Ximeng county, Pu'er, Yunnan, China · Wa hill farms · Torch Coffee · 1,400–1,600 masl
This one is the odd sheep of the month, and the name is honest about it. The cherries are dried partway, then sealed whole into tanks with the oxygen shut out for about three weeks, then dried again to finish. Two rounds of fermentation is where the booze and the spice come from, and it is a lot. Roast it light and the cup goes wild and fruity. Push it to a strong medium and it turns toward rum, oak, and cocoa. Either way, strong fermentation is not for everyone, and I would rather tell you that now than have you wonder what happened to your mug.
red fruit · boozy spice · oak · cocoa
City
$20 local · $26 shipped16 oz bag
Kenya Nyeri Rui Ruiru Anaerobic Natural
Mathira, Nyeri County, Kenya · Rui Ruiru factory · Torch Coffee · 1,800–2,000 masl
Kenya built its reputation on washed coffee, which uses a lot of water, and water is getting precious in the hills. This lot skips the washing entirely. The whole cherries go into sealed tanks with no oxygen for about six days, then onto raised beds where they dry in the fruit for close to a month. The fruit cooks the sugar into the seed, so what you get is red berry jam and bright orange instead of the blackcurrant you may expect from Kenya, with a dark chocolate base that gets deeper the further you take the roast.
red berry jam · bright orange · dark chocolate
Full City
$20 local · $26 shipped16 oz bag
Guatemala Huehuetenango Finca Vista Hermosa
Agua Dulce, San Pedro Necta, Huehuetenango, Guatemala · Finca Vista Hermosa · Martinez family · 1,600–1,800 masl
The Martinez family runs their own wet mill on the farm, which is rarer than you would think and means nobody else touches the coffee between the tree and the bag. Cherries are picked by hand at full ripeness, pulped, fermented in tanks for a day to a day and a half to loosen the fruit, washed clean, and then sun-dried on patios. It is the classic Guatemalan way, done carefully, and it gives you a sweet, malty, balanced cup with a little winey edge, the kind of coffee you can drink all morning.
sweet · malty · winey · nutty
Full City
$20 local · $26 shipped16 oz bag
One Batch Cold Brew
rich · smooth · bold
Origin TBD, but it'll be something worth the wait. Steeped 18 to 24 hours, half a gallon of water to 220 grams of grounds, a ratio strong enough that you're meant to dilute it rather than wonder where the flavor went. What comes out the other end is thick and dark, closer to a concentrate than a coffee, even though nobody around here calls it that.
Cut it with cream and a splash of water if you want it easy. A touch of sweetener if that's your thing, no judgment. Or pour it straight over ice, no water, no cream, and let it hit the way it's supposed to. That's how I drink the first glass of every batch, standing at the counter, deciding if this one's a keeper.
Brewed once, one batch, by the half gallon. When it's gone, it's gone until the next one.
price coming soon
GETTING YOUR COFFEE
How to get it
Local
Doorstep delivery within 15 minutes of Oberlin. Free, and I mean the doorstep: leave a note on the slip if the coffee should go somewhere specific. Bryon will let you know when it's on the way.
Shipped
Everywhere else, via USPS. Roasted, rested a day, then packed and sent.
THE ROASTER
About Bryon
Every month Bryon picks three or four coffees worth knowing — and he never roasts the same one twice. Coffee is a harvest from a particular hillside in a particular year, and when it's gone, it's gone. So if you're hoping to find your one forever coffee, this is honestly the wrong place. If you like the idea of meeting a new one every month, you're home.
He's been roasting for twenty years and still learns something new on a regular basis — that's half the fun. He isn't pretentious about coffee, no lectures, no gatekeeping. He just only drinks the good stuff, and only roasts what he'd drink.
Every coffee here comes with two invitations. Go there lifts you off the ground and sets you down in the place it grew — walk the streets, look around. Taste along opens the Tasting Key and helps you put words to what's in your cup, one easy question at a time.
Either way, the idea is the same: we enjoy this together, and appreciate the craft of good coffee.
GOOD TO KNOW
Common questions
What ratio should I use when I brew?
Ratios are coffee to water, by weight, so a kitchen scale is the one gadget worth owning. If you only remember one number, make it 1:16— about 25 grams of coffee to 400 grams of water — and you'll get a lovely pour-over.
By brewer: pour-over 1:15 to 1:17 (the wider ratio lets the delicate floral and fruit notes through), French press 1:12 to 1:15 (immersion brewing is gentler, so it wants a bit more coffee), AeroPress anywhere from 1:12 to 1:16, and cold brew concentrate a hefty 1:5 to 1:8. Espresso runs about 1:2, but that's a rabbit hole for another day.
What do “washed” and “natural” mean?
They describe how the fruit came off the bean, and it changes the flavor more than most people expect. A washed coffee has the fruit removed right away, then soaks clean in water tanks — the cup comes out crisp, bright, and true to the place it grew. A natural coffee dries inside the whole cherry for weeks in the sun, and all that fruit soaks in — heavier body, sweeter, often outright berry-like. If you ever taste blueberry in a coffee, that's usually a natural.
What is honey processed?
No bees involved. After the skin comes off, some of the sticky fruit layer — the “honey” — is left clinging to the bean while it dries. The result sits right between the other two styles: the clarity of a washed coffee with a good share of a natural's sweetness.
What is anaerobic fermentation?
The newest trick in the book. The coffee ferments in sealed tanks with no oxygen, so a different family of microbes does the work — and they leave behind creamy, complex, sometimes wonderfully funky tropical flavors that regular processing can't reach. When you see it on one of Bryon's bags, expect the boldest cup of the month.
What do the roast levels on the cards mean?
Roasting has landmarks you can hear. As the bean heats up it browns and builds flavor, and eventually the steam inside pops it open with an audible first crack — light roasts stop shortly after. Push further and the sugars caramelize toward a second crack, where roast flavor starts to speak louder than the bean itself. Bryon marks each coffee City (lighter, brighter), Full City (balanced, a touch of caramel), or Dark (bold and roasty) so you know where on that road it stopped.
How should I store my coffee?
A roasted bean is basically a dry sponge — it will happily absorb moisture and any smell in the neighborhood. Keep it sealed airtight, in a cool dark cupboard, as whole beans until you brew. Skip the fridge: it's damp, full of odors, and the in-and-out temperature swings make things worse. If you truly won't get to a bag for a month or more, the freezer works — sealed tight, and thaw the bag fully before opening it.
Why does it taste different a week after I got it?
Because it's alive, in a manner of speaking. Fresh-roasted coffee is full of carbon dioxide and spends its first days releasing it — brewed too soon it can taste a little sharp and unsettled. Bryon rests every roast a day before packing, and most coffees hit their stride somewhere between day four and two weeks, then slowly mellow from there. So the bag that tastes different on day ten isn't going bad — you're just meeting the same coffee at a different point in its life. It's a good excuse to pull up the Tasting Key more than once.
QUESTIONS
Ask Bryon
If you have any questions, you can email Bryon at bryon@humblegrounds.coffee or fill out this short form and he will be in touch.
