Kitayama Columbia Super Black Roast

Kitayama Columbia Super Black Roast

I bought Blue Mountain No. 1 aged beans and Columbia Super Black Roast from Kitayama in my 2018 June Japan Coffee Trip. Kitayama is well known for its aged beans. I asked the assistant how long can the beans be stored. The assistant told me that I can store it very long provided that I store them well and keep them from moisture. Of course, I can. I have airtight containers. When I was back from Japan, I didn't try Kitayama's beans. I also bought Gesha from Glitch. Lightly roasted Gesha cannot be stored for long. On the other hand, I had some many beans on hand. My colleagues gave me coffee beans as souvenirs for their trips. So I waited so long to unpack my Kitayama Columbia.

Unpacked Kitayama Columbia

 When I unpacked, I was quite nervous. I could not smell odour of coffee. Was it really too long? The beans were really black, but they were like gems. They reflected light.

 The colour, the shape and the size were very even. It was like carefully crafted by a grandmaster of coffee. I could see Kitayama's dedication to coffee from the beans evenness.

Grounded Kitayama Columbia

The grounded coffee was extremely even. It was like that the coffee was very easy to be grounded. I thought this might be due to the very deep roast process. The beans became brittle.

Kitayama Columbia in V60

The first trial of Kitayama Columbia was done by Hario V60 pour over. I decided to do the very traditional continuous pouring with stable water flow. The first trial was not very successful. It might be due to too coarse of the ground. I thought I did not fully extract the coffee. However, Kitayama signature  style taste still stood out. I could taste the signature taste of ginseng that I experienced in Kitayama. Though I could not reach the Kitayama's extremity, we were on the same direction. And the taste of ginseng did stay long.

The second trial was done by Kalita wave dripper. Same pouring technique was applied. This time, however, was quite successful. Maybe this was due to the fact that the water passes through coffee ground slower in Kalita wave than Hario V60. Taste of ginseng and caramel sweetness really stood out. The aftertaste was very very long.

I could sense that Kitayama's deep roasting art was a very representative one for Japanese' view and crave for coffee. The taste was so unique that you would not forget. The taste was so unique that it was bitter but in a very positively favourable way. You would not think that you absolutely need any sugar and milk to accompany with the coffee staying in your mouth.

Though deep roast does remove the local favours and maybe the complexity of the coffee, the taste may become monotonous and simple. However, Kitayama's roasting art does not fit into this category. Kitayama brings taste of ginseng, caramel sweetness brought by deep roast process  and aftertaste to the extremity!

More on my coffee experience in Kitayama Coffee Shop
More on my 2018 Tokyo Coffee Trip