Quarter Horse Coffee Roaster | Guayacan | Peru
The Roaster
Quarter Horse Coffee is located in Birmingham, UK. The roastery/cafe set up shop in the Southside of the city on Bristol Street. They are one of the few roasteries that have a coffee roaster in full view of the cafe - something that is always great to see while sipping your flat white.
The name Quarter Horse is drawn from a racehorse that excels over short distances. Opening their doors in early 2015, this was the second cafe of the same name with the original located in Oxford.
The co-owners knew that they wanted to expand the business and start roasting coffee of their own - what better place than the UK’s second city.
Since they have gone from strength to strength and have cemented themselves as one of the best places to buy coffee in Birmingham.
They source their green beans from international suppliers and select the coffee carefully after sample roasting.
They have a unique coffee subscription, where they roast certain coffees only available to their roast master subscription holders.
"Quarter Horse are one of those roasters who have taken a responsibility to see where their coffee comes from and build relationships with people along the supply chain that focus on fairer than fair trade and sustainability in the industry. Trips to Peru and India enable them to educate their customers on issues faced at origin. "
The importers that they work closely with run several programs that give back to the locals at origin. An example of one of these can be found in the Women Coffee Producers program, which they buy from whenever available. The program seeks to address inequality in coffee-growing regions by creating equity, visibility and access to a wider market for women.
The Coffee
Peruvian coffee is always one that holds a sprinkle of sentiment for me.
After living there a couple of years ago I met countless amazing people in the industry - all the way from the labourers on the coffee farm starting work at 5 am through to the baristas manning the coffee shops in some of Peru’s emerging coffee scenes.
The Guayacan coffee from Quarter Horse originates from the Andean Cajamarca region of northern Peru.
Although it's the second-largest coffee growing region in Peru, it is also the poorest. However, in recent years there has been a huge effort to improve quality, increase productivity, and advocate for fair trade.
The cooperative now enables the smallholder farmers to produce extraordinary coffee in this perfectly suited environment, while also offering fair compensation
The Review
The fragrance of the coffee is sweet, notes of plum with a hint of something floral.
The coffee is super smooth to start. It doesn’t show its colours right away but has a fairly medium mouthfeel that I would associate with great coffees.
The sip starts sweet. The flavours gather in the middle of your tongue and create a fantastic drinking experience.
The juicy fruits then start to ascend on your palate.
Notes of peach giveaway for a finale of a grapefruit.
As the coffee cools slightly the sweetness evolves into a more richer flavour profile and the peach is replaced by a syrupy caramel sort of sweet.
The coffee was an absolute all-rounder, delicious in all methods and enjoyed by all.
Its complexities were flavours that were pleasant. A coffee that was often consumed before it had a chance to get cool.
I’d recommend enjoying this one as a pour-over or Aeropress, although it performs well as a more full-bodied cup too.