Luckily the cafe was supplied by the wonderful Hasbean who are fantastic coffee roasters. I still remember the first coffee that really got me into speciality – it was a natural process Ethiopian called Ana Sora and it just tasted of Blueberries; after that I was hooked. I did some training with Dale Harris at Hasbean who also happened to be the world barista champion at the time, so I was lucky enough to get trained on brewing espresso by the best.

I’d decided I wanted to get into roasting and luckily I had just got my roaster before the first lockdown struck. This gave me plenty of time to practice and figure out how to roast. After a few months I was ready to launch Abstract and my first few coffees. I wanted Abstract to focus on the best of the best speciality coffees, super exclusive microlots and experimental processed coffees. The idea is to showcase just how amazing coffee can taste.

A lot of people don’t realise that coffee is a seasonal product. Different coffee origins and regions harvest their crop at different times of the year, meaning there’s always a constant change in what’s freshly available to roast.

Some origins, such as Colombia, have two harvests a year, meaning you might see coffee from this origin more frequently as you’re buying coffee throughout the year. However, for the most part countries will have one harvest which means we associate different times of the year with different coffee origins.

Rather perfectly, summer is when fresh crops arrive from Ethiopia and Kenya. Both of these origins are known for their very fruity flavour profiles which tends to lend themselves to a more summery brew.

Here are my top 4 origins to look out for over summer:

Ethiopia

Ethiopia is considered by many to be the spiritual home of coffee and is where the coffee Arabica plant originates from. The combination of high-altitudes and the fact most coffee is grown amongst the rain forests mean that the crops produced in Ethiopia give a complexity of flavour seen nowhere else in the world. Ethiopia is one of the most exciting origins to cup samples from each year, you know there’s going to be lots of very fruity coffees to choose between. If you love very intensely fruity coffees then look out for natural processed lots which will have lots of berry flavours such as blueberry and strawberry. If you prefer a more delicate coffee then go for a washed process which will be more tea like with floral and citrus notes.

Kenya

Kenya is another origin that I always look forward to year on year. A lot of coffee in Kenya is traded through cooperatives but more single estate coffee is becoming available as it becomes easier to export from. Deep volcanic soils, very high growing altitudes and varietals that have been engineered to work perfectly in this environment means Kenya consistently produces some of the best coffees in the world. Lookout for washed process SL28 & SL34 varietals if you love blackcurrants as these are going to taste like a cup of ribena!

Colombia

As well as having multiple harvests throughout the year a lot of Colombian farmers are at the forefront of experimental processing. Expect to find lots of very exclusive and expensive experimental microlots over the summer as well as the rest of the year. My personal favourites are coffees that have gone through some kind of anaerobic processing before being finished as a natural. They will have big fruity/boozy tasting notes, certainly not subtle! If you really don’t mind spending a few pennies then it’s worth finding a Geisha varietal from this region, the results are often exquisite!

Costa Rica

Costa Rica is definitely an origin that doesn’t get as much love as the other 3 on this list but has some seriously good coffees coming out of it! Many of the coffee growing regions have fantastic altitude and good, rich volcanic soils. Expect to find a lot of honey processed coffee from Costa Rica. The term honey relates to the sticky mucilage on the coffee bean. Unlike washed processed coffee, the skin and pulp is removed with mechanical washing, rather than using a roller, allowing the producer to determine the level of mucilage that is left behind. So this process is somewhere between a washed and a natural. If you get yourself some good Costa Rican coffee you can expect some vibrant and well-balanced fruit flavours with a clean, sweet and light body.

www.abstractcoffeeroasters.co.uk