Epoch Chemistry | CGLE Sudan Rume Natural (91 points) - Colombia

Epoch Chemistry comes to us from the East Coast of Canada.

It's here in New Brunswick that the team at Epoch roasts some of Canada's finest coffee.

Led by master roaster and all around coffee Guru Conor, we are proud to be able to offer their delicious coffee here in Toronto.

We are enamoured by their 6-9-3 ideology and think it's a fantastic way to categorize their offerings. 

"Epoch Chemistry started as a passionate endeavour by Conor Conway and Matt Symes to bring the best coffee to Atlantic Canada. What initially started as a dream of a cafe grew into an individual business model in coffee, focused on education and experience. We are here to be your jumping off point into specialty coffee, and to nurture you along the journey.

Today, Epoch has a full roastery, a vibrant cafe location, a dedicated tasting room supported by a team of exceptional coffee and business professionals. We believe specialty coffee should be approachable and fun, with a focus on circularity in our supply chains and to lead by example when it comes to ethical practices and sourcing.

We roast in a Nordic style; meaning we like to keep the profiles light-medium, as opposed to what we can typically find here in the East Coast. The reason we roast lighter profiles is to highlight the flavours of the high quality green coffee we order from our producing partners. In our coffees, you’ll find notes varying from chocolate, dried fruits, and nuts to mulled wine, tropical fruits, and candy. 

Through our Coffee Tasting Experience, we’ve opened the door to specialty coffee for many people in our community. From novice to professional, we’ve tailored our presentation to make it enjoyable for anyone. We want to continue to enable those conversations through education and experience. 

In praise of slow.

From Epoch:

This Sudan Rume is grown in Caicedonia, at Finca Las Margaritas the second farm from Rigoberto and Luis Herrera. Caicedonia is a small town just inside the border of Valle de Cauca and about 45 minutes from Armenia, Quindio. Finca Potosi, the famous farm of CGLE was first founded in the 1920's, with Las Margaritas being founded in the 1950's on the hill directly in front of Potosi. Luis Herrera was actually born at Las Margaritas, and the quality and exceptional focus on process is evident on every step you take.

Sudan Rume is a difficult varietal to grow with CGLE needing to replant almost 80% of their trees in the last 2 years. This variety is extremely complex with an observed mentholated taste, deep chocolates, and exceptional sweetness. Grown on the western facing mountain of the Andes (facing the Pacific) the mist from over the ocean comes each morning bringing a moisture to the roots. This is why the trees at these two finca's are placed roughly 1 meter apart.

There is a school, founded and supported by CGLE, for all the pickers children (now numbering 14 students and 2 government funded educators).

This coffee is selected at 18 BRIX, aerobically fermented for two days, and then placed in full cherry inside mechanical driers at 24 degrees for 5 days to reach a moisture content of 12.5%. Following this, the coffee is depulped and cleaned, and left to stabilize in a temperature controlled room at the warehouse several kilometers away in Caicedonia for 3 months (in parchment) to stabilize any volatility of moisture. 

Conor has used this coffee in competition twice in his milk courses, producing outstanding results and making the national finals both times with it.

With weather issues this year we were only able to secure 18kg of this coffee for the q4 harvest. We will be releasing 10kg to wholesale partners and 5kg roasted to our B2C fans!