BUTTER KNIFE ESPRESSO

Tastes like: Peanut Butter, Berry Jam + Toffee

BRAZIL 80%

Medium Roast: 12oz / 340g BAG

Region: Pedralva + Carmo de minas
Farm: Furnas
Varietal: Yellow bourbon
Altitude: 945-1350 m.a.s.l
Processing: Natural

COLOMBIA 20%

Region: Cauca + El Tambo
Farm: Various smallholder farmers
Varietal: Castillo + Colombia
Altitude: 1850 - 1900 m.a.s.l 
Processing: Fully washed

Butter Knife is the blend that put us on the map. It is our house espresso blend and is used in our shops daily. It's our most popular coffee for a good reason; it's a classic coffee with a modern approach. This medium roast has been developed to perfection and used in our shops for over ten years. It embodies the traditional approach to the espresso profile, a real crowd-pleaser.

Butterknife is rich, thick, sweet, and sticky. It's a workhorse for the everyday coffee drinker and comes in both a 340g and 5lb bag. Butterknife espresso is the coffee you can drink a million of and want another—an easy-to-use and drink espresso. 

The best part about Butterknife is you don't need expensive equipment to get the most out of these beans. The roast is developed with a wide range of use. You can enjoy this espresso in your filter machine or Aeropress. The result of the brew is always a rich, sticky sweet, low acidity coffee, versatile enough for any use.

Suggested espresso recipe of 1:2 coffee to water ratio in 28-32 seconds. For filter, try a 1:16 coffee to water ratio.

For over a decade, Butterknife has been Toronto's coffee of choice. If you want the taste of downtown in the comfort of your home, secure a bag now. 

ABOUT THE BLEND

BRAZIL:

The main component of our Butter Knife Blend comes from Brazil. Serra Negra, or "black mountain," is a Brazilian profile that captures the most classic flavour profile from Minas Gerais, the growing region including Carmo de Minas. This coffee is a workhorse with a reasonable price, making it a staple blend component. We cup for nuttiness, low acidity, and a heavy body.

Due to the climate, varieties being grown, and picking and processing styles, Brazil Naturals also tend to express different flavours than naturally processed coffees from elsewhere in the world. While they often do show prominent fruit characteristics, the taste is closer to a coffee-cherry pulp rather than blueberry and strawberry notes we see from the finest Ethiopian Naturals. Brazil Naturals also tend to have lower acidity and heavier body or texture in the cup.

The natural process of the Brazilian beans makes a difference here. The fruit is not removed until after the beans are thoroughly dried. Microorganisms present in the fruit and the environment will create fermentation in the coffee until it is completely dried and takes 15–25 days on average.

COLOMBIA

Everyone knows Colombian coffee or thinks they do. To simply say Colombian coffee is like recommending a book by saying the name of the publisher. To really get to know Colombian coffee is to travel thousands of miles to see the country. Then, taste hundreds of cups, and wear out dozens of pairs of hiking boots touring coffee farms as our importer does.

Coffee came to Colombia in the late 1700s. The first plantings were in the north of the country. Coffee plants spread throughout the 19th century, with a smaller than average farm size more commonly found in other Latin American countries. Colombia still produces Arabica coffee exclusively. Our offerings come from the southwestern departments of Cauca and Huila, which have higher altitude farms. This shines through in the more complex flavour and heightened chocolatey profiles.

Commercial production and export of coffee started in the first decade of the 1800s but remained somewhat limited until the 20th century. The establishment of the Federación Nacional de Cafeteros de Colombia was a tremendous boost to the national coffee industry. Colombia quickly established itself as a significant coffee-growing region, vying with Brazil for the top global producer. The Federación Nacional de Cafeteros de Colombia is a prominent NGO that provides various services and support to the country's coffee producers. Regardless of the size of their landholdings or the volume of their production, the FNC helps out.

The FNC also guarantees a purchase price for any coffee grown within Colombia, providing financial security to farmers. This is designed to eliminate some of the market pressures and provide reliable income to the coffee sector. The scientific arm of the organization, Cenicafé, is devoted to research, development, dissemination, and support throughout the country. They provide A wide-ranging extension service employing more than 1,500 field workers. They are deployed to consult farmers on soil management, processing techniques, variety selection, disease prevention and treatment, and other agricultural aspects of coffee farming. A tax is imposed on all coffee exports to fund this work and the other provisions and protections that the FNC offers.

Since our earliest days, our importer has had boots on the ground and spoons in the cup there. We fall in love repeatedly with the regional variations, the varieties, the landscape, the producers themselves. Our work sourcing strong, versatile workhorse coffees will keep you coming back for more.

Grab yourself a cup of the good stuff, and you'll see why we think it tastes so fresh and so clean.