Toffee, Red Grape, Hazelnut
Every month Claire Wallace - who placed third at the World Barista Championships - hand-selects and roasts a single coffee for you to try. August's is a washed Peruvian from Elvis Tineo Rafael's La Naranja farm in the highlands of Jaén: sweet and syrupy, with toffee, golden syrup and red grape, finishing with a gentle hazelnut warmth.
Sweet, syrupy, and warmly inviting
Each month, Claire Wallace - who finished third at the World Barista Championships - selects a single coffee, roasts it by hand, and sends it out with a card telling you where it came from and why it matters. August's pick is from Elvis Tineo Rafael, whose family has been growing coffee in the highlands of Jaén for generations. His father gave him a hectare of land in 2016, and Elvis named the farm La Naranja after the orange trees he planted alongside the coffee rows. The farm sits beside a forest that keeps things cool and humid, and Elvis tends the soil with organic matter and reused coffee by-products - careful work that shows in the cup.
The coffee is washed and leans sweet rather than sharp: toffee and golden syrup lead, with red grape adding a little depth and a gentle hazelnut warmth to finish. It's a syrupy, easy-drinking cup that works well through an espresso machine or a cafetiere, and pairs nicely with something biscuity on the side. If you've been curious about specialty coffee but not sure where to start, this is a good place to land.
About the Roaster
Volcano Coffee Works began with Kurt Stewart, a New Zealand-born chef, wheeling a vintage Piaggio Ape cart along a West Dulwich pavement and serving espresso to whoever fancied one. That spirit - unpretentious, curious, quietly determined - has carried through to a London roastery, two south London cafés, and a team built around the idea that good coffee should do good in the world as well as taste good in the cup.
