being made about our staff and roasting without basis.
We actually take pride in logging/cupping all roasts and batches, and if you have found inconsistencies, then that can open up a pandoras box onto what could be the reason. We are dealing with a seasonal fresh product that changes from day to day. The only way to continuously get the same results is to roast the coffee darker, a trait that commercial coffee companies have done so well to prolong the shelf life of coffee.
Dealing with specialty coffee is not easy, and so it should not be. In the past year the coffee prices have doubled and we see a very challenging year ahead of us. We have actually absorbed many of the increases so as to not alienate our regulars, but an increase in the coffee price is a good thing, because the farmers are getting higher returns. There are actually a small amount of farmers producing top quality coffee and there are more and more roasters worldwide seeking the best coffee as we do. It’s only a matter of time that prices start to creep up.
Our seasonal blend started retailing at R51.00 when we first opened (May 2009), and now it’s retailing at R55.00. Not bad considering you have two Cup of Excellence winning estates as part of the composition.
Johan, please do not see this as an attempt to have you change your support for Deluxe Coffeeworks. We firmly believe there is a place for all, however we have spent a lot of time and effort in producing a special product and to discount it as Cadbury’s is an insult to me and my staff whom have worked very hard to create a loyal following.
Renato, I have met and spoken with you. I pop in regularly on my saturday outings to the Biscuitmill market, and I enjoy your product. Please, no slight was intended towards you, your staff or your coffee: the comments regarding service was aimed at Origins. I will gladly take you up on your offer- but don’t see the “Cadbury’s” reference as an insult either; I used it purely as a metaphor for the comparison of flavours. Cape Town needs every good and passionate micro-roaster it can get; competition is always healthy.
Hi Johan
Thanks for offering up some arguments.
I am afraid I have to challenge your 2 main propositions. Spill seems to be a blog about gourmet products. Now firstly to argue that because deluxe is cheaper makes them better – as you seem to be implying – just doesn’t make any sense in the context of gourmet goods. Sure if you prefer whatever makes least dent in your pocket then for sure, I’m not gonna argue with you. But, if the issue is quality, then that’s no argument. It’s like me saying that i prefer a two-oceans red blend because it puts less of a dent in my pocket.
Secondly you make a better point – consistency. Not that i agree – but i think we are moving more towards personal preference. BUT again in the context of gourmet foods & drinks i have to say that in some cases consistency is not the most sought after quality. From cupping coffees I have found that a darker roast tends to become more generic – what you end up tasting is not the original flavours of the coffee but the caramelized roasty flavours that the process of preparing coffee induces. In this respect the only thing that I would say makes deluxe’s coffee better than Ciro or any of the other cups of darker roasted coffee I have had is that it is not as stale as the retailed product. Again a wine metaphor. If the terroir & meteorological conditions dictate a different approach to making a good wine, then the people who are concern with emulating previous crops invariably end up with products like café culture. Even my favourite wines differ greatly from year to year, even though they are consistently classic. Another metaphor. a good piece of steak is going to taste quite similar to meat of an inferior quality if it is basted and grilled medium to well. it is in the unbasted and medium-rare region where the quality of the meat becomes apparent.
This is why i prefer lighter roasted coffees like espressolab & Truth, because i have discovered coffee to be in fact quite a delicate product, with a range of flavours which can in fact be likened to wine. But I do admit. I have always and always will appreciate a good darker roast with a lot of milk and a sugar or two. It’s what i have grown up enjoying, but recently i have aqcuired a taste for the pure complex delight of a sensitively roasted coffee. I think I need a fix, RIGHT NOW!
Ben: mate, enjoy your coffee wherever you find it to be good.
Espresso Labs is great. As is Origin. Both sourcing genuinely incredible single origin coffees.
But to have incredible coffees of this standard delivered to your home, visit http://www.rosettaroastery.com. They roast and deliver incredible single origin coffees around Cape Town with no delivery fee and no minimum order.
Get your fix of Sumatran Blue Batak, Brazilian Tijuco Preto Estate, or Panama Boquete’s Elida estate all available from the Rosetta Roastery website.