Ridgeback Estate Coffee

Literally out of the blue, I was recently offered some Australian grown coffee.

If you’ve read back to some early posts here, you will know that I’m pretty sceptical of the quality of Australian grown coffee. That was based on trying some very ordinary beans from a largish commercial grower about five years ago.

But things have changed, and growers like Mountain Top Estate are setting dramatically high standards of excellence not just for Australian coffee, but on the world stage.

So after I wrote recently about Mountain Top and how I was keen to try their product (which will happen soon), I received an email from a member of the family that owns and operates Ridgeback Estate located in Mareeba in Far North Queensland, offering me to buy a few kilo of the current crop of beans.
This particular harvest won a Bronze award, open single origin class, at the Sydney Royal Fine Food Show this year.

The cultivar is Catuai Rojo a semi dwarf the seed originating in Costa Rica. The coffee has been wet processed with a minimum fermentation period and sun dried, the ageing process should give the bean a slightly mottled effect. The grower’s personal roasting preference is a Mid to Dark roast as this he believes enhances the chocolate in an espresso.

I readily accepted the offer and I received the beans this week.
So I’ve roasted up a batch to a mid roast level, and they should be ready to taste tomorrow…

Stay tuned for the results – and thanks for contacting me with the offer Linda!

Posted: 27 June 08
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2 Comments for Ridgeback Estate Coffee

  1. Just about to chuck a batch or two of this in the Hottop. Thanks so much for the opportunity to do this Neil!

    Michelle · Jul 11, 03:50 PM
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  2. Looking forward to hearing your thoughts Michelle… ;-)

    Neil · Jul 12, 01:12 PM
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