Balance coffee | Lafu | China
Balance coffee are a new brand roasting delicious coffee in London. Founder James has worked in the coffee industry for 8 years and wanted to create a coffee brand with a mission to inspire people to drink better quality coffee at home. The coffee that they roast is focused on selling to people who are looking at becoming more of a home barista and create that coffee shop experience in their own home.
With really clean and slick branding their eye-catching watercolour design is a clue about the style of coffee that they offer. They are not afraid to showcase an unusual origin and may provide that unique bag of speciality coffee you are looking for.
As is now demanded as the norm in the speciality coffee world, Balance wants to ensure they create a positive impact by supporting the livelihoods of coffee farmers at origin which in turn, helps create a sustainable supply of coffee for the future. All of their green beans are ethically sourced from some of the highest quality coffee farmers from around the world.
The Coffee
The Lafu, coffee from Balance was a coffee I was extremely excited about. Mainly because of its origin - China. With very few Chinese coffees on the market, it is always a pleasure to experience a different coffee, whether it’s the process, varietal, origin or roast style “different” or “unusual” are always a good thing in the ever-evolving speciality coffee world.
China is a great example of how the coffee industry has evolved over the last few years and how the demand for quality coffee is now overwhelming the commodity market. Although coffee farming in China isn’t a new thing, it has been grown in small quantities for over 100 years there has been a dramatic change over the last 20 years.
Grown mostly in the western Yunnan region of the country the terroir and elevation are similar to a Brazilian coffee-growing region. Much like in some of the Eastern African countries coffee and tea are often grown together in China, their opposing seasonality and similar growing conditions make them sustainable crops to pair. Some farms in certain regions have now completely changed to growing speciality coffee as the prices are better.
China currently is going through a coffee revolution. The amount of coffee that China drinks outweigh the amount that it grows. The figures are a testament to the sheer size of the country as the average person in China only consumes 4-5 cups of coffee per year, that’s compared to here in the UK where we drink around 350 cups per year and Finland (the biggest European coffee consumer) consume around 1500 cups per person per year. Although the consumption of coffee per capita is low they still rank as the 15th largest coffee consuming country and with a taste for speciality coffee emerging in some of their cities their consumption is predicted to rise over the next few years.
There have been some aggressive planning and expanding of coffee growing regions by the Chinese government that is trying to keep up with the demand of the lucrative exportation market. Production has doubled in the last five years and productivity is on the rise. Cup scores are also on the rise as international roasters start to become more interested in showcasing Chinese coffee as something more than a novelty.
China still has a long way to go in the speciality coffee world though, it is extremely young in the industry and although it’s quality and quantity have increased over the last few years it has been occasionally at the expense of some environmental issues. Droughts are becoming more frequent and shade trees are making way for more farmland which in turn creates more of a need for water and fertilisers. With the demand for quality coffee increasing throughout the world so is the demand for sustainable and environmentally friendly products, if China can manage to balance the two then we will start to see plenty more coffees from this region in years to come.
The Lafu coffee is named after the village from where it was grown. The owners of the farm are a father and son team who have been in the coffee growing business for 20 years (veterans in China). They made the switch from commodity-grade coffee to speciality coffee a couple of years ago and produce some fantastic micro-lot coffees.
The Review
The coffee’s fragrance was sweet on opening the bag, the fruit notes of plum and sultana that were described came through.
The coffee starts with more of a body than I would have guessed the chocolate and nutty notes fill your palate. I didn’t really taste much fruit but there were definitely some subtle stone fruit notes below the milk chocolate.
The Lafu has a medium and slightly juicy body that was enjoyable with each sip, not incredibly complex but holds enough flavours to create an interesting and consistent profile. The coffee cools into a mellow cup that leaves a satisfying aftertaste of milk chocolate.
A great example of how Chinese coffee is competing in flavour profiles with the other coffee producing giants.
The coffee worked really well as a cafetiere. The sweeter notes were intensified alongside the rich chocolate body.