Blossom Coffee Roasters
Blossom Coffee are a new and exciting coffee roaster that has emerged from Manchester over the last year.
The quality of their coffee is outstanding, they purchase the finest green (raw) coffee from a small selection of importers.
They then roast the coffee in a way that maximises the sweeter notes while highlighting the interesting complexities and natural characteristics that many speciality coffees possess.
With a Q-grade certified team, Blossom certainly knows their stuff in the speciality coffee world and it’s no wonder they have caused a bit of a buzz in the coffee scene.
Other than their prowess in front of a coffee roaster, their focus on responsibility really stands out.
As the brand is still fairly young they are still working towards a few of their goals, however, Blossom has started as they mean to go on, creating a sustainable and environmentally conscious coffee roastery.
This all starts with the very roaster in which they roast. The Loring S15 is one of the most efficient coffee roasters on the market and has some of the lowest emissions.
Everything has been thought of, from the van in which they deliver coffee in Manchester through to the 100% renewable energy used at the roastery, they are always striving to implement ways of working that can help them make informed decisions about the impact they are having on the planet.
Although they have made some amazing efforts to keep emissions low, they are still aware that the nature of the speciality coffee supply chain means they are responsible for certain unavoidable emissions across operations. As well as continuous research into alternatives, Blossom Coffee neutralise their remaining footprint by working with the leading experts on carbon neutrality and climate finance, Natural Capital Partners.
Another project that they are already involved in is one a little closer to home. With an ever-increasing number of us choosing to live in urban areas, our dependency on trees and green spaces within our cities for physical and mental wellbeing has never been greater.
Urban trees and woodlands also help to lock up carbon, filter air pollution, reduce flood risk and provide essential habitats for wildlife. They are nature’s ace card.
Blossom has partnered up with Manchester City of Trees, a local charity who aims to re-invigorate the city’s landscape by transforming underused, unloved woodland and planting a tree for every man, woman and child who lives there, within the next 30 years.
For every retail bag of their Blossom Espresso, they sell they donate a percentage of the profits to the City of Trees (£1 per kilo). That means every 40 bags of coffee they sell they fund the planting of a new tree in Manchester.
The Coffee
The Ethiopian Chelichele coffee from Blossom Coffee Roasters was produced by smallholder farmers delivering to the Worka Chelichele washing station, located on the border of the Gedeb and Yirgacheffe districts of southern Ethiopia.
Farming methods in the region remain traditional, with farmers here typically intercropping coffee with other food crops in order to maximise land use.
Additionally, most farms are organic by default as farmers in Yirgacheffe typically use very few – if any – fertilisers or pesticides. Most farmers surrounding the station own very small areas of land, (many counting their coffee farms in terms of trees rather than area), and selective handpicking is often done by the immediate family.
To capitalise on the excellent coffee-growing climate, the Worka Chelichele washing station provides training to farmers, primarily focused on improving harvesting and transportation of cherry.
The Review
The first thing you notice when opening the bag of Chelichele are the crisp floral notes that you occasionally get with light roasted Ethiopian coffee especially from Yirgacheffe. It’s something that for me is a sure sign that the coffee is going to present something a little different.
The fragrance holds stone fruit notes of peach and suggests a couple of sweeter tones.
It starts with those sweet flavours at the front of the first sip. Notes of the peach in the fragrance come through and delicately fade into more floral notes in the middle of the palate.
The coffee is complex yet subtle, it doesn’t give up its flavours too quickly.
There are flashes of orange zest as the coffee cools slightly that evolve into the beautiful floral notes that Yirgacheffe’s are famed for, hints of bergamot in the middle layer with the orange zest wonderfully. It’s a coffee that just keeps going, you think you taste something then it’s on to the next note.
The coffee cools almost to room temperature and squeezes out a final flourish of marzipan that unifies the whole coffee drinking experience.
A wonderful complex coffee that keeps you on your toes. It’s delicate and subtle notes make it perfect for a filter. It still works well through stovetop or espresso however I would recommend cupping the coffee, to see if you can pick out some of the beautiful florals
