Danish roaster La Cabra Coffee
IT STARTED AT THE CAFÉ, IT GOES ON TO LA CABRA ROASTERY
As the title suggests, the founders of La Cabra didn't start with roasting. La Cabra Coffee started in 2012 as a small coffee shop in Aarhus far from the city centre. In Aarhus it was a bit different than here in the Czech Republic, here at that time the coffee drinking culture was already quite established and firmly rooted. However, the La Cabra team wanted to bring something new and unexpected to the city. Soon, it didn't just stop at determination, the initial fervor turned into an obsession.
With minimal outside influences, the roastery has managed to establish itself in Aarhus, throughout Denmark, and the world. I'm getting a bit ahead of myself. Anyway, their novel but honest approach has caught on and today they already run 2 cafes, a roastery and also a bakery in Aarhus.
And what does La Cabra actually stand for? It's a word that means goat in Spanish. The latter is also significant to the roastery in their visuals. Each of their coffee boxes is decorated with a drawing of a goat with a sprig of a flowering coffee tree in its mouth.
LA CABRA COFFEE AND ITS SELECTION
As well as the final roast, La Cabra places great emphasis on selection. They travel constantly to find the best beans for their customers. La Cabra also takes inspiration to find quality coffee from other products such as innovative wines, beers and unusually processed seasonal foods. The potential of the coffee bean takes on real form when many specific conditions are met. This requires great skill on the part of the producer. That is why it is important for La Cabra to work with trusted partners, both producers and a few selected import companies.
The roastery also emphasises freshness, so the current range of coffees is made up of coffees that are in season at the time of harvest. Because, as with any other fruit, once it is harvested and processed, the quality of the coffee begins to decline and the bright flavours we enjoy so much begin to fade.
They also push the quality of their production by frequent visits from suppliers. The experience and passion of many of the producers is inspiring and pushes them even further to present their work in the best possible way.
COFFEE ROASTING AND CONTROL
The roasting process at La Cabra aims to highlight the quality and complexity of these fine coffees, as well as highlighting the work of the producer in the best possible way. Itis therefore important to understand and pay attention to the variety, the area and the processing method.
Through regular cuppings, they check the coffee, evaluate it and look for the ideal roasting profile. According to La Cabra roasters, each coffee has a single ideal profile that allows them to bring out the most interesting flavour aspects. They have held fast to this philosophy for several years. Some coffees, they say, could be developed more to make them more accessible, but that would clash with their philosophy and the transparency of their coffee.
With a few exceptions, they roast most of their coffees in what they call an omni roast, meaning that the coffee is suitable for both espresso and alternative methods. By roasting lighter, they can bring out the flavour notes better. According to La Cabra's philosophy, darker roasting tends to obscure the origin-specific flavour notes they value so much. This also gives more freedom in the preparation of the coffee, so there is no need to stick strictly to recipes for a given preparation.
COFFEE SUBSCRIPTION
In addition to working with cafés across Denmark and Europe, they deliver coffee to their customers in the form of a subscription. This also goes hand in hand with their emphasis on freshness, as they send out new coffees every month.