Daredevil

ORIGIN // Kalehe, South Kivu, Congo

IMPORTER // Mighty Peace Coffee 

ALTITUDE // 1,480 - 2,000 MASL

VARIETIES // Mixed Varieties

PROCESSING METHOD // Washed

TASTE NOTES // Cranberry, Cola, Black Currant

Meant to spark your sense of wonder and adventure, Daredevil is here to shake up your coffee routine.

Our aim with Daredevil is to formulate a blend that is more dynamic and vibrant than Copilot, but still has the consistency and reliability of an every, easy drinking coffee.

With our first new Daredevil of 2023, we decided to blend two roasts of the same coffee together. Why? Because a single roast profile may not be able to highlight all of the complex notes inside of a blend, but sometimes, if you do two different things to the same coffee, you get a blend that matches super well together.

In this case, we found an awesome coffee from our friends at Mighty Peace Coffee Importers, who specifically focus on relationships with producers in the People’s Democratic of Congo. This is a newer country to the specialty coffee world but has a rich history and terroir that produces amazing cup quality. The lot that we chose was called “Mapendo,” which directly translates from Swahili to “love.” This lot features a blend of coffees from over 4,200 small farmers in the region (around 40% of those members are women).

Congo coffees share a lot of similarities to nearby Kenya. The primary variety delivered here is SL-34, which was bred by Scott Laboratory in Kenya and has genetics relating back to Typica. These varieties are well known for their quality cup profile.

Similar to other countries in the region, Congo coffees also undergo a multi-step fermentation during washing. First, coffees are puled and allowed to ferment for ~12 hours without water. Then, coffees are soaked with water and allowed to ferment for an additional ~24 hours.

We decided to build a two-roast blend instead of two coffee blend to showcase the uniqueness and accessibility of this particular coffee. The base roast elongates the maillard time (time between color change and first crack), which yields a more complex and sweet character. The accent roast is faster, yielding more crisp and complex acidities.

In the brew, we taste notes of bright cranberry, a complex sweetness that reminds us of cola, and a finish of dark fruit similar to black currant. We think this coffee works well as both daily drip or espresso.