Another Side with Leo Nocentelli

'At just fourteen, LEO NOCENTELLI was backing up Otis Redding. Soon after, he was playing on hits for Lee Dorsey, The Supremes, and The Temptations...

As a young man and original member of legendary funk group The Meters, Leo wrote the Grammy inducted classic "CISSY STRUT” and the Mardi Gras anthem "FIRE ON THE BAYOU,” but his greatest moment on record has gone totally unheard -- shelved and believed to be lost to the ages by all involved, including the artist himself. Until now.


Another Side, the album that inspired this collaboration, is a previously unreleased studio album recorded in New Orleans from 1970-72 and features Allen Toussaint, James Black and both George Porter Jr. & Zigaboo Modeliste of The Meters. In 2005, Hurricane Katrina destroyed much of the archive where the album was stored and all seemed lost forever.
Over a decade later, collector Mike Nishita stumbles across the master tapes from the session at a Southern California swap meet, unearthing a hidden gem waiting to be discovered, and the rest is history...

 

 

For the blend, we've decided to pair two sides of a washed Guatemalan coffee (get it?), roasting one side to our typical light roast parameters and for the other side a bit heavier, caramelizing more of the sugars present in the bean. This darker component also matches the roastiness of the chicory, to further enhance that profile when brewing the two together. 

 

 

As an homage to his hometown of New Orleans and their coffee traditions, we have built this blend to pair well with roasted chicory root, a first for us. During times of economic crisis and coffee shortages, chicory root was roasted and blended with coffee to stretch the supply and has since become a staple in the coffee culture in Nola. 

This blend is a combination of two roast profiles on the following coffee:

Country: Guatemala
Farm: San Jeronimo Miramar
Cultivar: Sarchimor
Process: Washed
Notes: Cocoa, Toasted Almonds, Dried Fig
Coffee Sourcing 2017 - Finca San Jeronimo Miramar

Coffee Sourcing 2017 - Finca San Jeronimo Miramar

Chicago isn't known to be the friendliest of places to call home during the cold winter months of January through March. Lucky for DMC, this is prime season for purchasing all the new coffees for 2017! 

These coffee purchasing trips are the time when both DMC and our farming partners get a chance to reflect on the previous coffees from 2016, what we did/didn't like, and preview the new crop of coffees for 2017. Why would we want to review coffees? 

Coffee is a just like any other crop and can change from year to year. Coffee can also change during the year, while we have it stored in our temperature controlled warehouse. Having open communication with our farming partners allows for us to continually learn, which leads to better tasting coffee! 

Another factor that is unique to DMC is our experimental coffees, which we started releasing in 2016. (Ale yeast, wine yeastHopped or Tamba, and Cocoa are all examples.) These experimental coffees are a way for DMC to push the envelope with coffee, expanding on knowledge acquired from collaborating with breweries, distilleries, chefs and other creatives. 

All of these projects are a result of the relationship that we have with our farming partners in Guatemala, a farm that is as forward thinking as the DMC crew. Each experiment requires a great deal of time and effort to make sure that we can gather all the knowledge about each project as possible. Some of these projects turn out great and are released, others not so much. (We learned papaya fermentation doesn't taste good.) Because the coffee crop can have some variation with each harvest, it requires constant attention to detail to make sure that it comes out good. 

Below are a small handful of pictures that show several of the working projects, coffee processing in general and the overall beauty of Finca San Jeronimo Miramar! 

 

Gesha Finca San Jeronimo Miramar 2017

The Gesha at Finca San Jeronimo Miramar is almost ready to be picked! The 2016 crop was another outstanding coffee in the DMC portfolio. Sweet peach nectar, jasmine, pineapple, and milk chocolate!

 

Micro-lots at Finca San Jeronimo Miramar

"Micro-lots" in the cardamom dryers Finca San Jeronimo. We have been cupping alternate fermentation and drying experiments! Photo Jesse Diaz

Fermenting Coffee Finca San Jeronimo Miramar

The process of fermenting comes in many strange forms. In this case, it resembles a satellite image over a desert. These plumes of foam are yeast activity piercing the surface layer of coffee in a fermentation tank. Photo Aaron Campos

Finca San Jeronimo Miramar Sunrise

A beautiful sunrise at Finca San Jeronimo Miramar. This was taken by Kelly Roederer, GM at The Mothership. It was her first trip to Guatemala, but certainly not her last. DMC is proud of our ability to take different Family members on each trip, as it really helps to connect the person with the coffee. Being able to experience moments like this helps bring everything full circle for both the coffee farm and the family member. We are all in this together, working as a team to make everyone involved proud of what we accomplish. 

Experimental Coffee - Wine Yeast Fermentation

Experimental Coffee - Wine Yeast Fermentation

These coffees represent our continued development with fermentation, specifically, a species of yeast called Saccharomyces cerevisiae. Saccharomyces is primarily needed to produce beer, wine and bread making it one of the most important species in the animal kingdom for humankind. These elemental contributions to us have made this Saccharomyces one of the most studied and cultivated organisms in the world.

Yeast, which is a type of fungi, is a single cell organism we need for coffee to be processed. To be clear, coffee fermentation doesn't need Saccharomyces as there is a whole universe of other yeasts out there for fermentation. Fermentation tanks usually consist of a soup of microbes that also feed on coffee sugars and are almost always open air, and made of cement. Beer, wine and bread need the byproducts of yeast for them to be successful and gain complexity and flavor, while coffee does not. At the very least, coffee needs microbes to break down the sugary gelatinous layer of pectin surrounding a coffee bean to be dried properly. We've purposefully inoculate coffee fermentation tanks with Saccharomyces so we can hopefully layer the esters and acids it produces into the coffee.

When propagated, yeast will live the most amazingly simple life on the planet - it eats, it mates and sleeps in abundance, and if it's happy, that's all these critters will do their entire life. All yeast strains have slightly different preferences to be happy but overall they need:


-Sugar
-Water with regulated temperature and pH
-Additional yeast to reproduce with  


Specific wine yeasts have been much more adaptable to the conditions of fermentation tanks in Central America. I'm generalizing here, but beer yeasts, for the most part, tend to be fussier to temperatures, sugar and environment. Experimentation with Premier Cuvee, a yeast most commonly used in Champagne and sparkling wine, is not unheard of for coffee certain processing in Central America. Premier Cuvee is ideal because it is able to thrive quickly and relatively easy within the environment of a coffee fermentation tank. There tends be flavors associated with pears, apples and other fruits high in malic acid production when brewed as a cup. 

Pasteur red wine yeast is named after the grand daddy of fermentation Louis Pasteur a chemist and microbiologist who famously invented the technique of pasteurization.  This yeast in wine will produce more exaggerated, full-bodied character - zinfandel winemakers commonly use it because of its fruitiness. Not as tolerant as Premier Cuvee but still handles nicely in a fermentation tank. 

These experiments were all conducted at Finca San Jeronimo Miramar, our allies in coffee nerdism. They've allowed us to dive into these alternative styles of fermentation and couldn't be more thankful to work with these guys.

If you need a little more help with understanding fermentation, read our previous blog post that helps to explain some of the fermentation and drying processes that are used. 


Country: Guatemala
Farm: Finca San Jeronimo
Cultivar: Caturra, Catuai
Process: Washed, fermented in Pasteur Red Wine Yeast
Taste: Sweet Cherry, Gala Apple, Hazelnut


Country: Guatemala
Farm: Finca San Jeronimo
Cultivar: Caturra, Catuai
Process: Washed, Fermented in Cuvee Yeast
Taste: Cantaloupe, Meyer Lemon, Marmalade

Experimental Coffee - Beer Yeast Fermentation

Experimental Coffee - Beer Yeast Fermentation

Fermentation is an integral point in the processing of coffee. For the majority of coffees, fermentation is a tool used to break down the sugary, gelatinous plant material (pectin) surrounding the coffee bean, once pulped. Specifically for washed coffees, it is not a means to enhance flavor or complexity but to remove the mucilage as quickly as possible before microbes are able to produce acids and esters that may be conceived as off flavors. 

Time is also extremely valuable to this equation as coffee fermentation typically  runs 12 to 24 hours, which is a very short compared to other processes like beer, cheese, wine, etc. Coffee is very malleable and porous after its pulped so too much time in the tank runs the risk of exposing it too much to all the microbial activity. With this experiment we wanted to use this to our advantage to allow the saison and ale yeast to produce compounds the coffee can absorb.

This process worked very similarly to the our hopped coffees, (Citra, Mosiac and El Dorado). These processes and can be considered a marinade for the coffee to sit in and absorb the wonderful flavors. These types of experimental fermentation are unique to Dark Matter Coffee and are part of our culinary approach to serving the best coffee in the world. 

If you need a little more help with understanding fermentation, read our previous blog post that helps to explain some of the fermentation and drying processes that are used. Also check out our other yeast experiments, using red wine and cuvee yeast on this blog post

Saison Yeast Fermented Coffee
Country: Guatemala 
Farm: San Jeronimo Miramar 
Cultivar: Catuai, Caturra 
Process: Fermented in Ale Yeast 
Notes: Cocoa Nibbs, Hazelnut, Currant

Country: Guatemala 
Farm: San Jeronimo Miramar 
Cultivar: Catuai, Caturra 
Process: Fermented in Saison Yeast 
Notes: Clementine, Thyme, Clover Honey 

 

 

Tamba (High Concept Coffee Releases)

Tamba (High Concept Coffee Releases)

TAMBA was a lioness that prowled the land at Finca San Jeronimo Miramar in Guatemala years ago. She is now the spirit animal of the farm, safe-guarding the pristine grounds under the shadow of the volcano. TAMBA begins with innovation and discovery. It is a culmination of new and obscure cultivars yet to be released anywhere in the world! These wild genetics were discovered in the forests of Ethiopia and grown on the upper slopes of the Atitlan volcano. These experimental lots are miniscule in size, but expansive in diversity. TAMBA will continue to evolve over time as each exploration of the individual genetics continue to make their paw print on our world! 


This project is an exploration of a collection of experimental hybrids grown on Finca San Jeronimo Miramar. Each hybrid is assigned a string of code, indicating the lot, whether its cultivated by cloning or seed propagation, and the generation (if grown from a seed). Let's dive a bit deeper into clones vs seed generations with old write ups. 


We have eleven iterations of Tamba we will cycle through over time. On the back of the bag we will label the code associated with the hybrid. To help you navigate this project, the spreadsheet below will cover the hybrid's parental genetics and tasting notes.

For all of these, one of the parent cultivars will be coffees common in Central America (Catuai, Caturra, Sarchimor) and the other will be from Ethiopia. The African counterparts are either Rume Sudan, which in some theories has been considered the first expression of Arabica, or a wild tree with no genetic identification, and only referred to by the nearest town to which it was discovered.

Clones (Hybrid codes will start with C) 
Clones are produced by removing plant tissue from a "mother plant" and applying a rooting hormone to create a genetically identical plant. The purpose of cloning is stability; all trees will grow, produce, and mature identically, which is extremely helpful for analysis.

 

Seed Propagation (Hybrid codes will start with F)
Seeds are harvested to produce new trees which then provide their own set of seeds and so on - each new cycle is considered a single generation. This method will encourage genetic diversity, and allow for natural mutations that may be beneficial for farming. In this case, the producers will use this method with more stable genetics not known for genetic regression or mutation.

 

Country: Guatemala

Farm: Finca San Jeronimo Miramar

Cultivar: See corresponding chart below

Process: Washed

Notes: See corresponding chart below  

 
Coffee Code Hybrid Notes
C P15 1 Caturra x Wild Trees Cherry, Orange, Grassy
C P16 1 Catuai x Rume Sudan Berry, Lime, Currant
C P6 1 Sarchimor x Rume Sudan Strawberry, Milk Chocolate, Grassy
C P7 1 Sarchimor x Rume Sudan Milk Chocolate, Lemon, Blackberry
F1 P13 3 Caturra x Wild Trees Cocoa, Lemongrass
F1 P3 3 Sarchimor x Wild Trees Cranberry, Orange Zest, Cocoa Nibbs
F1 P8 3 Caturra x Wild Trees Milk Chocolate, Cherry, Honey
F3 P16 1 Catuai x Rume Sudan Toffee, Grapefruit, Molasses
F3 P2 3 Sarchimor x Wild Trees Almond, Orange Zest, Currant
F3 P6 1 Catuai x Rume Sudan Passion Fruit, Apricot, Molasses
Varios SHB Mix of various lots Hazelnut, Clove, Red Wine
Definitions
C Clone
F# Generation Number
P Parcel
Wild Trees Discovered in the wild
Rume Sudan Cultivated tree from Sudan

 

 

 

 

 

January 09, 2017 — Kyle Hodges
Finca San Jeronimo Miramar

Finca San Jeronimo Miramar

A large group of employees recently went to visit our farming partners in Guatemala at Finca San Jeronimo Miramar. The group consisted of baristas, managers, office and roasters, all enjoying the chance to see how the coffee is actually made. For several, this was their first experience on a coffee farm, while others, it was a chance to reconnect with the beautiful land and generous people! 

Enjoy some of the pictures that help explain some of the different areas of the farm and how they are involved in creating all of the delicious coffee exclusively for DMC. 

Finca San Jeronimo Miramar Nursery
1.) Hybrid Nursery - an area near the main house on the farm. This nursery helps bring the new plants up to standard so they can be planted later into the fields. 
 
Bourbon Faro
An heirloom bourbon from Finca El Faro
Grafted coffee seedling
2.) Grafting - This technique is used to create new hybrids of plants, helping the farm to avoid disease and create new cultivars of coffee. This one has a robusta (used for rootstock) on the right & a soldier Catuai on the left. The end result is a tree resistant to rust & bearing tastier fruit.
Copper tips

3.) Copper tips - The end result of the grafts. Copper tips denote the rust resistant trees like robusta, typica, liberica...

Cola de Goya
4.) Cola de Goya - These red, palm like trees are grown to become Amarkers for lots of different cultivars & to allocate space throughout the fields.
 

 

5.) Volcanic Fields - A field of mature trees higher up the side of the Atitlan Volcano.

Lake Atitlan
6.) Lake Attitlan Sunrise - The lake is drawn through the base of the volcano, purifying the water even further and utilized in most facets necessary on the farm.
Tony & Sunflower
7.) Sunflower & Tony - the AGM & GM of The Mothership at origin, in the volcanic fields.
 

 

 

 

 

 

March 11, 2016 — Kyle Hodges
Hop Fermented Coffee

Hop Fermented Coffee

Several years ago amidst the ice coffee mania we saw our friends Oddly Correct Coffee doing a really cool variant using a cold coffee extraction with dry hops. We always thought that was so rad and asked ourselves how we could riff on that idea. So we played with some dry hopping in pour overs Half Acre Beer one year when we were brewing coffee for ‪#‎BIGHUGS‬.

Coffee fermentation is a major focus for DMC, it's one of the many areas that separates us from our peers. More specifically, we are trying to grasp a better understanding of fermentation's nebulous process and then modifying our approach to achieve a desirable result . In this experiment, we wanted to see how the acids in hops would affect the microbiology present in fermentation tanks and more importantly, how the hop character would impact flavor. So exactly how does this hop fermented coffee process work? 

Hop pellets are potent little capsules that contain gargantuan levels of acidity, spice, and fruit. Managing the exact hop dosage is very important to get the desired effect in the final product. Catuai was chosen for this experiment because of its stability and consistency, two characteristics that helped to gain more control when conducting experiments. To make a long story short, the end result was essentially dry hopping three different fermentation tanks holding the Catuai, each with a different hop. Citra, El Dorado, and Mosaic hops were chosen because of their differing characteristics with spice, fruit and herbal notes . This will be an ongoing project we will continue to hone in on. Its difficult to say where this experiment will lead but we are excited to sink our teeth into this one for years to come!

These three coffees were released in 2016, the first dry hopped coffees being sold in the world, all with roaring success. We even decided to dry hop our Chocolate City iced coffee for several events, CBC Boston & Copenhagen, Lollapalooza and special offerings at our retail locations. Expect to see more hopped coffee releases, both iced and whole bean in 2017! 

El Dorado Hops

Country: Guatemala
Farm: San Jeronimo Miramar
Cultivar: Catuai
Hop: Fermented with El Dorado Hops
Notes: Cantaloupe, Honey, Milk Chocolate

 

Citra Hops

Country: Guatemala
Farm: San Jeronimo Miramar
Culivar: Catuai
Hops: Fermented with Citra Hops
Notes: Cocoa, Orange, Pineapple

Mosiac Hops

Country: Gautemala
Farm: San Jeronimo Miramar
Cultivar: Catuai
Hops: Fermented with Mosiac Hops
Notes: Plum, Pear, Lemongrass