Sleepwalk? Making coffee? It might seem a bit random from the outside, but anyone who knows me knows I'm a coffee fanatic and have been home-roasting my own coffee for nigh on 10 years. Sleepwalk has always been about making products we're passionate about and having fun doing it, so when we started kicking around the idea of doing coffee, "Yeah, screw it, let's go for it" was practically imminent. We were lucky enough to link up with a local coffee importer, who not only source and import coffee directly from the farmers, but also helped us develop roasts that best highlight the exceptional coffee they provide.
For our first run we're offering a natural processed coffee from Rwanda and a washed coffee from Guatemala. The Rwandan has the fruity notes you'd expect from a natural, but with a subtlety and delicateness that contrasts to the super punchy characteristics often found in naturals. My favorite part of this coffee is the beautiful floral notes that bloom on the back end, especially as the coffee cools. We kept this roast light in order to preserve the nuance inherent in the bean.
The Guatemalan produces a nice, balanced cup, but packs enough flavor to be exciting for a natural lover like me. Dark chocolate and orange notes prevail with a smooth, juicy mouthfeel. Roast-wise, this one is slightly darker than the Rwanda, which really brings out the rich chocolate-y-ness.
If you'd like to dig deeper on the origin of the coffee and the farmers, we created pages for both the Rwandan and Guatemalan coffees for you to check out. And of course, all these things we're talking about is in context of the coffee being brewed well, so if you're new to specialty coffee or would like some guidance, we created some brew guides for Aeropress and pourovers (V60 in particular).
As a coffee nerd, this has been a really exciting process for me to be a part of—from sourcing and choosing the beans to roasting on a commercial roaster—a dream come true, really. We hope you find the coffee as exciting as we do and hope to continue bringing you exceptional coffee in the future!
Cheers,
Teppei
See our current selection of coffee: SHOP COFFEE