Coffee with a personality: Discover it

Coffees that surprise make guests praise the coffee spontaneously. While this happens regularly in the roastery, last time I personally was surprised when I was cupping an organic coffee from Africa. But this time it was Kenyan...

Lapland Roast has brought specialty coffees from Kenya before. Some of them were AA plus grade.

Based on past experience, I have an expectation of Kenya AA plus coffee. It has dryfruity flavour, bright cup, high acidity and strong body. It is normally one of the strongest coffees we carry. If you like Kenyan coffees you probably have similar views.

This year's harvest of Kenya AA plus top is a discovery. Try it and you will be surprised. It is special. It is an exquisite combination of strength and softness. When you drink it, expect usual complexity, fruitiness, and brightness, but also feel how light and gentle it is. How is it possible? I don't know. But this coffee has a personality. I thought I knew about this coffee's character. In fact, I even had doubts whether or not it was a good idea to order it again. But all that only set me up for a discovery.

This is what is great about specialty coffees. They are not the same. A wonder is in every new encounter even if that encounter is with a familiar coffee origin.

Discover it for yourself. Really, try it. Welcome. And remember to take a bag of freshly roasted beans home or for someone else.

All our coffees are gently roasted with hot air. It is a -- so called -- fluid-bed technology. It gives us an opportunity to make your coffees taste elegant and refined. We roast coffees almost daily. So you can always enjoy it fresh.

Continue

Brazilian Santos: new crop

Few coffees can meet the demands of both those like light and those who prefer dark roasts. In fact if you are interested in trying a dark roast for the first time, this is a great coffee to start. The coffee is very mild and gentle. It has a very low acidity. The dry aroma gives out a tone of honey roasted almonds. (Like the ones you can find on some Christmas markets in, say, Riga). The light roast has a nice fruity aftertaste.

Unfortunately, in the light roast, the coffee becomes a bit sour as the cup cools. In the dark-medium and dark roasts the coffee has caramel aftertaste and just a hint of nutty flavour. As the cup cools, the taste becomes fruitier.

Brazil Santos will surprise and satisfy a coffee lover with a "classic Finnish" expectations and with please a gourmet, who enjoys "listening" to unique flavours for specialty coffees.
Discover world coffee flavours with us

Continue

Ethiopia Sidamo Moredocofe organic

We just finished cupping Ethiopia Sidamo Moredocofe organic. It is a very aromatic coffee. Dry aroma reminds of peach and ripe (maybe even overripe) cherry. I was surprised how well the coffee tastes in a both light and dark roasts. Acidity is very low, while the body is full. In the cup the coffee is rich and rustic, one can listen to the taste of peach, ripe cherry and a hint of warm spice. Very pleasant cup. Medium and dark roast give a fuller mouthfeel and brings out the warm spice flavour. Coffee has a pleasant and lasting aftertaste.

Sidamo is a province in Ethiopia. The province is known for its high-quality coffee. Moredocofe is a cooperative, which units small farmers producing organic coffee. 

The farms are located in the range of 1800 meters above the sea level and, in general, are slightly higher than many other farms in Ethiopia. At high elevation the coffee cherry grows slower and produces a dencer bean. The coffee trees in Moredocofe grow in the wild in the natural forest. Perhaps, one of the reasons for naming the co-op Moredocofe, which stands for More Direct Organic coffee.

Continue

Specialty coffee from Costa Rica

Costa Rican coffee beans rank among the finest beans in the world. Tarrazú region in Costa Rica, produces some of the best coffees in Costa Rica.

We have been wanting to try Costa Rican beans for a long time. Recently we celebrated such an opportunity: Costa Rican, Tarrazú "La Pastora" coffee arrived to "Aito Lapin paahto" Kemi, Suomi. We got the highest grade, called Strictly Hard Bean.

As is our practice we roasted the coffee at five (5) different levels - from extra light to extra dark (City - Light French) roast. Personally, I was surprised by how well the coffee tasted at all of the levels. This coffee can please a lover of a Finnish coffee and those, who prefer a darker - stronger - coffee taste.

In the cup one immediately feels the coffee's creamy - almost milky - texture. The taste is complex with mild dried fruit and subtle dark honey notes. The cup cools well and always leaves a pleasant clean aftertaste. 

In the dark roast the coffee gives crisp dark chocolate notes with a pleasant aftertaste. It makes an excellent latte. If you order a latte in Aito Lapin paahto and do not specify the coffee origin, I am likely to choose Costa Rican for you.

Despite the wide availability of Costa Rican coffee in Finland, Tarrazú "La Pastora" is likely to give you a unique experience, which will probably pleasantly surprise your established impression of Costa Rican coffee.

"La Pastora" is very aromatic. When I make a cup for our guests at "Aito Lapin paahto" I always wish they could enjoy more of the aroma ascending from the steaming cup as it is being brewed. If you make cup at home or office yourself, you will feel and understand what I mean.

The coffee is the most recent harvest from Costa Rica. All coffee at La Pastora Tarrazú is Aribica. It grows at altitudes over 1800 meters above sea level. High altitude, humid climate and rich volcanic soil create conditions for growing this high quality coffee.

Continue

Mini-art exhibition

Welcome to check out a few paintings made by Russian artists. Until the end of August we are hosting a mini-art exhibition from the Finnish-Russian society. In June the society received a group of artists who captured their impressions of Kemi in their paintings.

Continue

Special things by definition cannot be mass-produced

Special things by definition cannot be mass-produced. At "Original Lapland roast" every cup is individually made. To make your cup special we do a number of things.

Careful selection of the green coffee beans is where the process begins. In "Original Lapland roast" ("Aito Lapin paahto") we do not travel around the world, tasting different coffee crops.... not yet. It is our desire to meet the farmers and taste their products prior to ordering coffee. At this early stage of our service in Lapland we are vigorously searching the internet, studying origins, farm micro climates, production processes, flavours, reviews and cupping reports. We take time to gather information about coffee and then prayerfully select among the better alternatives. After that we place orders to the suppliers. 

When the green beans arrive we rejoice and get to work. We roast coffee at different degrees of darkness and taste it ourselves. Then our guests and friends are invited to participate in cupping events, where various roasts are offered for a feedback. A qualitative narrative feedback is what we are after. So, at the cupping events we take time to talk with every individual and hear out his or her descriptions and impressions.

The small batch of every roast gives us the advantage of a fully controlled roasting process. "Aito Lapin paahto" can fine-tune the degree of roast of every 50-200 grams of coffee. This means that we can virtually roast (not only brew) coffee just for you. Some of our guests have been ordering special roasts already.

The process of refining the taste and quality of the cup is a continuous activity in the Lapland micro-roastery. We experiment with water temperature, fineness of grind, proportions (coffee to water), time and ways of brewing even when we feel that a good cup of a particular coffee was found. There is always room for discovery. Together with our guests, we are looking for full flavour, an optimal balance between sweet and bitter notes, clean cup and pleasant after taste.

Guests at the "Origianl Lapland roast"  are often asked for a feedback about the experience of their current cup.

To make every cup a specialty we refuse to use filter coffee makers, which do not allow us to control temperature, time of brewing and in small amounts. Instead we use drip and french-press methods. They allow us to extract the best coffee flavours into every cup.

Although consistency and repetitiveness can be a challenge in a cup-by-cup production, we view coffee-making as an adventure and art, rather than an industry. Thus, special flavour tones are present in every cup. And every time we are reassured that freshly roasted coffee beans, ground right before brewing, is the way to make your coffee time special.

Continue

Uusi paikka / New Location

Aito Lapin Paahto (Original Lapland roast) has a new place. The address is Valtakatu 25. We hope to open up by the 8th of December 2014.

For now, we plan to sell coffee only in take-away cups. Paper cups are not the best idea for the specialty coffee but this is the way we will have to operate. The place does not have bathrooms for customer; therefore, "Original Lapland roast" has to postpone the opening of a full-fledged coffee house. Everybody is welcome, however, to come and buy coffee and enjoy it at one of our tables.

In addition to coffee drinks we will have one or two selections of munkki or pulla (doughnuts or biscuits) to go with it.

So, it will be a very simple set-up. But, it is a beginning of new different stage for "Original Lapland roast" on its quest for restoring old traditions and serving the local community.

We are working on bringing more coffee. You will be able to buy freshly roasted coffee beans or ground coffee. The degree of roasting as well as the fineness of grind can be done to order. You also may make an order in advance.

Again, as always, we encourage our customers not by stock up on the coffee from "Original Lapland roast". It is best to keep a maximum of two weeks coffee reserves in your house. This way you enjoy the best of your drink. This is because freshly roasted coffee is like a freshly cooked meal, which begins to lose its flavour if stored for long.

We find that freshly roasted coffee is best from about 3-5 hours after the roasting to about two weeks.

Hope to see you soon at our new location.

Continue

Jyväskylä: WUD2014 conference

In November Andrey was invited to present his PhD research findings at WUD2014 conference in Jyväskylä. Here's the link to the video presentation.
http://moniviestin.jyu.fi/ohjelmat/erillis/agoracenter/world-usability-day-jyvaskyla-2014/how-to-build-an-experience-differentiation-strategy-for-software-business

Continue

A drive to snowy Narnia

It was like stepping through a wardrobe into a snowy Narnia as we drove from Kemi to Utsjoki two weeks ago.  "Original Lapland Roast" served coffee at conference organised by the Saami Indigenous Christian Center.


We enjoyed on working hard to provide the best coffee roasted just several hours before it was made. 

It great to meet good friends and participate in refreshing worship time. Thank you for inviting us to come.

Continue