In this edition: six new coffees and six not new coffees that happen to be decaffeinated – so good they'll keep you up at night.

Not in this edition: the thief who stole $80k worth of whipped cream. (Maybe it was for some "hot ice cream"?)

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Coffee leftovers

This week, I've got about 120g each of Broadcast Coffee's Kenya Swara AB and their Ethiopian Red Honey (sold out) offerings. Both are delicious medium roast coffees that I'm so grateful to Maria over at Broadcast for sending my way. To spread the goodness, I've vac-sealed them into 40g packs.

I've also got 40g of the yellow bourbon from Pablo Guerrero roasted by Sweet Bloom that I wrote about in Vol. 3. This one was roasted on September 16, so it's a bit older than most coffees I'd send out, but I've loved it and would love to share the last little bit with one of you.

I will note that I've finally started making soup, which requires about 50 percent more coffee than I use for pourovers. I'm hopeful that it won't result in 50 percent less coffee to share with you. Soup though, man, I understand the hype.

As always, the coffee is free, just reply to this e-mail and pay the actual shipping cost ($5).

Welcome to the tenth (!!) edition of the coffee index.

Over the past seven days, I added 115 coffees to the list. Total coffees manually tracked to date = 3016. These six coffees represent new offerings that span the spectrum of coffee – six different varieties, six different origins, three different processes, and flavor profiles ranging from fruity to floral to delicate to chocolatey. Let's get into it.

1. We start this week with a coffee roasted by New Math, a roaster I mistakenly wrote in Vol. 1 was based in Cleveland, Ohio (Mikey roasts in Chicago). That's the thing with a newsletter – I can't unsend it and fix my mistakes. It really gives me a sense of dread as I hit send every week. Anyway, this Ethiopian coffee from Habtamu Fikadu spoke to me because Justin Bull at Helm brought me some coffee produced by Habtamu when he visited New York a few weeks ago (the same one I featured in Vol. 6) and it was one of my favorite Ethiopian coffees of all time; just so beautifully delicate and lovely to drink. This one I imagine is quite similar. Tasting notes: White flowers, bergamot, peach.​
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2. NATIVE, the roastery in Dallas, Texas started by famed Colombian producer Diego Bermudez, doesn't list their coffees on individual pages, so visit his website and look for a bag with Cesar Ledesma's name on it. NATIVE gives back 10 percent of the profits on this coffee to Cesar (and does the same for all of their guest producers). This particular offering is a honey processed Sudan Rume variety grown on Cesar's farm, Finca Betel. Tasting notes: Chamomile, toffee, lemongrass, silky.
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3. Last week I wrote about an SL34 from Taiwan; this week, Apollon's Gold in Tokyo dropped the same variety from Wadi Jannat Village in Yemen. Apollon's founder Yoshi Arano served as the international judge at this year's Best of Yemen competition and says this coffee was a standout pick for him. "This coffee was exceptionally clean and less earthy for a Yemen coffee," he writes, adding that the florality it exhibits is almost gesha-like. Use the code THEINDEX for 15 percent off. Tasting notes: White guava, lavender, vanilla.​
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4. Well, it's a first to write about two coffees from the same roaster, but I couldn't help myself this week. I'm tracking 114 Panamanian coffees currently for sale and 99 pink bourbons. I am tracking one pink bourbon from Panama – this one, from Don Benjie in Boquete. You know I can't resist a one-of-one varietal/origin combination. Use the same code as above for 15 percent off this coffee too. Tasting notes: Pink grapefruit, jasmine, passion fruit.​
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5. I love a good mejorado, and based on the number of e-mails I get about floral coffees, I think you all do too. This offering from Jose Jijon (son of the inimitable Pepe) and his farm Fincas Del Putushio, comes in a light and ultra-light roast from Ottawa-based September. This is one I'm hoping is still around by the time the tariff situation improves, though I'm not holding my breath. It looks like Airworks has some of it for sale. Tasting notes: Juicy pear, white florals, marshmallow.​
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6. ​This orange bourbon – a rare variety to buy on its own – was grown on Finca La Fany, a 100-year-old family farm near Apaneca in El Salvador. The 5th generation of the Da Silva family grows a ton of bourbon, pacamara, gesha, yellow icatu and yellow caturra. This natural processed offering is roasted in a light-medium profile by Stockholm-based Drop. Tasting notes: Mandarin, milk chocolate, walnut.

This was a really crazy week for me at my day job, and I needed a little breathing room here to work ahead on interviews and stories. It really takes a lot of time. So please forgive this slightly shorter, slightly lazier feature.

My list of coffees currently for sale numbers 1830 at the moment. But I typically only write about new coffees – that's kind of the point of this newsletter. That said, there are so many coffees on the list worth writing about anyway, so I thought I would share a few decaf coffees that sound intriguing (aka not just malt chocolate bombs).

Now, full disclosure: I have an almost 10-month-old daughter who is very much a morning person, so I don't drink decaf. It's not that I'm opposed to it, it's more like...why would I? Anyway – the decafs:

1. Here's a washed caturra variety decaf from Los Nogales in Huila, Colombia. I featured Houston roaster Blendin in Vol. 1 of this newsletter and for good reason – owner Weihong Zhang sells some great coffee at not totally ridiculous prices. Zhang also won the 2024 U.S. Brewers Cup Championship. With a decaf. From Los Nogales. Do you see what I'm saying? Tasting notes: Raspberry, fruit punch, crème brûlée.
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2. Shady & Elias Bayter at El Vergel Estate show up a lot on my list of decaf coffees. This one's a naturally processed red and yellow caturra, roasted by Makeworth in Bellingham, Washington. It's also a medium roast, if you're into that sort of thing. Tasting notes: Red fruit, cinnamon, honey.
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3. This coffee was mentioned quite a few times by you all when I asked for your favorite decafs. It's PERC's version of Los Nogales, which is thermal shock fermented, which ought to make for quite the powerful decaf experience. Tasting notes: Blackberry, orange zest, hibiscus, wild honey.
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4. Another name that shows up quite a bit on the decaf list (and the list in general) – Wilton Benitez at Granja Paraíso 92. This is a red bourbon from the famed Cauca, Colombia farm that underwent two stages of fermentation – first in cherry with added yeast, and again after pulping with mosto (coffee fruit juice). This one's roasted by Found in Toronto. Tasting notes: Kool-Aid, cranberry, panela sugar.​
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5. Let's amp up the madness a little. Jhoan and Diego Vergara at Finca Las Flores in Huila, Colombia are basically scientists. This decaf pink bourbon underwent controlled fermentation and thermal shock processes. The roaster here is Puchero, which is located in a part of Spain I'm so unfamiliar with I won't even attempt to describe it. Tasting notes: Raspberry, red grape, sugarcane.​
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6. Of the decafs on the list, this is probably the one I'm most likely to buy. Roasted by September in Ottawa, this coffee is fermented in bioreactors by producer Alex Bermudez at Finca El Paraiso. It's called "Lollipop" because it "embodies the sensation of a red lollipop." I'm more of a green guy, but this still sounds great. Tasting notes: Swedish Berries (the candy), raspberry, cherry.

The first item on this list, until about 9am yesterday morning, was the decaf collaboration between Brandywine Coffee Roasters and Methodical that was listed for sale on Tuesday and sold out in about 24 hours. How cool is it that the two roasters launched a two-bag set of decaf coffee to celebrate the 10-year anniversary of Brandywine?! Well, like I said, it's gone now, but go see what you missed: here is Brandywine's offering, and Methodical's.

And finally, over the past several weeks, a bunch of you have shared your favorite decafs, past and present: PERC's Los Nogales came up a ton (so I included it above), Luna's roast of the Finca Las Flores pink bourbon mentioned above (#5) was a favorite (sold out), this thermal shock decaf from Black & White and this thermal shock decaf from Hydrangea (sold out).

Thanks, as always, for reading. If you have an idea for a future newsletter, want to talk coffee, or have any feedback whatsoever — you can reply to this e-mail.

Next week: new coffees as always, and I haven't figured out the story yet. Oh boy.

Thanks for reading.

Jeff